Best method of cutting up a rotted Sunfish hull!

LAWilliams

Active Member
I purchased a 1973? Sunfish yesterday for a parts boat to fill in some areas on our current rebuild. The hull is so bad that I almost blew off the deal until the seller finally admitted that I was the only one to look at the boat and he needed it gone. When the price dropped to a case of beer for hauling it off today I couldn't pass on the deal. I do have a problem as I need to dispose of this hull. It has to weigh 180 plus pounds, was stored right side up full of water, has extensive hull damage and stripped of all rigging except part of the metal bailer and some decent metal trim. What is the best way to cut this hull in half or thirds to dispose of it. (Local landfill will not take anything over 8ft. I have an angle grinder, Saws all, and a jigsaw. Any ideas?
 
Sawzall with a long blade or the angle grinder would be my first choice.
Chainsaw with a junk chain would be faster, maybe?
Sledgehammer (my dad calls it the "Persuader").
 
I cut up an old Viking clone using a circular saw after taking off all the parts including the aluminum trim. I disposed of it slowly by putting sections into the trash each week.
 
danpal, You are much more patient than I am. They control our trash with so many regulations, these tiny containers & they only pick up once a week. I would be past Christmas with your method. lol
 
I changed my mind - use the falling tree method to break it up!

winter-storage-crunch.jpg
 
I landfill several damaged, waterlogged Sunfish hulls per year. My landfill will take an intact hull for $15. It goes into their ground level dumpster and then to the disposal site where they flatten it with their bulldozer (not a pretty sight). When I cut one up myself, I use a 4" angle grinder with a thin cut-off blade.
Make about 5 passes from port to starboard and then use a hand saw to saw through the interior foam blocks. Wear protective clothing, eye protection and a mask as you don't want fiberglass dust in your lungs. Do this outside if possible as it is messy, dusty task. A sawsall with a long blade may be quicker - I just don't have one.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 

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Great movie, I still have a couple of posters from back in the day:

IMG_0615.JPG
IMG_0616.JPG


My favorite lines were when Sundance says, "I CAN'T SWIM!" Butch laughs, then replies, "WHY, YA DAMN FOOL, THE FALL ALONE WILL KILL YA!" :eek:

Or some such words... pretty funny, especially to a rock climber. ;)

Here's a bonus shot of Tiger & Crackhead... :rolleyes:

IMG_0617.JPG


Maybe you can hire them to cut up the boat... or not, LOL. Try calling that landfill again to see if they'll take the hull in one piece, they might cut ya some slack on the rule once ya explain. :cool:
 
I landfill several damaged, waterlogged Sunfish hulls per year. My landfill will take an intact hull for $15. It goes into their ground level dumpster and then to the disposal site where they flatten it with their bulldozer (not a pretty sight). When I cut one up myself, I use a 4" angle grinder with a thin cut-off blade.
Make about 5 passes from port to starboard and then use a hand saw to saw through the interior foam blocks. Wear protective clothing, eye protection and a mask as you don't want fiberglass dust in your lungs. Do this outside if possible as it is messy, dusty task. A sawsall with a long blade may be quicker - I just don't have one.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
The angle grinder was my first guess at the best method. The Sawsall might be good for the interior and foam. Right there with you on the eye and lung protection.
 
Great movie, I still have a couple of posters from back in the day:

View attachment 42176 View attachment 42177

My favorite lines were when Sundance says, "I CAN'T SWIM!" Butch laughs, then replies, "WHY, YA DAMN FOOL, THE FALL ALONE WILL KILL YA!" :eek:

Or some such words... pretty funny, especially to a rock climber. ;)

Here's a bonus shot of Tiger & Crackhead... :rolleyes:

View attachment 42178

Maybe you can hire them to cut up the boat... or not, LOL. Try calling that landfill again to see if they'll take the hull in one piece, they might cut ya some slack on the rule once ya explain. :cool:
One of my all time favorites. Fun movie!
 
If I had to pick the top ten Westerns right off the top of my head, I'd certainly pick that one. In no particular order, here are my picks:

---SHANE

---HOMBRE

---THE WILD BUNCH

---A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS

---FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE

---THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY

---BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID

---JOE KIDD

---THE SEARCHERS

---HIGH NOON

Oh, hell, I ran down the list too soon... story of my life, LOL. I could probably make substitutions if I thought about 'em long enough, a list of Westerns with 'The Duke' could practically fill the list. Then there are Western spoofs like 'THEY CALL ME TRINITY' with Terence Hill, that movie and its sequels are freakin' hilarious!!! I always laughed out loud when Trinity slapped the gunfighters... too damned funny, LOL. :rolleyes:

Oh, well, these were the first ten to come to mind, if I had to pick an all-time favorite it would certainly be 'THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY'---the classic Spaghetti Western from Sergio Leone, and ya just don't get a better soundtrack than ya do with composer Ennio Morricone, he was the bomb when it came to Western music. :cool:

Edit: Here's one video which shows just how much work went into the creation of ONE TUNE by Ennio Morricone... there are other versions on YouTube, including covers by other famous opera stars and musicians (Metallica too, go figure), but this one shows the original orchestra. Me beloved & dear departed mum played violin for Tommy Dorsey at one point in her life, so she taught us to appreciate all kinds of music. This tune is a CLASSIC!!! ;)

 
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I used and would recommend a saws all, way less dust then a grinder or circular saw. With a good blade it cut through pretty easily. I was able to cut up a boat into small enough pieces it fit in a single trash can (not including foam) all in under an hour.
 
