Bailer in 1973 Sunfish stuck?

Lana Turner

New Member
Hi, I have a 1973 sunfish that has a drain plug on the floor of the hull that says "Bailer" on it. It's stuck in the closed position and I can't figure out how to open it up to let the water out.

It looks like it has a threaded edge, like it should turn to open. I've tried a wrench, but it does not budge. Is there a secret to this?
 
It looks like your bailer has corroded to such an extent that you can't open it anymore. This is a common problem on boats of that vintage. There is a lot of info on this forum to address this problem. Just use the Search function (top bar). You may end up having to replace the bailer.

In the meantime, here is one link: http://www.windline.net/BailerR.htm
 
I recently bought a 1973 Sunfish also, and had the same problem you do. I got the thing loose by turning the boat upside down on sawhorses and spraying PB blaster into the opening of the bailer (the aluminum thing that sticks out of the bottom of the boat). I sprayed a few times (the stuff foams a little) until I figured I had the core filled, then I let it sit for a day and was able to get it off the next day using a vise-grips on the brass-looking nob in the cockpit (it's really brass colored aluminum) and using a pipe wrench to hold the aluminum thing that sticks out of the bottom of the boat.

If you don't know what PBblaster is, here's a link to it (it's pretty common) http://blasterchemical.com/display.cfm?p=50003&pid=4
 

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