upnorthduck
New Member
I have a red bottom, yellow top 70's sunfish that I picked up on Craigslist (for a price too good to refuse). The bottom is very heavily oxidized, and has had some epoxy patches along the keel and in a few other spots. It looks like these were primarily to seal cracks or chips in the gelcoat; not structural. Part of the prior repairs need to be redone, there are also a few more chips that need to be filled, and some non-structural, but fairly widespread gelcoat cracking.
I am trying to decide a course of action. The hull is going to require some level of filling, sanding, buffing to get it presentable. I could go whole hog and fix every crack and chip I see either with West system epoxy and\or Petit EZFair, painstakingly sand and feather and then repaint. This would be ideal, but impact sailing this season. Or I could fix just the big issues and see how it wears for a year or two until I have more time, disregarding the appearance of the bottom.
Are there any rules of thumb as to when a bottom should be repainted vs. patched and sanded smooth (albeit not very attractive).
I'll post some photos later tonight.
I am trying to decide a course of action. The hull is going to require some level of filling, sanding, buffing to get it presentable. I could go whole hog and fix every crack and chip I see either with West system epoxy and\or Petit EZFair, painstakingly sand and feather and then repaint. This would be ideal, but impact sailing this season. Or I could fix just the big issues and see how it wears for a year or two until I have more time, disregarding the appearance of the bottom.
Are there any rules of thumb as to when a bottom should be repainted vs. patched and sanded smooth (albeit not very attractive).
I'll post some photos later tonight.