Back in the early 60s, our club had a few Sailfish that were partly crushed when a big oak fell on them. I was in charge of getting rid of them. There was no such thing as a sawzall back then, so I tried the club’s chainsaw, but bits of fiberglass got everywhere while I cut the first boat to shreds.

So, I dragged the boats onto the dirt lot next to the club, and borrowed the keys to the club caretaker’s ‘36 Ford Phaeton and just ran those boats over, again, and again, and again. The skinny tires on that ‘36 cut right through those boats like the Giant’s Frank Gifford cut through the Bear’s defense in the ‘56 NFL Championship game. Best part was those Firestones pulverized the boats so much the fiberglass blended with the dirt in the lot and no cleanup was needed! So if you can find an old jalopy and a dirt lot, that’ll be your best way to get rid of the ‘fish.
 
Before I stay up late watching a movie, I reckon I'll include these classic clips... pardon the thread-jacking, it's worth it, LOL. ;)



Okay, I'm off to watch some entertainment, probably a Western, LOL. Hey, maybe you can make like Trinity and SLAP that hull apart... using a pistol on the side to aid in your efforts, LOL. :rolleyes:

Last minute edit: Meh, I'll toss in this one with Mescal, the Mexican bandido, LOL... :eek:

 
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Wear protective clothing, eye protection and a mask as you don't want fiberglass dust in your lungs. Do this outside if possible as it is messy, dusty task. A sawsall with a long blade may be quicker - I just don't have one.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
A bargain Sawzall is available from Harbor Freight for $19.99. It's their least powerful, but that hasn't bothered me. Unlike more expensive Sawzalls, the head can be turned to make difficult cuts. (A feature I've used on other projects).

Blade-changes are almost instant on Dewalt units, through an ingenious tool-free button.

Although intended to cut wood, an extra-long blade is available everywhere. Those should be OK to use on fiberglass, and even better on Styrofoam blocks.

I've been restoring some pretty sorry cases, so I'm saddened to see any Sunfish scrapped. :(

That said, I see many inches of "donor" backing plates for chine repairs, and large expanses that can be re-purposed into interesting projects. (A 14-foot garden pond comes to mind first). :cool:

A tonneau cover (made of fiberglass) can be made by grinding off the cockpit rim (at the top edge) and trimming down a rear deck section to fit. Bond the two pieces with mat and resin. The new tonneau cover will tightly "nest" to protect one's Sunfish--and its contents. :)
 
One of those long "demo blades" will tear it up fast enough, though it'll make a bit of a mess... nothing like the dynamite or C-4, LOL. :eek:
 
Ya know, after watching that Ennio Morricone video again (along with a few other E.M. videos, because his music doesn't suck), well, I've decided that if & when I ever shack up again with some gal, I want her to be an opera star... :confused:

That way, when she rants & raves and goes ballistic because I forgot to put the toilet seat down, I can enjoy a musical experience which rivals Pavarotti, LOL. Yesiree, I'm now on the lookout for a female opera star to make my life more interesting... :rolleyes:

And when she sings in the shower, well, I'll have a free concert... and y'all know I'm a cheap b@stard when it comes to shelling out concert money, LOL. Okay, just wanted to share that observation with alla youse NAUTICAL HEROES, as a LIFELONG FRIGGIN' SMALL CRAFT SAILOR. ;)

Oh, wait... make that a GRASSROOTS SAILOR, I won the only race I ever BOTHERED to enter, LOL. But Bill Bennett was cool, I guess his pop was in with those SDYC fooliots and early Dago sailors like Carl Eichenlaub, another COOL F#%NG HAND & SKIPPER, AYE??? :cool:

Meh, I'm off to celebrate, since this long financial drought which was enforced for all the wrong reasons will soon come to an end.
 
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Meh, here's another version of that video, using clips from the actual flick... my favorite (Spaghetti) Western of all time, LOL. :rolleyes:


Okay, I'm done thread-jacking, should've started a whole new thread for all Sergio Leone & Ennio Morricone material, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! :cool:

And what sort of JACK@$$---nautical or otherwise---would whine & p!ss & moan like some PC fagtard over TUCO getting the job done??? PFFFFFT. ;)
 
We'll settle for a description, like something out of a B-grade horror novel... ;)

"The hull screamed as the evil reciprocating saw roared and the cruel blade bit into the rotten flesh... er, I mean fiberglass!" :eek:

A follow-up clip of some traumatized person sobbing on Jerry Springer would add authenticity... :rolleyes:

Don't forget to collect a check from ol' Jerry... I'm sure he can afford it. :cool:
 
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