They don't sell it at Lowes or Home Depot in my area, which is a bummer. I was planning on ordering it for my deck though. I'm gonna do that either oyster white, semi-gloss white, or gloss white. I think gloss white would be the best looking, but way too bright. Anyways....I think i'll order this stuff from Amazon as I can get it shipped free. I wish they made it in yellow.In my area Lowe's sells a Rust-Oleum Topside paint and primer for marine use. The primer is around $17-$18 and the paint which comes in colors is around $14. These are quart prices. I highly recommend the primer. In the past (I have painted three Sunfish) I didn't use primer and eventually some of the spider cracks would show up again. By using primer, the final paint came out much better.
Craig
Yep, if I remember correctly, it is one of the dreaded Pearson boats. I've read that they are to be avoided, but never heard why. Thanks for the info. I do think that mine has had issues with cracking at the bottom of the daggerboard trunk, because someone along the way smeared some marine tex or something in there. My plan is to put an inspection port in the front of the cockpit and add some reinforcement fiberglass around where the trunk meets the deck and hull.The other big problem you have is that boat looks to have been built by Pearson. Those boats were very poorly built and that could be why it is held together with rivets. THey are also notorious for the hull and deck coming loose from the DB trunk. So you could make these repairs and have another part of it fall apart. I'd keep my eye open for another hull and save the $$ you'd be putting into this to spend on a better hull. BB
Good idea on the drywall anchors/dowels. I was thinking just some screws through it tied off to other crap around the garage, but that would be way easier.As far as the paint goes, the rustoleum should work fine. My kid sister is the paint dept manager at Lowes, and she says the puddleduck/plywood boat guys use the heck out of it and like it a lot.
I'm going with epifane orange on mine from West. Am pretty stoked because my inspection port and fat bag came in from Intensity and it's EXACTLY the same orange color bag as the paint color is. Weird fluke cuz I didn't specify a color when I ordered it.
My factory paint colors were white hull with orange stripes and combing. I'm doing orange lower hull and white topside and matching the epifane over the existing combing and stripes. I was going to dupe that cool '76 restore the other guy here on the forum did, but the yellow and blue would have added another $100 in paint. $45 for the orange Epi is already pricey not even counting primer and thinner.
The reason I'm going with real boat paint is that I am using the Sunfish to practice on since I have to do a bottom job on my keelboat ('79 22' Buccaneer/USyachts) and want it to come out right. I'll be using real bottom paint on it. If I screw up the job, I want it to be on the little boat I can easily redo, not the big boy with a PITA haulout.
Are you talking about the rustoleum topside paint, or the one I posted?
Supposedly my year they switched to aluminum backing plates, but good point.http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l249/brianZ71/photo-101.jpg
The repair to the bow could be "undone" to replace the wood backup plate with one of stainless steel, and maybe bolt the bow handle on. (As it is on my Porpoise II).
I haven't sailed a fish with a bailer since summer camp as a kid, but this is what I remember of them too. I think I'm just not going to worry about it for now. Thanks for the input everyone.i'd have to say its a rare that i get my bailer to bail underway - maybe if your booking on a beam reach you can get it to actually work, but it requires concentration. half the time i take on water when i accidently kick out the plug with my heal. my preferred method of bailing is a big sponge, but a bailer is very handy when hosing out your cockpit.
but i'd definitely get a coaming before putting in a bailer.
Should I put in a bailer or no?
That's kinda what I was thinking. Now the surface is glossy and "sealed" so hopefully the second coat takes less. No I didn't use primer, but wish I did just because this repair is going to take a bunch of coats of paint to cover the color.You may still only need the one quart as the second coat may not need as much. Did you use the primer? I have painted without primer and with primer and much prefer with the primer.
I have a question about those bailers. Enough water bypassed even a restored Sunfish bailer to keep the cockpit wet.
When I broke my supplied onboard bailer, I sealed it off temporarily. Except for the occasional rain, I don't miss it, but I haven't capsized this particular Sunfish yet!Since I especially like the challenge of sailing in "Light and Variable Winds"—and even in a "Flat Calm"—I watch the sky and seldom had the issue of too much water in the cockpit.
In a capsize, I'd expect some shipped-water to leave the cockpit while righting the Sunfish.Is this a correct assumption?