Maybe someone can pipe in with a picture, but the bungee is necessary to hold the board down and also up. I think it's 5/16 but it might be 3/8. I hope you varnished the inside of the holes in the rudder and tiller when you varnished them! We put the foam in to give the boat flotation, but lots of people took it oput for the storage. Like most boats, the 15 really likes to carry weight there. Lots of info out there on replacing the pennant, but it's 5/16, with the core pulled out of the bottom 6 inches to allow for a small knot that will fit inside the hole in the board; you'll see when you drop the board. Remember to drive the pin in and out on the stbd side so you don't force the peened end thru! And glue it in with boatlife. jerry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ted Weidenbach" <weid0069@umn.edu> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2012 1:58 PM Subject: M_Boats: A couple questions Hello all, I bought my M15 in December of 2010 and was unable to use it all last year because I broke my left humerus in half and was out of commission for the short summers in Minnesota. I have been making the wood look nice on the boat and I am getting closer to approaching my first sail with my boat! With that being said I have a couple questions about the boat I'd really appreciate some help with it possible! I took the rudder apart and I am revarnishing it...stupid me I did not take photos of the set up to get it back together. I have all the hardware and probably can figure it out but I recall some bungee cords that were wrapped in a certain way. Are those necessary and if so does anyone have a picture or two they can send me to help guide me through the process? Second, in the locker closest to the bow it is full of styrofoam. Is that on every monty or did the guy before me just fill that area up with styrofoam? I am going to have to replace the center board rope, has anyone done this? Is it an easy job? Thanks in advance, Ted -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter. SPAMfighter has removed 6685 of my spam emails to date. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len Do you have a slow PC? Try Free scan http://www.spamfighter.com/SLOW-PCfighter?cid=sigen