Bring an old Starfish back to life?

[oldcatman]

Hi everyone! I'm a forum newbie who hasn't sailed in nearly 25 years. I just picked up a beat-up old Starfish hull. I understand this is a Sunfish clone made here in Texas. That's about all I know... I have no clue as to how old this thing is.

From the looks of it, I'd guess it's about 100 years old. The gelcoat appears to have literally cooked in the Texas sun for years. Worse, it has numerous dubious looking patches on the bow and hull bottom. What's left of the bottom paint looks like flat latex barn paint. The only good news? I weighed the hull and it's around 122#'s, hopefully meaning it has dried out. I have no doubt that if it went anywhere near water with these patches the foam has been waterlogged.

Oh, there is no daggerboard, rudder or tiller... but I do have a decent mast and sail from a sunfish.

Basically, my plan is to get this thing back on the water as cheaply as possible. I want to use it as a trainer - to introduce my wife to sailing. It doesn't have to be a show winner, I just want it to look respectable and sail right.

I owned and raced catamarans in the early 80's and have some time in monohulls - mainly recreational sailing in friends boats... including Lasers and a Sunfish. I also have some limited fiberglass experience - from working on my cat's keels (the beaches here are pretty rocky).

Anyway, I wanted to introduce myself and get some advice. I'm open to any and all suggestions!

 

[Rob C.]

It is not going to be cheap. A decent rudder and daggerboard will probably run you several hundred bucks. That is if a Sunfish rudder and daggerboard will even fit a Starfish. I dragged a damaged Sunfish hull that washed up during a hurricane several years ago out of a salt marsh on my property and fixed it up. I dried it out, patched the holes in it, painted it with Rustoleum Topside from Lowes, bought a rig for it off Craigslist and got a really nice Ronstan ratchet block off a yacht that was being updated at the local boatyard. The whole project cost me $475 and I now have a very nice Sunfish that would probably bring two or three times that much in the coastal area where I live...at least during the summer months.

That said, I probably could have bought a sailable Sunfish for what I spent, but it was a fun project.

 

[oldcatman]

Hi Rob. I'm in the lumber business so I'm not worried about the materials and fabrication for the rudder and daggerboard - as long as I can get a decent pattern. Some of the rudder hardware is still hanging onto the transom (barely). It looks to me like there was once a board sandwiched between the hardware and the transom. I'm guessing the holes in the glass were all stripped out and it was leaking??

No, what I'm most worried about is the large amount of fiberglass work required on this thingy. Hey, I'll bet your hurricane ravaged hull looked better than this old beast.

I'm glad you mentioned using the Rustoleum Topside. I'm thinking of going that route myself... after all of the sanding and patching is done. Did you find it took a long time to cure out, and does it leave a reasonably hard finish? Also, how much glass work did you have to do? What system did you use? I have a couple of yards of glass mat left over from the old days. I'm sure the resin is probably toast, but I should be able to use that mat. I did notice that the previous - ever so crude - patches were done with woven mat. Mine is random... do you see any reason why this stuff won't work?

I'll try and attach some pics below. With any luck you'll see the challenges facing me. Do you have progress pics on here?

 

[Rob C.]

I used the exact same method this guy is using. I bought a fiberglass boat repair kit at West Marine for about $35 that had the fiberglass cloth and epoxy in it. I faired it with Evercoat Marine filler which is basicly bondo for boats. This guy is using auto body bondo which will also work but is red instead of white and therefore harder to cover with white boat paint. The only difference in what I did and this guy is doing is that I did not use gelcoat. My hull was stratched, faded, and oxidized so I painted it.

More than likely the reason the rudder hardware is hanging is because the wood backing block inside the hull is rotten.

Yes, my hurricane boat was in somewhat better shape.

 

[oldcatman]

I may get lucky and not even need the stripper. I hate the mess that stuff makes. Big chunks of that red paint let go all over my pickup bedliner on the ride home. I'll try a section with the DA over the weekend and see how easy it comes off.

Any thoughts on how to address the rotted wood backing to provide support for that rudder hardware? I may have the same problem on the bow handle. It felt very loose while picking up the boat... so much so that I didn't use it. I've been thinking about cutting and letting in one of those access ports. May actually need more than one? I definitely don't want to get into peeling the deck back.

 

[Rob C.]

