1979 Sunfish Repairs part II Need More Help

4cpus4me

Active Member
I got the bow nose all fixed as seen in the other thread and after doing a leak test found she was was blowing bubbles worse than Ted Kennedy after a bender out the transom end from the deck seam. You can see in the PICs the seam is well-separated. I scraped out some filler someone had put in at some point. It looks like they ground a triangle shape before filling but it obviously didn't hold and now I have to fix it right. It's the just the transom flange that needs to be fixed as the rest of the boat looks good.

Questions:

1) Will that gudgeon come off as long as I don't take all the screws out so I can repair the underside of the flange right above the gudgeon?

2 Should I take an E-cut saw to the seam and clean it out and then inject thickened epoxy and clamp?

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You can take out all 4 screws from the stainless gudgeon bracket as there is an internal threaded aluminum back-up plate fiberglassed into the inside of the transom. Clean out any debris between the deck and hull joint, fill the gap with thickened epoxy and clamp with lots of spring clamps. Let cure. Sand then do another leak test before re-installing the aluminum trim.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
You can take out all 4 screws from the stainless gudgeon bracket as there is an internal threaded aluminum back-up plate fiberglassed into the inside of the transom. Clean out any debris between the deck and hull joint, fill the gap with thickened epoxy and clamp with lots of spring clamps. Let cure. Sand then do another leak test before re-installing the aluminum trim.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY

Oh thank God that plate can come off without surprises. Maybe I will get to sail this year after all. :cool:
 
My attempt at repairing the stern seam separation. Cleaned the flange very well with 80 grit and got all the old goo out. Chased a hacksaw blade in the seam at the out extremities to get to clean fiberglass. I didn't have any Thixo so I thickened some resin with Cabosil, sucked it into a hobby syringe and did my best to inject it into the seam, then clamped with a bunch of clamps, several which may be stuck there forever now from the squeeze-out :eek:
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Does anyone know where I can get gelcoat the color of my hull?
Cabosil goes back to 2005 on this forum. It's "colloidal silica", and highly resistant to sanding.

Refinishing rudder, tiller and daggerboard this weekend | SailingForums.com

My experience with Quick-Grip clamps have proven to be unsatisfactory, but I did buy them at a yard sale. :rolleyes:

("Tag sale" to Connecticut members). ;)

Yes, I suspected it would be much tougher to sand. I don't use it much. I have a diamond wheel and diamond grinding tools for the dremel if things get ugly. :D
 
For about $9 you can get gel coat tints on amazon. Go to Boatworkstoday youtube channel and he has a piece on how to do color matching with gel coat.

I suck at it but you can make it look not so bad with some experimenting. Or find a local artist to help you get the color.
 
42 year-old Sunfish has come a long way and the leaks are fixed and passed it's final leak test. Getting ready to put the trim back on. What do you guys use to seal the rudder bracket bolts?

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