Larry,
I believe the false keel was originally foam-filled. It's a bit more fragile than the rest of the boat, and it is vulnerable to damage if the boat is blocked under it. Cracks lead to water-logged foam, weeping, etc. So, quite a few owners over the years have addressed issues with it. From what I have seen, it takes some labor to fix it up, but is not highly delicate or precise work.
My guess would be that your ballast was glassed over more because it "seemed like a good idea at the time" rather than any real need. (In fact you could argue that it's better to put a small dent in the lead than to possibly breach the fiberglass covering on internal ballast.)
I certainly have a healthy skepticism of any older hardware, but that said I have never heard of an instance of the Triton keelbolts failing. I don't know that I would say that means it has never or will never happen, but if it were common it seems it would have been mentioned here on the forum on on the Triton list. The ballast does not have much depth in relation to the chord, so that must help (say, as compared to a "fin" keel.)
[quote="trintella495" There are bolts in the bilge, 4 or 5 dead center down the middle. Are these the bolts that hold the keel on the boat? Don't seem big enough to hold on 3000 lbs. of lead.[/quote]
I think the original Triton keel bolts may have been glassed over in the bilge? I also thought they were in two rows (i.e. port and starboard), not a single-file one. Maybe some external-ballast Tritoneers will chime in. Are you seeing actual metal fasteners? If so, I wonder if they were added later? And if that's true, I wonder if the originals are also still there?
Here are photos I took of the three bilge compartments of Triton #295 (external ballast). I don't have any particular reason to believe it had been altered from original, but I don't know for sure.
Back to the subject of the false keel and repairing it: There have been some write-ups over the years. Here are a few links:
Triton #381 false keel repair
Triton #15 false keel repair
About keel bolts and ballast
You'll like this one; it actually gapes ;)
Joe Henson's former Triton, false keel repair
Triton #215 false keel repair
Rachel