a little big for my britches..

65sleeper

65sleeper

New Member
Okie dokie, so I bought an air pump that you use to air up air mattresses. stuck it in the drain hole turned it on and painted the fish with soapy water this weekend. the leak was in the mast steep. the bottom had come loose, and it had a fat crack aft that ran top to bottom, obviously I had to get her out on the water for the weekend. so I found a heavy cap off of a spray can that fit perfectly,I put and inch of tub and tile caulk on the top of the cap, turned it upside down and pushed it all the way to the bottom, then I filled the crack. 2 hrs later we were air tight and just a few pounds over our target weight. woohoo. so we sailed all day, and took on no water. needless to say I was patting myself on the back for my ingenuity....to soon I might add. There was a storm coming in and I could not resist getting her out in it to see what she was capable of..long story short..(yeah, I know its a little late for that right?) I got myself into some big wind , had her layed over and I was hiked out as far as I could stretch...I was flying...man what a rush. All was going well then, BOOM. the mast blew over, the bottom broke loose and kicked aft. and the top went for leaving a nice 3" by 5" impression/ crack in the hull.

my question now, is how the heck am I going to fix this?
Is there a kit out there, that you could install like and inspection port?
or am I going to have to become a fiberglass tech?
~JACKSON
 
Thats what I thought....believe it or not, I am looking forward to it.
You know..the funny thing about the sunfish, when something breaks on it,
unlike any other watercraft I have ever owned, I really look forward to fixing it. There has to be some kind of magic they install at the factory. This little boat just seems to make everyone happy.

Now where can I find a new tube?
 
my friend just showed me a trick to keep the wind from lifting the mast out- after running the halyard thru the fairlead and cleating it, he runs it thru the fairlead again in the direction from the bow to stern, then he loops the halyard around the top of the gooseneck and then brings it back thru the fairlead and cleats it again. well thats the order that i remember him showing me! havent tried it out on the water to double check my instructions-
happy repairing the damage done!
 
65sleeper said:
Thats what I thought....believe it or not, I am looking forward to it.
You know..the funny thing about the sunfish, when something breaks on it,
unlike any other watercraft I have ever owned, I really look forward to fixing it. There has to be some kind of magic they install at the factory. This little boat just seems to make everyone happy.

Now where can I find a new tube?
Click to expand...

you could try making a tube. in "epoxy works" magazine #26 spring 2008, they describing making tubes from carbon fiber tubes wrapped around foam pipe insulation and using west system epoxy. Perhaps cloth and epoxy would work by doing something similar. Wrap wax paper aroung some type of form that matches a diameter for the mast, then wrap with epoxy and cloth. Once dry, remove the form.
 
I have a sunfish that i was going to fix, but i dont have the time to put new blocks in it and reseal the deck to the hull. I would be will ing to cut out the mast step tube and send it to you. the only problem is how to remove it. i will need to cut it out . it will probabbly cost me 30 dollars in sawzall blades. Let me know if you interested. And I can see what i can do.
 
Re: new blocks

AJC6882 said:
I have a sunfish that i was going to fix, but i dont have the time to put new blocks in it and reseal the deck to the hull.
Click to expand...

AJC, This is something I have heard about and would like to know more about the process. I'm looking to buy some cheap, older fish in November (waiting for $) and know I'll have all winter for this sort of project.

Is there some info on how to do this published or online?
 
Re: new blocks

Halfjack said:
AJC, This is something I have heard about and would like to know more about the process. I'm looking to buy some cheap, older fish in November (waiting for $) and know I'll have all winter for this sort of project.

Is there some info on how to do this published or online?
Click to expand...

There is a lot of info on this forum regarding all sorts of repairs (use the Search function).
Another good source is the Sunfish Sailor group on Yahoo (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sunfish_sailor).

However, I would stay away from hulls that have the deck off :eek:
 
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