Free Sunfish... little wet

Nephroid

Member
I was amused by this posting that I found as I was browsing CL this evening.

By the look of the algae on the deck/cockpit it seems to have been submerged for quite some time. It also made me wonder if folks have successfully kept their Sunfish moored or wet slipped.

That Daysailer in the background however... seems to be doing just fine.
 
Hell ya, I'd take it if I were on the east coast. Blue is my favorite, even
if it looks like it got rammed and there is a v notch in the far side. If you're
coming to Michigan feel free to dump it in my yard.
 
If it’s close by it might be worth checking out. I’d be curious enough to see it up close. It’s got the new style rudder (deck stripes fore and aft) and is at least good for parts. I love the blue deck Sunnies, too. It will weigh a ton, but someone will grab it- go for it, Nephroid!
 
You are spot on thinking that she'd be good for practice repairs, that's how we gathered courage to do some of the repairs we have done. Very few boats we've seen were "beyond repair" but most of the have been beyond "economic" repair. The value comes from the experience gained and fun that you have getting her back out there ON the water and not UNDER the water :)

We wrote a book centered around repairs we did on this 1968 Alcort MERCI.

Merci at Pauls.jpg


IMG_1749.jpg


Merci port stern.JPG


She brought so much fun to many that a gent in Europe modeled his RC sailboat after her!

MERCI RC race.jpg


FMI: Small Boat Restoration: Sunfish Pickin Pensacola Merci Beaucoup
 
Here is one that I deemed beyond repair. The photos show the grisly organ removal procedure before the corpus was transported to the local
landfill for a proper burial.

Alqn Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 

Attachments

  • L1020999.JPG
    L1020999.JPG
    1.1 MB · Views: 50
  • L1020997.JPG
    L1020997.JPG
    1.3 MB · Views: 70
So I think I found her here on Google Maps!

Assuming she’s in the same spot it looks like she’s not far from shore. Maybe I can grab her at low tide and drag her onto the beach where I could drain the hull. One problem might be finding a ramp where I can get her onto my trailer.



A880992B-12A7-4969-AAB7-1696AACF90A0.png
 
I was thinking that a dolly would help, but you may need more than that, I am afraid (see the post above; or another person or two).
 
Take a battery powered drill and a large bit and a
water pump, it will be too heavy to fully drag on shore.
I have my Seitech beach dolly that I would plan to bring along. Hope the sand is wet. Good suggestion to bring a drill with a hole saw as well.

Just to clarify in your experience, assuming it's drained, how heavy is a waterlogged sunfish hull likely to be? Are we talking ~200lbs or more like 400lbs+ ?
 
You'll never get it on the dolly and if you did it would crush it. You can get it
one third of the way onto the beach. Don't bother tying on to the bow handle
and pulling with you car, the results are predictable. To get it further up the
beach I would use a flat ribbon tow strap looped around the stern. These
are the wide nylon yellow straps used for pulling semi. That or bring a couple
cases of chilled beer and try to get eight of the ripped and chiseled dudes away from
the women for ten minutes to lift it onto a trailer. As Homer says, 'Beer is the cause of
and the solution to all off the worlds problems.'
 
my 69 fish was half submerged for about 2 years, when I first got it...free of course. Once the water is drained out, it's only about 200 lbs max. Dried out like a champ over the winter and is my "go-to" dingy. I ended up sanding the boat to get rid of the "crud" and then a good buff brought it back to life.
 

Attachments

  • 0515161336.jpg
    0515161336.jpg
    658.1 KB · Views: 43
  • 0515161345a.jpg
    0515161345a.jpg
    663.1 KB · Views: 53
  • 0514161813edit.jpg
    0514161813edit.jpg
    563.1 KB · Views: 51
  • 0622161912.jpg
    0622161912.jpg
    495.9 KB · Views: 45
Our experience with the wet foam was 189 pounds, with water drained out. The expanding foam was saturated and we removed that, the white structural blocks were damp but not soaked. Curious what other folks' experiences have been. Who's got the calculator and the math skills?

The cool part is she still floats, a discussion came up about someone wanting to sink their boat as a hurricane approached, and the consensus was that she would not sink, at least not the same day.

Insert random river skiff caulking photo here...

audrey caulk.jpg
 
Last edited:
Haha, Webfoot1, that's funny... adding ice-cold beer as an incentive to those dudes ripped on 'roids might expedite the transfer, LOL. :cool:
 
You'll never get it on the dolly and if you did it would crush it. You can get it
one third of the way onto the beach. Don't bother tying on to the bow handle
and pulling with you car, the results are predictable. To get it further up the
beach I would use a flat ribbon tow strap looped around the stern. These
are the wide nylon yellow straps used for pulling semi. That or bring a couple
cases of chilled beer and try to get eight of the ripped and chiseled dudes away from
the women for ten minutes to lift it onto a trailer. As Homer says, 'Beer is the cause of
and the solution to all off the worlds problems.'

Yeah. I like the idea of not crushing my dolly.

The strap around the stern is a really good suggestion. Wish my trailer had a winch and may try to jury rig one with some block and tackle.

Will bring beer... even if no takers, I can at least drink it myself for the courage.
 
So I messaged the poster yesterday and someone was already looking at it, and I'm guessing by now took it home.
Oh well. It was fun to imagine for a little while. Would have been a nice little salvage restoration project.

Hopefully the person who picked it up is on this forum and can give us an update.
 
So I messaged the poster yesterday and someone was already looking at it, and I'm guessing by now took it home.
Oh well. It was fun to imagine for a little while. Would have been a nice little salvage restoration project.

Hopefully the person who picked it up is on this forum and can give us an update.
Hey Nephroid, I really like the boat in your profile pic. Can you post some photos of that Sunfish?
 
Just because they messaged the poster do you think they actually got the boat? Even if they showed up they may not have wanted it once they realized what they were dealing with.
 

Back
Top