Early Sunfish--and some Clonefish--masts had a block at the mast-head, and ran a thin bolt through two holes in the mast.As far as I can tell, the cork was there because the factory pinned but did not seal the caps.
There's no need to replace the cork, if it ever was there, with anything. Air works just fine for buoyancy.The advice on this forum to use racketballs as a replacement for missing or damaged mast corks worked out well for me.
Capsizes in general can be avoided by rigging the sail so the clew is high enough so it doesn't catch in a swell--especially when it's combined with the natural roll of the Sunfish. Once the clew gets "secured" by the water's surface, over you go!
There was only one cork at each end of the mast. They were about 1.5 inches long and they made the interior air tight since the end caps were not water tight. A racketball in each end of the mast does the same job.There's no need to replace the cork, if it ever was there, with anything. Air works just fine for buoyancy.
Not to worry about getting back on board, later in life. With your fiberglassing skills, I can see a doorway installed in the side of your Sunfish.Btw....the capsizing isn't a problem....part of the fun and "taking chances!" At 64 I'm going to enjoy that I can still pull myself back aboard in a timely fashion.
Same here. Light and dry hull. 20 knt winds and waves accelerate things a bitWell, I think a lot of my turtling last week was due to 15 mph winds and heavy water in racing conditions. My boat is 132 pounds, and I don't think that's overly heavy. I didn't have gentle picturesque rollovers. They were smack downs....