Recent content by SilentKnight

Simple question...but I couldn't find it in a search. I'm painting the deck of the beast I repaired last year. A 1967. I've removed all HW and edge railing, including unscrewing the combing. My simple question is: what about the plate with the serial number? I don't know how easy it is to...

Thanks for the toilet bowl cleaner suggestion. I'll do that when I get the boat back in the shop. I finished the repair (for now) Wednesday morning, and went for the first sail Thursday AM. The boat isn't pretty - but I have a Sunfish in the water, and some happy kids. A sincere thank you to...

Removed the clamps this morning...and it looks really good! The deck is well sealed to the hull, and there are not noticeable gaps. Whew! My rooking clamping job seems to have been good enough after all. Started today patching the hull. Using MarineTex for expediency - I realize it won't...

OK. Deck looks good! That bad news is clamping it to the lip was a bit more difficult than I thought. I strongly advise anyone who tries this to do a complete dry run with clamps, sticks and such to make sure you can get the deck and lip together cleanly. I stupidly did not do this, and was...

What I did was epoxy roving on underneath the deck, held in place temporarily with a backing board screwed in place. Then I put three layers of 6oz on top of that as a normal surface patch. I'm not sure what the "right" thickness is for a repair like this, but it seems to approximate the...

It has been a few wet days in Maryland, so I've been a bit hampered. Got into it yesterday. First piece of good news is that the deformed hull has largely moved back into shape. I propped a piece of wood inside against the foam pushing it out. After about a day I removed it, and the hull...

Thank you both for the detailed responses, and great info. Cactus Cowboy: I think the hull deformation is not too bad; I can fairly easily pop it out by hand. Hoping I don't need to cut slots. I got a 1 1/2" x 1/8" aluminum bar today. I think that will work well - great suggestion. Do you...

Thank you for the advice and suggestions! I'll have to look into that sail repair tape. I did some work on the patch today. I guess the good part of a poorly done patch is that it is easy to remove. It had very little structural integrity. Using a grinder and a bit of time it is all gone...

Thats a beautiful boat! Thanks for the advise on the patch & the paint. I'm going to have a go at it tomorrow and see what I find underneath. From what I gathered when I picked it up, I think that patch was done by a teenager who was sad that his boat hit some rocks, and didn't know what else...

I've decided I'm going to try using a heat gun to gently remove the old patch and see what it looks like underneath. Doing some research it seems this is the best way to remove fiberglass. Hopefully I can do this without too much damage to the gel coat.

Hi, I just acquired a 1967 sunfish. I'm hoping I can get some advice from the experienced folks. My goal is to: 1. Get it seaworthy as soon as I can for Summer use. Doesn't need to look pretty, but does need to be safe. 2. Make a longer term plan for more in depth restoration. The biggest...