I may get lucky and not even need the stripper. I hate the mess that stuff makes. Big chunks of that red paint let go all over my pickup bedliner on the ride home. I'll try a section with the DA over the weekend and see how easy it comes off.

Any thoughts on how to address the rotted wood backing to provide support for that rudder hardware? I may have the same problem on the bow handle. It felt very loose while picking up the boat... so much so that I didn't use it. I've been thinking about cutting and letting in one of those access ports. May actually need more than one? I definitely don't want to get into peeling the deck back.

I would just get some scraps of teak, mahogany, or marine plywood and epoxy them in where the rotted blocks used to be.

 

[oldcatman]

Sure, I'll have mahogany drops left after cutting out the daggerboard and rudder. Do you mean to epoxy them to the outer hull surface? I've seen sailboats with exterior wood in similar applications sealed with epoxy. It can really make for a nice contrast to the hull... especially with a nice piece of wood.

I guess an alternative would be to cut a small rectangular hole and feed in a backer block slathered in epoxy and use a string or wire to hold it up against the inside of the hull while it cures... like the guy in your video did with laminate.

 

[Rob C.]

Sure, I'll have mahogany drops left after cutting out the daggerboard and rudder. Do you mean to epoxy them to the outer hull surface? I've seen sailboats with exterior wood in similar applications sealed with epoxy. It can really make for a nice contrast to the hull... especially with a nice piece of wood.

I guess an alternative would be to cut a small rectangular hole and feed in a backer block slathered in epoxy and use a string or wire to hold it up against the inside of the hull while it cures... like the guy in your video did with laminate.

No, I would cut access ports just aft of the bow handle and just ahead of the rudder, so you can replace the rotted backing blocks inside the hull. If you put another 6" port just ahead of the daggerboard trunk you should be able to reach the backing blocks for the halyard cleat and fairlead. There is really no way to fix them right without cutting some holes in the deck.

 

[oldcatman]

Yeah... I was afraid of that, but I do agree. Did I mention that I HATE cutting holes in fiberglass?? Especially having to wear the mask and long sleeves when it's over 100 degrees! Oh well, access ports were my first instinct and I do have a rotozip. Hey, I might get lucky on that halyard cleat blocking - it feels quite solid. I haven't tried yanking on the fairlead yet. Did you have to go this route on your fish?

I do like challenges, but be honest, Rob... am I a nut for thinking about saving this mess?

 

[Rob C.]

I cut one access port in mine just ahead of the daggerboard trunk mainly so I could put a light bulb in the hull all winter to dry it out because it was waterlogged and weighed over 200 lbs. My backing blocks turned out to be ok but that is how I would have fixed them.

It depends on how much of a project you want to take on and if you enjoy working on old boats. Several people told me I was crazy to restore a battered, waterlogged, Sunfish hull, and that I should just cut it up and put it in a dumpster because I would never find all the parts and it would be cheaper to just buy a complete Sunfish.

This one was in about the same condition as yours and it turned out really nice. http://ec2-50-17-66-138.compute-1.amazonaws.com/wordpress/?p=196

 

[oldcatman]

I guess I'm lucky that at least my hull is dry. No doubt due to the drought in this area.

Thanks for the link, it's very inspirational! Funny, I've heard the same advice you did regarding my project - from friends and family. To the point of it now being somewhat of a challenge. This will actually be my first sailboat restoration project, however, I've done a couple of powerboats and several cars over the years. You could say I've gotten pretty good at spreading and fairing body filler. Years ago I also did fiberglass work on the keels of both my Hobie 16 and 18. This was due to constantly beaching them on gravel and rocks. I finished those repairs with gelcoat like the guy in the video and they turned out fine.

I'm probably getting way ahead of myself here, but are you happy with the quality and finish of that Rustoleum Topside? I was planning to use a product such as Interlux... then I found out how much cheaper the Rustoleum is. Any thoughts here?

 

[Rob C.]

It turned out OK, but it has a slight orangepeel look to it. I used the Rustoleum primer and two coats of topside. I rolled it on with a foam roller and tipped it with a foam brush. The paint probably would have smoothed out better if I had thinned it slightly with Interlux brushing liguid but I didn't want to pay $25.00 for a can of it. I thought about sanding it down and putting a third coat on it using the brushing liquid but I decided to go sailing instead.

Here is a picture of the end result.

 

[oldcatman]

Looks fantastic to me!