Cracked Hull

[3Fish&TheSun]

I don't even know what I want to ask, but here goes. My '72 sunfish has a crack in the hull at the stern along the side of the keel. The hull was repaired last year and fiberglass was replaced in spots and the entire hull got new gelcoat. It looked beautiful and I was so happy to have it back in the water this summer. However, after my last sail when placing the cover on it, I noticed unusual drips from the hull, aft. On closer inspection, it appears that I have a crack in the hull. I am not 100% positive that the fiberglass was replaced in this spot. Can this be fixed? I am not a DIYer, so I guess my biggest question is does anyone know someone in the FInger Lakes region of NY that restores Sunfish? I love my boat and really want to keep it, but I can't do the work and I am concerned that the person that I had redo the hull last year may not know enough about Sunfish. Looking for any advice and/or help. It is a huge bummer for me

 

[Nicholson58]

This can be repaired from outside but a structural patch will leave a bit of a lump. This can be feathered into a long and broad area, not too noticeable.

a proper repair would be done from inside. The easiest method would be to add a port on the deck to work through

 

[jcsunfish]

Agreed, not a super difficult repair. Search something along the lines of "cracked sunfish hull" in the search function of this forum (top right) and you will find plenty of how tos and information. If you're really uncomfortable with it any competent fiberglass repair shop should be able to take care of it fairly easily, though they usually overcharge in my opinion. Good luck, hope you get the boat back on the water soon

 

[3Fish&TheSun]

This can be repaired from outside but a structural patch will leave a bit of a lump. This can be feathered into a long and broad area, not too noticeable.

a proper repair would be done from inside. The easiest method would be to add a port on the deck to work through

Thanks, I wanted the shop to put a port in the boat, but they wouldn't do it, stating that they were loathe to put a hole in a perfectly good boat. I wanted to make sure it was dry inside, but we decided that the boat only weighed about 130 that it must be fairly dry.

 

[beldar boathead]

I wouldn’t put in a port unless absolutely necessary and it shouldn’t be in this case. See this Hole in hull and also use the search function for “shoreline method”.

BTW, while I think they are totally unrelated to the Shoreline method, there is a sunfish dealer somewhere up there called Shoreline Sailboats and you could see if they do repairs.

 

[L&VW]

Since we're approaching the off-season, can you find a place to tip your Sunfish on its edge and drain out what water remains? If if drips for a week, I'd plug in an aquarium bubbler ~$6, and keep a flow of air going in. (Use a long ¼" hose). By Spring, if there's no drip, I'd use Shoe-Goo ~$9, to seal it up. (Its consistency is like toothpaste and easy to spread) Surprisingly, it dries to a very firm, smooth and waterproof surface. Then next season, check for other possible leaks.

Repair at leisure.

BTW-1) Trailers, especially re-purposed hard-riding Jet-Ski trailers should have large surfaces to support the hull.

BTW-2) "perfectly-good hulls" shouldn't leak.