Conversion sunfish to power skiff

Thomas Rist

New Member
I' looking to make conversion to small lake boat with electric power for lake fishing any good instructions &pictures would help
 
To get from a beach to a dock about two miles distant, I clamped a very small trolling motor to the rudder, and steered with the Sunfish tiller. :cool: The cables were too short to put the 12V (automobile) battery in the cockpit, but I got there without incident. A smaller battery with longer cables would have been perfect.

I saw an earlier conversion this week (for sale) that was similar to the sketch below. It had a small Toshiba outboard, with comments saying it didn't look very stable. The modified transom especially appears to have involved a lot of work, so I'd hoped it had worked out for the builder, but why was it for sale? :oops:

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Whatever brand it was, my littlest trolling motor really got a workout.

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In my buy/fix up/sell Sunfish 'business' I often have a waterlogged hull or two per season that ends up going to the local landfill, and I have toyed with the idea of cutting off the last quarter of the hull and making a little punt that would take my 1.2 Sears Gamefisher gas motor that I use on my canoe from time to time. I like the looks of L&VW's blue conversion job so maybe this is the summer for making one. I just hope that the blue punt shown has a lot of foam flotation not shown in the photo as without it, it would have the floatation characteristics of a greased anvil. What are the white parts on the after deck? Inspection ports? Are the round deck support posts wood, metal or PVC?

Alan Glos
Cazenovia,NY
 
In my buy/fix up/sell Sunfish 'business' I often have a waterlogged hull or two per season that ends up going to the local landfill, and I have toyed with the idea of cutting off the last quarter of the hull and making a little punt that would take my 1.2 Sears Gamefisher gas motor that I use on my canoe from time to time. I like the looks of L&VW's blue conversion job so maybe this is the summer for making one. I just hope that the blue punt shown has a lot of foam flotation not shown in the photo as without it, it would have the floatation characteristics of a greased anvil. What are the white parts on the after deck? Inspection ports? Are the round deck support posts wood, metal or PVC?

Alan Glos
Cazenovia,NY

While they could be inspection ports, the white parts look squared-off like some Tupperware tops :confused:. Storage and flotation? :cool:

From a fuzzy magnification view, one or two support posts appear to sit on 4"x4" square reinforcements. One PVC post, with caps, should be strong enough for a step—but don't mis-step! :(

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