E31 Independence - Staysail Traveler Question

[TakeFive]

I removed the staysail traveler. The track was fastened to teak mount with a 1/4" rubber gasket between the teak and cabin top.
Not sure of the purpose of such a thick piece of rubber, might have been difficult to match the teak mount with the cabin top.
Rubber would allow for a lot of variation between the two.
I'm thinking of just putting in a piece of .090 EPDM in between with a lot of squishy stuff on both sides of EPDM.
Can anyone think of any reasons why I shouldn't do this? Should I stick with original 1/4"?

Thanks for any ideas

-Garrett

 

[TakeFive]

Update - Staysail traveler

I went with a thin piece of epdm slathered with life calk to take up variations in non-skid deck. 1/4" rubber may have been added many years ago by previous owner. Obviously not a factory job. The 1/4-20 X 6 1/2 bolts were actually 6" bolts with an additional 1/2" threaded piece welded on. Holes were drilled directly through core, no epoxy/redrill so there was some minor core rot.

Not a quick or fun job, PO assembled everything with precursor to 5200. Biggest pain was trying to re-staple the ceiling liner. I was not the first one to take it down apparently. The teak traveler base is now sanded and varnished, new hardware A/R, new sta-set lines, a pound or two of butyl bedding.

Bowsprit next in line.