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Shoreline99

New Member
I just scored, after much searching, a 1979 AMF sunfish in good repair. All fittings, lines and hardware are intact and the hull only has minor damage and repairs to it. Not quite a Sunday driver, but a great starter. The rudder needs a few coats of spar varnish and the daggerboard needs to eventually be replaced, but a great pickup all-in-all. Even the sail is in decent shape.

Best part? It was free.

Now, to patch the minor damage and cartop it 300 miles so I can teach my kids to sail!

I figure I will be a regular here for a while until i get back in the groove. It has been many years since I've sailed one of these...
 
Yep. I'm already going through the forums and Tag's blog and seeing what I need to purchase...

Need new mast ends, new lines and some sail clips to start. And some gelcoat patch.

This one is set up with a funny aluminum crossbar across the cockpit (rubber bumpers on each end) bolted through the top to some rubber catch blocks. The mainsheet block is attached to this crossbar. Eventually, I'll replace this with a new block in front of the hook (standard setup) and patch the holes in the top. I'll post a photo or two later.
 
Yep. I'm already going through the forums and Tag's blog and seeing what I need to purchase...

Need new mast ends, new lines and some sail clips to start. And some gelcoat patch.

This one is set up with a funny aluminum crossbar across the cockpit (rubber bumpers on each end) bolted through the top to some rubber catch blocks. The mainsheet block is attached to this crossbar. Eventually, I'll replace this with a new block in front of the hook (standard setup) and patch the holes in the top. I'll post a photo or two later.
The funny crossbar is the traveler that goes with the Super Sunfish rigging. Just disregard that one and mount a normal block. Or did your diamond in the rough come with the remainder of the Super Sunfish rig? Mast, boom, sail and a bunch of lines?
 
Yes, it is a Super Sunfish. It has a complete sunfish mast and sail with lines, etc. as well as the Super Sunfish setup.

Here are a few shots of the hull and cockpit with the conversion rig, as well as the super sunfish sails and mast/boom assembly:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9083477@N07/

I apologize for the low light. It really is in remarkable shape for its age. It needs a good cleaning and polishing and some gelcoat work but not bad otherwise.

The sunfish sail and mast/boom assembly has been disassembled pending new sail rings and mast top & bottom caps from APS, so I don't have any shots of it in this album.

The Super Sunfish mast assembly needs a good cleaning; the whole kit and kaboodle was stored under a tarp and has a lot of earth on it. One sail is brand new and still has the Neil Pryde warranty tag on it.

The rudder needs to be stripped and revarnished; the daggerboard needs the same treatment and eventual replacing, but for now it's fine. Any advice or tips will be much appreciated as I go through this process.
 
a Sunfish rig, Super Sunfish rig, and hull all for free? man, you got a sweet deal! good luck with the minor prep work, and ask any specific questions that come along.

if you don't plan to race in class events and your daggerboard really needs an upgrade, I'd consider the FRP replica daggerboard from Intensity Sails - I've been really happy with mine so far.

cheers,
thad
 
Question on the super sunfish rig, if anyone can help.

I need a new halyard line, a new mainsheet line and a new line for the vang setup.

The rigging instructions on the sunfish sailor group (great resource, btw) give lengths and diameters for all the lines except for these three. Any ideas?

The halyard end is still attached to the rig, so I have the latch end. Looks like 1/8" halyard line?
 
Yes, it is a Super Sunfish. It has a complete sunfish mast and sail with lines, etc. as well as the Super Sunfish setup.

Here are a few shots of the hull and cockpit with the conversion rig, as well as the super sunfish sails and mast/boom assembly:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9083477@N07/

I apologize for the low light. It really is in remarkable shape for its age. It needs a good cleaning and polishing and some gelcoat work but not bad otherwise.

The sunfish sail and mast/boom assembly has been disassembled pending new sail rings and mast top & bottom caps from APS, so I don't have any shots of it in this album.

The Super Sunfish mast assembly needs a good cleaning; the whole kit and kaboodle was stored under a tarp and has a lot of earth on it. One sail is brand new and still has the Neil Pryde warranty tag on it.

The rudder needs to be stripped and revarnished; the daggerboard needs the same treatment and eventual replacing, but for now it's fine. Any advice or tips will be much appreciated as I go through this process.

