Any year sunfish to avoid

jpahanson

New Member
Looking at a 1972 sunfish but seems I recently read something that there were design issues with 1972 sunfish ????
 
1972 was the year that the new style rudder (with the kick up springs on the side of the rudder head) first appeared and the aft cockpit storage
compartment first appeared (although some of the 1971 hulls with the old style rudder design also had the storage compartment.) I don't know of any problems with these boats. The conventional wisdom is to avoid the Pearson Boat Company Sunfish hulls as they were not well built an subject to deck cracks, mast step problems and leaks. I think the Hull ID number for Pearson was "PSB.."

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
Weren't there a handful of 71 boats that had issues with the cockpit walls, where they joined the deck. Typically, deck up trailering, would break the seal and they'd leak like a screen door??
 
Weren't there a handful of 71 boats that had issues with the cockpit walls, where they joined the deck. Typically, deck up trailering, would break the seal and they'd leak like a screen door??

Those were the 'Dread 71's' where there was no flange on the cockpit tub. Sitting on the deck would cause it to
crack the deck 360 degrees around the tub. Who ever thought attaching the deck to the tub with a 90 degree
butt-joint must have been smoking something. Then again we were all smoking something in the 70's.
 

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