Question Anybody know what this piece of mahogany is?

Hello, this came out of a ‘73 Sunfish, from the fwd part of the boat. Found it while installing an inspection port. Just the wood. Other stuff shown for scale.
 

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This is a back-up plate for one of the deck hardware fittings. Back in the day the Alcort boys used whatever scrap wood they had lying around the plant. These days, the factory installed back-up plates are aluminum with threaded bolt holes - much better design.

Alan Glos
Correction. There are holes on the back side. Looks like it was from the halyard cleat. Not through bolted but just wood screws.
 
These wood back-up blocks were fiberglassed to the underside of the deck, but over time and a lot of flexing, a lot of them broke loose and ended up in the bilge. I doubt that the Alcort boys ever guessed that their fiberglass boats would last for 50 + years and these wood blocks were one of the weak construction links.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
These wood back-up blocks were fiberglassed to the underside of the deck, but over time and a lot of flexing, a lot of them broke loose and ended up in the bilge. I doubt that the Alcort boys ever guessed that their fiberglass boats would last for 50 + years and these wood blocks were one of the weak construction links.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
Boo! I prefer to think Al and Cort truly wanted to build quality boats. I’m some what familiar with the phases of production quality failures, but the current nonsense with Laser Performance (at least as it’s being portrayed) and their shenanigans has me weeping for the legacy of the founders — even if it’s only in my mind.
 
Halyard block or cleat backer. It's in good shape.

Once you flip enough boats, you get to where you can identify which blocks are loos based on the sound the make when you roll a hull over :)

And then there's this...

Jack wet rotten backer block.JPG
 
Halyard block or cleat backer. It's in good shape.

Once you flip enough boats, you get to where you can identify which blocks are loos based on the sound the make when you roll a hull over :)

And then there's this...

View attachment 56184
Looks like a bucket of yuck! Mine was not in good shape. I easily snapped it in half. I have access via inspection ports to through bolt the cleat using a backing plate.
 

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