Dion_Dunn
Member
New Sunfish sailor here, first post, etc., but I thought you guys would get a kick out of this one.
I'm not new to sailing. I used to own a Lightning and a Flying Scott, but sold both a number of years ago after moving from Lake Erie to Louisville, KY. But I've also discovered the local sailing club which has a very active Sunfish fleet on ther Ohio River and my Wife got tired of me complaining about not having a boat, so.....
I found a 1983 Sunfish about 140 miles away for a good price. I went and checked it out and it looked good and didn't feel overweight. Good enough for a starter boat. The next weekend I went to pick it up. I've towed enough stuff to know when to take spares and extras just in case, so I felt prepared to get this boat home. The trailer is way too big for the boat, but not a big deal and I'm going to modify the trailer anyway. Besides, it will make a nice multi-boat trailer eventually when I get my 14 year old Son hooked (at least that's the plan). I got it hooked up to the car, everything checked out, and away we went.
Immediately, the noise coming from the trailer was LOUD! The drumming noise was almost too painful to listen to, even with the car windows up. So I stopped at the first rest stop about 5 miles into the trip to check everything out. One of the tires was low, so I added air to it, checked out the bearings (everything was cool to the touch), and got back on the road. The drumming noise started to slowly decrease, so I figured it must have been flat spotted tires. I decided to stop again another 50 miles into the trip, and again everything checked out.
I made it home without incident. The trailer actually tows very nicely, except for the noise. I parked the boat behind my house on my walkout patio, and while I was chocking up the wheels I noticed what you see in the pic below. A chunk of tread about 2 inches wide by 6 inches long was completely missing from the tire, and the rest of the tire looks like it had about 5 miles left.
So I'm naming the boat 'Lucky'......
Dion
I'm not new to sailing. I used to own a Lightning and a Flying Scott, but sold both a number of years ago after moving from Lake Erie to Louisville, KY. But I've also discovered the local sailing club which has a very active Sunfish fleet on ther Ohio River and my Wife got tired of me complaining about not having a boat, so.....
I found a 1983 Sunfish about 140 miles away for a good price. I went and checked it out and it looked good and didn't feel overweight. Good enough for a starter boat. The next weekend I went to pick it up. I've towed enough stuff to know when to take spares and extras just in case, so I felt prepared to get this boat home. The trailer is way too big for the boat, but not a big deal and I'm going to modify the trailer anyway. Besides, it will make a nice multi-boat trailer eventually when I get my 14 year old Son hooked (at least that's the plan). I got it hooked up to the car, everything checked out, and away we went.
Immediately, the noise coming from the trailer was LOUD! The drumming noise was almost too painful to listen to, even with the car windows up. So I stopped at the first rest stop about 5 miles into the trip to check everything out. One of the tires was low, so I added air to it, checked out the bearings (everything was cool to the touch), and got back on the road. The drumming noise started to slowly decrease, so I figured it must have been flat spotted tires. I decided to stop again another 50 miles into the trip, and again everything checked out.
I made it home without incident. The trailer actually tows very nicely, except for the noise. I parked the boat behind my house on my walkout patio, and while I was chocking up the wheels I noticed what you see in the pic below. A chunk of tread about 2 inches wide by 6 inches long was completely missing from the tire, and the rest of the tire looks like it had about 5 miles left.
So I'm naming the boat 'Lucky'......
Dion