Wood inside an H14 crossbar?

I'm restoring an H14 for my kids to sail and upon removing the tramp and frame to work on the hulls, I noticed a ton of wood (now splinters) inside the front crossbar. It is a 1973 model. Anyone ever heard of this? The wood had obviously been inside for quite some time as it came out in rotted splinters. I considered removing the end casting since there was so much, but each time I pulled a chunk out I thought I was done... an hour later and it was finally clear. Also, I'm hearing something clunking around inside each of the hulls. They are very solid, only used in fresh water, and zero leaking. Any idea what might be inside?

The early Hobie 14s & 16s had a piece of wood inside the front crossbar to prevent the crossbar from kinking during the bending process. Hobie later refined the process and no-longer needed to use the piece of wood. I would clear as much of it out of there as possible. If it becomes waterlogged, it will add a lot of weight to the boat and could also cause corrosion problems.

The clunking inside the hull is either the foam flotation block which is located between the plyons, or it is a pylon shoe which has broken loose. If it is the former, it is not a problem. If it is the latter, it needs to be repaired before sailing the boat.

sm

How do I determine whether it is the pylon shoe or a flotation block? If it's the former, how is this repaired?

Look for a bulge near the bottom of the hull in the area of the pylon. Or if there is damage (major cracks or deformation) in th deck around the pylon. You can also pick up one bow at a time and see if there is any movement of the pylons.

There was an article in one if the Hobie hotlines probably 5-10 years ago which gave very detailed instructions on pylon shoe repair.

sm

+1 on srm's comments. The flotation is loose inside the hull. The only time I've heard it thud is when I was tilting/flipping the boat upside down for maintenance. When I had a faulty pylon shoe, it made a pretty hard clunk pretty much every time I tacked. Here's a link to the Hotlines (pylon shoe article is in the Sep.-Oct. 2009 issue):

http://www.w1dm.com/projects/HOTLINE/Hotline.html

_________________
Jerome Vaughan
Hobie 16

Awesome, I only noticed the clunking when I was handling the hull. The pylons look fine. I thought I bought a basket case, but now realize I got a pretty good deal, not that I'm keeping this 14. I figure it as trading stock. The 16 is the best.