Bow Handle Replacement Recommendations

The two Sunfishes I'm upgrading have extraordinarily corroded bow handles. See the photo below of one of them.



The red marks are where, while pulling one of them up the marsh for storage last time, the handle broke clean off in my hand. What remains attached to the deck is what you see to the left of each of the red marks.

You can also see that the corrosion is so bad, there's no screw heads of any kind to use to back the screws out in order to remove the parts that remain. How would you suggest that I go about that?

And... from reading all the cool, Sunfish restoration pictorial essays here on the forum, I've come to realize that I somehow want to keep at least one screw on each end of the old handle in the deck because if I take them all out, the backing block may then fall to the floor of the hull inside. Ie, no more backing block for the new handle.

Any recommendations on how to proceed would be appreciated. Really need new bow handles on these two boats because we plan to tow the Sunfishes out to some nice sailing spots off Monomoy Island on Cape Cod.

Thanks,

- Andy

Hi Andy,

I had the same problem. The handle became so corroded that it just crumbled.

What I did was to chisel what remained of the handle away with a screw driver, being careful not to damage the deck. The screws are made of stainless so they're much stronger than the handle itself. Once the pieces of the handle are gone and the screws are all that's left, they are pretty easy to remove.

I made sure to keep one screw in place at all times and then reattached the new handle.

Hope this helps,

Dan

My Porpoise II had a chrome-plated bow handle where the base metal was bronze; however, I don't think today's vendors are offering anything other than plated zinc—which crumbles with time.

A previous discussion appeared here:
http://208.77.96.92/threads/perko-bow-handle.27204/#post-127653

I have some nice, used Sunfish bow handles for $12 each + a $5.80 shipping allowance for a Small USPS Flat Rate shipping box. The chrome has a little pitting but they are structurally strong and will last for many years. If you want one or two of them, e-mail me directly at: [email protected].

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY

I sell brand new bow handles at $18 plus shipping. cjo1023 at yahoo dot com.

Thanks guys.

- Andy

I bought Kent Lewis's Sunfish book from Amazon and it is helpful with tips on jobs like this. He is on Facebook too - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Small-Boat-Restoration/129769927103126?fref=nf.