Downstate Yooper
New Member
Hello -
3 seasons ago I found a 1984 Sunfish at an estate sale here in the Detroit area and it was so nice and complete I couldn't afford not to buy it. She was in garage storage for a very long time and before that did some duty on Deer Lake in Clarkston. She now lives in the Upper Peninsula at my up north place (all us michiganders have an 'up north' thing) on a large but fairly shallow inland lake that feeds into Lake Michigan called Millecoquins Lake. Wind conditions can be anything from completely calm to full gale with instant 90 degree direction changes. It's a great spot but sailing season is pretty short in the U.P. I was just up this past weekend and took the boat off the lake to store inside the garage and noticed she gained a few pounds and it has me a little concerned. My wife and I were able to lift it out of the water and onto the dock pretty easily so I don't think she took on too much water over the summer but she did take on some. I opened the deck drain plug and tipped her up and watched maybe 1 gallon or so of clean water drain out. I don't have a way to weigh the hull but she seems like she's a bit heavier than 130 lbs. In June I put her in the lake and kept her stored outside slung under my dock when not in use as it's a pain getting watercraft in and out of the water due to my steep, tall and rocky shoreline. So, my main question is how concerned about this should I be? The fact that a drain plug exists tells me that some water ingress is anticipated, but on a perfect hull the only way into the hull would be via the vent hole? I do not have a perfect hull; there is a small bit of damage on the port side aft corner where she had a bit of a collision with something at some point and when I had the hull out of the water I did an air test and it indeed bubbles up at that corner. She holds the pressure pretty tightly though. I also checked for overall stiffness and any loose junk that might be sliding around inside and found the hull to be very rigid, solid and sound. I'm thinking that most of the H2O she took on is actually rain water, seeping in from the damaged corner and possibly the mast hole. Does a hull that has some water in it always mean a 'waterlogged' condition or can some water be in there without it getting soaked up by the foam? I'm tempted to cut in some appropriately placed inspection ports to monitor this and I'm not inclined to undertake the repair in the corner as it is barely visible, barley leaks, and my luck would probably wind up making things worse, not better. I have the hull stored in the garage, vertically on its side against the wall (slung so no contact with floor), with the drain plug out. So what do you more experienced swabbies think of the situation?
3 seasons ago I found a 1984 Sunfish at an estate sale here in the Detroit area and it was so nice and complete I couldn't afford not to buy it. She was in garage storage for a very long time and before that did some duty on Deer Lake in Clarkston. She now lives in the Upper Peninsula at my up north place (all us michiganders have an 'up north' thing) on a large but fairly shallow inland lake that feeds into Lake Michigan called Millecoquins Lake. Wind conditions can be anything from completely calm to full gale with instant 90 degree direction changes. It's a great spot but sailing season is pretty short in the U.P. I was just up this past weekend and took the boat off the lake to store inside the garage and noticed she gained a few pounds and it has me a little concerned. My wife and I were able to lift it out of the water and onto the dock pretty easily so I don't think she took on too much water over the summer but she did take on some. I opened the deck drain plug and tipped her up and watched maybe 1 gallon or so of clean water drain out. I don't have a way to weigh the hull but she seems like she's a bit heavier than 130 lbs. In June I put her in the lake and kept her stored outside slung under my dock when not in use as it's a pain getting watercraft in and out of the water due to my steep, tall and rocky shoreline. So, my main question is how concerned about this should I be? The fact that a drain plug exists tells me that some water ingress is anticipated, but on a perfect hull the only way into the hull would be via the vent hole? I do not have a perfect hull; there is a small bit of damage on the port side aft corner where she had a bit of a collision with something at some point and when I had the hull out of the water I did an air test and it indeed bubbles up at that corner. She holds the pressure pretty tightly though. I also checked for overall stiffness and any loose junk that might be sliding around inside and found the hull to be very rigid, solid and sound. I'm thinking that most of the H2O she took on is actually rain water, seeping in from the damaged corner and possibly the mast hole. Does a hull that has some water in it always mean a 'waterlogged' condition or can some water be in there without it getting soaked up by the foam? I'm tempted to cut in some appropriately placed inspection ports to monitor this and I'm not inclined to undertake the repair in the corner as it is barely visible, barley leaks, and my luck would probably wind up making things worse, not better. I have the hull stored in the garage, vertically on its side against the wall (slung so no contact with floor), with the drain plug out. So what do you more experienced swabbies think of the situation?