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Many Thanks..Will DoPB Blaster is designed to "creep". Soak it again, and set up internal mini-shocks by tapping it lightly with a tack hammer. I'd suggest heating it, but the plastic internal parts might be hard to find.
Salt Water boat and the plug is brass..Other then that a fellow kayak instructor who owned a fiberglass company says the sucker is in great shape... We cut inspection ports... and the 48 year old foam blocks are dry. First bailer I ever had was a cut off bleach bottle... and at age 83 it may also be the last..Hey grab life while you can . She sets sail tomorrow along the gulf coastKeep it soaked for a few more days and tap it with a hammer a few times a day as Light and variable suggests before thinking about cutting it off. If it was a salt water boat there can be an enormous amount of corrosion.
On car parts that are really stuck I like to spray it on 4 days before I anticipate getting started on a repair. The interesting thing is that the stuff continues to work long after you would expect it to. I tried to remove exhaust tips from a tailpipe that I cut out of a car. The blaster didn't do anything for a week, so I sprayed the set screws and set it aside for a month....nothing. Sprayed again....let it sit for two months.....nothing. Sprayed it again and forgot about it for three months. The set screws came out easily then.
Unable to move the top piece on the old bailer..it is corroded..is this where you apply the wrench or is this piece supposed to go up and down?The cast aluminum nut that holds the bailer in place is a 36 mm hex nut, After years of trying to get these metal bailer assemblies apart, I finally bought a 1/2 drive 24" long
breaker bar with swivel head from Harbor Freight (about $7) and a 36 mm deep socket from NAPA (about $12) Then I soak the bailer threads with penetrating oil apply the breaker bar/socket rig and so far I am three for three for removing the nut without damage to the nut or bailer threads. If you are just doing one, borrow the tools from a friend who has them. If you don't have such a friend, cultivate one.
Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY View attachment 21242
I have no experience with the DePersia bailer, but I think the reason Alan S. Glos suggested the ½" breaker bar—with the 36mm socket—is to allow enough "internal clearance" to get the socket over the plug. A smaller socket won't fit.Unable to move the top piece on the old bailer..it is corroded..is this where you apply the wrench or is this piece supposed to go up and down?
No the cap needs to come off first regardless of how you grab tbe nut
For two days, the wind has been fierce here! Stored, as it is, near the water, if there was any water in the cockpit, it'd be blown out by now.again many thanks..No wind to speak of for a week so I'll use blaster and lime away((attacks rust) for that period before cutting into the sucker. Other than that the hull is in good shape...took care of stress cracks..one small hole...and installed inspection ports.. Foam is dry..and nothing shakes rattles or rolls....deck fittings are tight...for a 68 its it's in great shape.
Glad to hear that. I am on the west coast of Florida and having run a kayak touring comany[ have plenty of hand pumps on handYa know...I"ve got a Despersia bailer in my 69 fish, that I got unfrozen, after my acquisition of the boat. It doesn't have the little ball in it, but that would only affect it when I'm not going fast enough. But I just want to add, I don't think the bailer really works all that well. The openings aren't really that large on the bailer and I've been "humming" along and the water doesn't go out all that fast. I only like it because it is metal. I sail on KY Lake and even with 15+ knots of wind, don't take all that much water into the cockpit. At some point I might stick in one of the Anderson bailers...and definitely before I put in the plastic one now offered. In a capsize a scooper does much better anyway.
I basically only open the bailer when it's sitting on the trailer, so rain water has an escape route
They've been made with plastic for 40+ years vs only 20 years or so made with metal. Since there hasn't seemed to be a proven need to change from plastic yet, my guess is it's a pretty limited market and marketing it would be cost-prohibitive given the small number of likely sales.The big question mark is...the size of the market for it.
I carried the threaded plastic Sunfish bailer part to Home Depot's plumbing aisles, and compared with everything they had.I'm surprised no one has found a PVC plug that fits, that could replicate these outrageously priced screw on caps. I have no idea of the thread size, but it all seems unique, down to the nut size, to these bailers
Maybe I'll take mine into Home Depot one day and see what they have...or a plumbing center.
A major key to manufdacturing in Asia is to have your own people on the staff there. American tent makers were among the fist to do this.. and in one case two of them ended up using the same factory..and they and others continue to turn out quality products. A lot of Rolex watch cases are made by Sea Gull in China..Timex and Seko have built a joint factory there. Yes, a lot of crap is still made there.. If laser is hard ass on quality control with their own people riding herd and the final product is not super heavy they may have a winner especialy if the price point is lower then what the fiberglass boats sell for.. Plastic cannot be formed as easy as fiberglass and there are other composite materials entering the small boat world so the future could be interesting.could the new Asian boat surprise us?
My racing days are over and the only modification I have made is an inspection port. I may ad a hiking strap.It's a 68...two years shy of being 50 and an antique. Me...I'm in my 8th decade and I am an antique.Sunfish are a one design boat with boats only produced by one manufacturer to keep it one design. As Beldar said the plastic bailer have been around 40 years as is approved bailer for the class. You could put a old bailer on as it was approved at one time. You certainly can modify things on your boat but you would not be able to race if the parts did not come from the manufacturer as it is not following the one design. Modifying also hurts your ability for resale. We see on this forum all the time where people have made rudders, centerboards and other modifications which is fine for them but then when it comes to sell the people on the forum point out changes, the new buyer does not want a modified boat.
Will File..many thanks..still in the spray and pray stagfeFor those looking for a Despersia bailer replacement cap, you can use a 2" Garboard plug, They
cost $2.00 and can be found online or at True Value hardware stores in the pluming section.
Sea Choice also makes them.