Cork in the Mast - Minifish

misters

Minifish Owner
I'm well into my Minifish restoration. I weighed the boat, 120# and everything I have read states the weight should be in the 80# range. I installed two deck ports for ventilation. One is just aft of the mast and I hit open space the other is forward of the rudder and I had to cut away some foam to access the forward/aft open space. When I cut into the foam it was soaked (boat has been under my deck for approx. 15 years) . I set the boat in the sun with a small fan this past weekend and the foam I can reach no longer feels wet. I will be cartopping this boat so I would like to shed as much of the excess weight as possible.

Now to the question - The plastic plug at the bottom of the mast came out when I took the mast down from it's perch in the garage and 4 round dried -out pieces of cork also came out. Does anyone know if these are important? Where should be positoned in the mast?

Any help will be appreciated.

:)
 
The cork in the mast was to keep water out of the interior of the mast. You will probably find them in the gaff and boom as well The cork will eventually disintegrate, but as long as the spars do not spend extended time under water, corkless spars are not a problem. You could put new corks in, better yet rubber stoppers (check a chemistry supply store for solid rubber stoppers) and that would solve the problem.

To expedite the drying process, put a light bulb on an extension cord inside the hull and rig up a fan or blower to move the damp air around faster. A 6" duct fan is ideal. It costs about $15 at your local home improvement store. I took almost 50 lbs of water out of an old Sunfish once using this technique.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
Thank you Alan. I have purchased the fan and will add the light bulb to the drying process. I might just put some silicone on the mast end cap and call it a day.

I plan to have the boat in the water by July first.


Paul
 

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