Minitank

M

Mass Fish

New Member
While at my nieces 1st birthday party the other day, on a whim I gave their neighbor $100 for a Minifish. The hull contained many gallons of water, so we took out the drain plug and propped it up to drain. I brought home the daggerboard and rudder/tiller in the trunk of our car, but the mast, spars and hull are now at my brother's place, which is about 2.5 hours away. Here are a couple of pictures of the hull. I am trying to decide how or if to go back and get it, now that I have done some reading and understand what a waterlogged hull probably means.

To get it home, I have been thinking about strapping it upside down to the roof of my car on top of a couple of rolls of carpeting or the foam blocks that I use for transporting the canoe on the roof, but it is 2.5 hours on interstate highway and that seems like maybe not the smartest move. The canoe has places to attach straps to the bow and stern that attach to the bumpers but I can't see where I would hook those straps onto the Minifish hull. I might be able to borrow a pickup truck. Would that be a better short-term solution to get it home?

I am very excited about the boat but maybe my excitement is clouding my judgement? I have a sinking feeling that the initial $100 may be just the tip of the iceberg.

I thought it was a real bargain, but now I am having second thoughts. Any suggestions?
 

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Mass Fish said:
I have a sinking feeling that the initial $100 may be just the tip of the iceberg.
Click to expand...

First things first…

Oops, the bow loop hole is broken out…

You have experience with hauling a canoe, do you have a stash of “cam straps”? Regardless, rope will do too. Make a loop to go around the hull, cinching it so it rides up the taper of the freeboard (inverted) a little above the gunwales. To this circumferential loop attach your bow and stern bumper tie-down lines. Idea being the lip where the deck and hull meet will prevent the loop from slipping down off the boat.

Homeward Bound…?

With the free water drained, how heavy is Moby-Minifish?

Next, do a leak test. The guide for the test is in the Knowledge Base (KB FAQ) at the top of this page.

. . . now you can begin assessing how big your iceberg is.
 
...This looks like it could be a fun project, just get it home safely and start evaluating the situation. Everyone here will probably give you good step by step advice. Don't plan on getting it in the water this summer, but when you do, you will be able to look back to when you thought it was impossible to ever sail it !

Where is it, and where in Ma. is it heading to?
 
Wayne, thank you for the excellent suggestion on the circumferential loop for my bow/stern tie-downs. It worked like a charm! I brought my minitank home last week.

Lasts weekend I washed off the algae and checked the hull weight. It was approx 120 lbs. If it is supposed to be only 75 lbs as per the Minifish specs that I found in the FAQ, then there must still be a bunch of water trapped in the foam.

67stang, I bought it in Beacon, NY. I am in Conway, Mass.

Winter will be here soon. With all that water in the foam, do I need to protect the hull from freezing?
 
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