Bolts in my tracking fins 1982 S&S

[Olaff]

A 1982 Stars and Stripes with the factory Powerslot transmission upgrade found me Labor Day Weekend last year. Since it was a 3rd owner boat with 496 hours on it and always garage kept I had to buy her. Well we have put 100 hours on teaching my 4 kids to do all the board sports (I tell them it won't pull a tube!) We have my 6-year old skiing, wakeboarding, and kneeboarding.
Enough side-story. This past weekend while underneath her with the polishing pad I noticed that all 3 tracking skegs have a single bolt horizontally through the center from port side to starboard. Each bolt is a 1/4"-20 about an inch long with a big washer on each side and a lockwasher/nut holding it on. I went back and looked at the original manual which doesn't show bolts. Anyone seen this before? Is it common? Is it a handling modification?

[MC25]

Salt boat by chance?

[Olaff]

That's what I thought at first; sacrificial anodes...It came from north Louisiana. There are no signs of salt water usage, no corrosion or anything like that.

[Olaff]

...And they look to be standard hardware, not stainless or zinc.

[thatsmrmastercraft]

Never seen that before.

[Olaff]

Anyone else? The fins are original equipment from the factory; have "MasterCraft" cast in the base and everything. I don't see any evidence of there ever being a sacrificial zinc anode mounted to the fin, no scratches or un-even wear...
I think I'm just gonna take the bolts out and see what happens. I may gain an MPH on the top end due to the decreased drag.

[thatsmrmastercraft]

I would take them out. I can't imagine what they would be there for.

[aquaman]

If the boat was from Louisiana........there is NO telling.


May have been the attachments for gator trolling ?

[Olaff]

It was "close-to-Texas-Louisiana"... Shreveport/Bossier City area; but granted, Louisiana none the less.

[thatsmrmastercraft]

It would make sense that zincs were there if it was ever to go in the briny water. Perhaps the previous owner thought that theos bolts were better than open holes.

[Olaff]

Could be...
I'm going to run it once with the empty holes just to see, then probably fill the holes with JB Weld.

[thatsmrmastercraft]

That's probably what I would do.

[Miss Rita]

Take 'em out and fuhgeddaboudit, the holes are too small to make a performance difference. It's not worth the trouble to use JB Weld; that would take another hour you can't get back. You are the only one that will ever know they are there. Admit it: even you didn't notice them until you were on your back inspecting the keel!

[waterlogged882]

..........

[thatsmrmastercraft]

It's funny - you day epoxy and everyone is all smiles. Say JB Weld and people run away yelling and screaming.

That said, I have never used JB Weld because I always have some epoxy around.