Recent content by weather-beaten Sunfisher

Yeah..... Blueberry is right. A Sunfish might be the perfect boat for you. You are only 20 lbs heavier than me, and I've never felt like the boat was too small for me. If you want simple and FUN.... then the sunfish is the perfect boat. I've raced all sorts of boats, from Sunfish to 12...

I don't have any pics on this PC, but I've got a digicam. I'll take a few and post them over the week-end. Our little fleet WAS situated in New Orleans.... but right now we're scattered out from Texas to Florida. I'm in Tampa, and getting ready to move back to the N.O. area. BUT..... I...

Ole Geez... I also race a class-legal Sunfish, and advocate keeping it a true "one design". The modified boat racing we do is mostly with old clunkers that would otherwise be retired from racing. It's an unwritten rule that boats which would be competitive in class-legal racing should not be...

Even though i race and enjoy a highly modified boat in small, local races with my friends.... I think the official "Class Design" should remain as it is. The class is quite strong, and the current rudder design works quite well. Changing the design would force competitors with older boats to...

A few friends of mine and I race modified Sunfish with better hiking provisions. (but we don't advertise the fact, since we don't want to raise the eyebrows of the purists who think the original design is as sacred as the King James.) I've found that masts and mast sockets begin to break at...

Hhhmmmm I don't know what year that might be, then. You might have a very early 60's or late 50's model... or maybe a well-built clone (but probably not). The oldest i've seen is a my old '64, and the available info doesn't go back past the 60's.... so I can't say for sure. If the hull...

I used to have one exactly like it, except for the mainsheet cleat..... a WAY long time ago. It was a 1964 model. The serial number plate used to be near the splash-guard on the right side, and was riveted on. If yours has no serial number at all, I'd guess that the plate got removed/knocked...

actually.... the rear hatch could be construed to be a "access hatch" and might still be within the racing rules. Mine has a similar, though smaller, hatch in the same location to allow access to the inside of the back for inspectio / repair purposes. One thing to keep in mind is that the...

Wow... I didn't see anything nasty about what has been written. Some things appear to have been written in humor, and could perhaps be mis-read as less than warm... but everything else seems perfectly friendly to me. You mentioned that you might want to race the boat, and several folks...

The rules are rather clear about modifications you can make to your boat and still be race-legal. You CAN install access ports, you cannot remove the foam inside the boat. Also, you can paint the boat with any coating you care to use, as long as it is applied in liquid form. As far as...

I replaced my old-style rudder a long time ago.... just for that reason. I had mine pop out once right in the middle of a controlled jibe in moderate to high winds. Needless to say the maneuvre suddlenly became a lot less controlled! Anyway.... the best conversion to make is to buy a...

mine is side to side.... but I've seen 'em both ways, and I can't see an advantage either way. Just be sure to use big washers or a wood backing underneath.

I've got the plans for a dolly using wheel-barrow wheels, that I tore out of a very old Popular Mechanics magazine. It is just a set of wheels and a sling/cradle that straps to the boat...... with no "tongue" at all. you just lift the bow of the boat and wheel it around. I've never built...

I've always heard that it's not the size of one's rudder that counts, but how you use it.

Oooohhhh that "point of no return".... the point of Zero Stability. I know it well. I've often pondered why time seems to distort, and that odd slow-motion seems to set in. I'm sure it has something to do with Physics or Meta-physics..... or how much Rum I had the night before.