Nice get indeed. I picked up almost the same block you have that is mounted on the traveler. Mine has a nicro shackle instead of the traveler car. I was wondering how it would work. You took that away with your picture. I am guessing it will work out great. Gonna have to install an eye, like _^_ near where the hook is to mount it. Maybe use the same holes? Or leave the hook and mount it on top. Would think if I have the block, why would I use the hook?
 
Must be my lucky week.

Just for good measure, I had another one given to me today that's a twin of this one, but a '76 hull. I've been searching for a trailer, and a colleague mentioned that while he didn't have a trailer, he had a sunfish he was looking to get rid of. It's an ex-sailing school boat (needs a sail and some fiberglass work around the daggerboard trunk). I haven't had the time to evaluate it thoroughly yet, so we'll see how this goes. You know, because I need more projects.

Next up will apparently be an a-frame double trailer for the twin fish.
 
Must be my lucky week.

Just for good measure, I had another one given to me today that's a twin of this one, but a '76 hull. I've been searching for a trailer, and a colleague mentioned that while he didn't have a trailer, he had a sunfish he was looking to get rid of. It's an ex-sailing school boat (needs a sail and some fiberglass work around the daggerboard trunk). I haven't had the time to evaluate it thoroughly yet, so we'll see how this goes. You know, because I need more projects.

Next up will apparently be an a-frame double trailer for the twin fish.

Attach the hulls and make the first multi-hull Sunfish!
 
If you keep this up, you'll soon have enough sunfishs to build a pontoon bridge... Would have been quite a site at this years worlds in Curacao.
 

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There are some photos of the '79 at that flickr link. I will post some more this week. I have to convert a jetski trailer to a dual sunfish trailer and haul them 300 miles, so I haven't even looked at them in a few days!
 
Update:

I got the '76 home and there is about an 8" crack in the keel that will require some fiberglass work to repair, but the rest of the hull is intact. I'm sure there will be inspection ports installed and the foam inside needs to be dried out (had to empty a ton of water out).

Oh well, it's a project boat. It needs new lines, a sail and sail clips. I have to evaluate the rudder and daggerboard but it appears that there are no cracks.

I leak tested the '79 and it appears to be sound. I have some gelcoat work and will eventually want to redo one patch on the chine, but I should be able to get it in the water fairly quickly.

I'm pretty excited about these projects and, most importantly, my kids are too.
 
Update:

Got both fish trailered 300 miles north to Lake Champlain before the hurricane. I borrowed a jetski trailer and made some adjustments to it. I slid the wheels as far back as possible and moved the bunks out as far as I could to the sides. I also flipped them around so they sloped forward instead of aft. This helped angle the boats towards the front. The bottom fish was set on the bunks and the second one flipped on top of it. We put a few foam kayak blocks in between and some old life preservers stuffed in around the coaming for good measure to separate and take the load off the stern of the bottom boat. Lots of straps, webbing and bungees and off I went. Both made it up safely with no damage and, fingers crossed, will weather the winter indoors up north.

Oh, and 8" wheels to boot!

341376_276595582356935_100000194865755_1274026_5814895_o.jpg
 
nice work! I had made a frame using 2x wood material to space (2) boats apart when I double-stacked them like that. I'm still brainstorming to get a more elegant and long-term solution, but I guess either method works if need be.

one thought on your wheel position - you don't want to have them too far back, or the tongue weight will get large. just doing some mild googling suggests that tongue weight should be 10% to 15% of the gross trailer weight. if you trailered it for 300 miles with no trouble, though, it might not really be an issue.

cheers,
thad
 
Thanks Tag. The shifting of the wheels towards the back did exactly what you stated - it brought the somewhat shaky center of gravity towards the tongue of the trailer. Also by flipping the bunks around the noses of the boats were lower in the front which helped the loading. If I was going to do this on a regular basis, I would pick up a basic 12" wheel 4x8 trailer frame from Harbor Freight or Tractor Supply and build an A-frame on it. That being said, it certainly wasn't elegant (or very aerodynamic) but it worked! That's all I could ask and it didn't cost me anything. I sold the Yakima kayak block kit i had purchased to a friend after we got up there so it was a net zero.

The boats are inside our cabin on their sides on pool noodles with drain plugs opened and screened (not enough room to lay them down) for the winter (yikes - did I say that already?), so the next several months will be spent preparing for the spring repairs that lie ahead of me.

I was also able to pick up a used sail from a contact, so with a little sail tape and some new lines and rings we'll be good to go come then. Thanks for all of your help and comments.
 

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