I pulled the trigger on a 1976 Sunfish for $150. Boat was full of water, all the foam blocks were loose. The coaming was missing but the hull seemed sound otherwise.
The dagger board was good but the rudder was completely spit down the middle. Someone had tried to repair it with about 50 staples, needless to say not the best idea. Luckily the sail, spars and mast were like new, so I figured that alone was worth the $150 and loaded it up and brought it home.
After reading all the info here and on yahoo, I got to work. I cut 3 ports and proceeded to dry it out. It started around 200 pounds and after a couple weeks of the fan going and scraping and vacuming all the pour foam out, the hull stripped of all hardware weighed in at 121 pounds.
Next was to resecure the foam blocks, everything worked just like descibed in many posts, so thanks to everyone who has shared there expieriences. The only thing is it took me 2 of the 4lb kits to do all the blocks.
The rudder was a bit of a concern, with replacments being pretty expensive I decided to fix the on I had. I used Fasco 110 epoxy I got from US composits which is about like vaseline. It needed to be thick to fill all the voids because the rudder has been split for a while and the edges were very jagged. I used a dowel kit I got from home depot to line up the holes when using a hand drill. 8 dowles later, I expect the rudder will spit in another spot befor the epoxy joint will fail.
The hull cleaned up nicely with Barkeepers Friend. I will repair the small cracks with a dremel tool and white Marine Tex. I was thinking about painting the hull but the Maine Tex matches great so I think I will just leave it as it.
For the deck, I glued new oak backer blocks with more 110 epoxy and am filling the holes and scrathes with more Marine Tex. My big problem is the Coaming. New ones at $150 are not an option. So, are they even necessary?
Does anyone have a used one for sale?? Has anyone made one from wood? Any help would be appreciated. How about the Cockpit Drain? That it the other expensive Item I was thinking about doing without. Can you get by with a hand bailer??
I am thinking of using Easypoxy for the deck. Lots of info on Rolling/Tipping, has anyone sprayed it? I have a good gun but have never done it.
Thanks, Paul
The dagger board was good but the rudder was completely spit down the middle. Someone had tried to repair it with about 50 staples, needless to say not the best idea. Luckily the sail, spars and mast were like new, so I figured that alone was worth the $150 and loaded it up and brought it home.After reading all the info here and on yahoo, I got to work. I cut 3 ports and proceeded to dry it out. It started around 200 pounds and after a couple weeks of the fan going and scraping and vacuming all the pour foam out, the hull stripped of all hardware weighed in at 121 pounds.
Next was to resecure the foam blocks, everything worked just like descibed in many posts, so thanks to everyone who has shared there expieriences. The only thing is it took me 2 of the 4lb kits to do all the blocks.
The rudder was a bit of a concern, with replacments being pretty expensive I decided to fix the on I had. I used Fasco 110 epoxy I got from US composits which is about like vaseline. It needed to be thick to fill all the voids because the rudder has been split for a while and the edges were very jagged. I used a dowel kit I got from home depot to line up the holes when using a hand drill. 8 dowles later, I expect the rudder will spit in another spot befor the epoxy joint will fail.
The hull cleaned up nicely with Barkeepers Friend. I will repair the small cracks with a dremel tool and white Marine Tex. I was thinking about painting the hull but the Maine Tex matches great so I think I will just leave it as it.
For the deck, I glued new oak backer blocks with more 110 epoxy and am filling the holes and scrathes with more Marine Tex. My big problem is the Coaming. New ones at $150 are not an option. So, are they even necessary?
Does anyone have a used one for sale?? Has anyone made one from wood? Any help would be appreciated. How about the Cockpit Drain? That it the other expensive Item I was thinking about doing without. Can you get by with a hand bailer??I am thinking of using Easypoxy for the deck. Lots of info on Rolling/Tipping, has anyone sprayed it? I have a good gun but have never done it.
Thanks, Paul
