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Did you straighten the bent-up gudgeon or are you using it while bent? (A few of or gudgeons were bent a little and they worked fine, after straightening they still worked fine.) We straightened our badly-bent gudgeon and it looks good. The goal is to have it mount and unmount easily plus...

Thanks signal charlie, I got a few good suggestions already. I would guess that many of our club’s members know Tom, there are lots of connections with the two clubs.

No, signal charlie, I don’t know him.

I took a good look at the boat and I can’t see any evidence that it is not a true Sunfish. There are stickers that vouch for it’s heritage and I couldn’t see any features of the boat that are atypical. The pointy part of the hull below the gudgeon looks the same as other boats. Besides the...

Thank you shorefun. Plus to others that have had questions: I’ll take some photos and notes tomorrow to get some answers to your questions.

Charles: I thought so too. I thought that it would have advantages and disadvantages to being there. This number is very easy to read. Most Sunfish serial numbers that I have seen were nearly unreadable.

danpal: Yes, I believe that it is a true Sunfish. I do see a LaserPerformance sticker on the stern. Every other one of our club’s Sunfish have four phillip’s-head machine screws holding the gudgeon in place. I suspect that this boat came from the factory with the backing plate and machine...

My sailing club’s Sunfish fleet has a boat that had a gudgeon that appeared to be pulling out the bottom two fasteners, and in the process tilting down the tiller. I removed the gudgeon screws (yes, screws; not the normal bolts) and found that a repair had been made years ago. The repair...

Update: I have refinished 7 tillers. Some had a coat of cream-white paint over the original varnish. The rest had bare wood among the places where the varnish remained. All were stripped with a chemical paint remover by brushing it on and then scraping it off. All were then sanded with a 60...

TILLER COVER Thistle: I was thinking that a cover might be a good idea after watching a few YouTube tutorials and critiques of Urethane. Sun damage appears to be a drawback to Urethane. One of our club members who helps out with boat upkeep can sew and offered to help make a dozen or so...

Thanks danpal, joe, and shorefun for your inputs. I’ve decided on the Minwax Helmsman Indoor/outdoor spar urethane, I think that a quart is more than enough for three coats. I’ll be applying it outdoors, and because of the warnings I will be especially cautious to avoid breathing the fumes...

The 2015 thread on Sunfish Restoration by Alan Glos came up recently. I have a follow up question. I’m in the process of restoring 8 wooden Sunfish tillers and a rudder. I have stripped the old varnish or paint off of the wood tillers and have sanded them with decreasing coarseness of...

L&VW: Thanks, which way is the big loop pointing on you photo? Is the smaller piece of wood (popsicle stick?) the part that is pinched by the thumb and forefinger when a sailor is pulling the plug out?

This prototype used a 4-inch piece of Gorilla Tape and then an extra 1/2-inch by 2-inch strip to reinforce it. I put the plug in tightly and I could pull out the plug without ripping the tape. I don’t know how well it will work after it spends a summer wet and in the sun though. I’ll give it a...

Here’s a variation on L&VW’s idea of a Gorilla Tape repair: I used some black tape so that it would show up better in the photo. It’s the 2-inch wide tape and I used a 2 & 1/4-inch strip of it. Cut the hole with a pair of scissors. I am concerned about trying to grip the wet tape with wet...

Thanks L&VW, I’ll give that a try. I am going to order some replacement plugs but in the event that the plugs are unavailable I’ll have a “Plan B” ready to go.

Thanks for the input. I'm trying to increase our club's fleet utilizing some unused boats that need parts. Some of the parts needed are much more expensive than these straps but I'd still like to minimize club expenses.

Our sailing club has a half-dozen damaged straps, the ends of each have torn off. The strap that I refer to is that piece of white rubbery material that acts as a retainer for the cockpit drain plug. The entire strap is in fine condition except for the tiny piece that we use to grip the plug...

When I demonstrate how to rig a Sunfish I call the part that the halyard goes through a “tunnel”. “Bullseye fairlead” seems a bit over the top. I do like “keel thingy” from the original poster’s list, I might adopt that one next season.

Our sailing club, with 9 seaworthy Sunfish boats in the fleet has quite a few shabby tiller extensions. If we just had one Sunfish it would not be such a burden to get a new, quality tiller extension but I hesitate to ask the club to spend hundreds of dollars on new tiller extensions. Plus...