I like your enthusiasm, OP, and don't sweat the repair work... one day, I'll tell ya about the "buyer's remorse" I experienced when I bought this train wreck of a fixer home over two years ago. Now it's clean & comfortable, and everything works, lol. It'll be no different with your boat... one day, all of the repair work will be behind you, and you can simply focus upon sailing (though a periodic overhaul will keep things squared away).
These forums are helpful, you can benefit from different opinions & repair methods... in some cases, you will have options. Like the old adage: "There's more than one way to skin a cat."
Seeing these latest posts, I highly recommend a dolly, I made a simple dolly with wood scraps, a steel rod for an axle, and two wheels off an old handcart. Fit in the trunk of my car, and I just flipped the boat down onto it (cartopping).
I'd sandbag passing Seal Team guys into helping me flip it, lol. But once the boat is balanced on the dolly, you can easily get it down to the water by yourself, just make sure the dolly stays centrally positioned under the hull.
Hey Breeze Bender is that Sunfish sail one that you own?tag is right, a new sail can go a long way in dressing up an old boat. The white sail is from intensity ($120) I added the fish.
The price ya pay for being a "yacht owner!!!"
For the drain plug, I went to the local fastenal store and they hooked me up with a stainless bolt: 1/2" diameter UNC13 thread . I think that was correct. Someone previously said they found them in nylon which would be cheaper and probably work better.
Sold that boat last summer and I’m working on its twin. The sail was purchased on ebay but was not an official Sunfish sail. I’ve never seen another with that color combo. Can’t keep ‘em all!Hey Breeze Bender is that Sunfish sail one that you own?
And if so is that a standard Sunfish color scheme ...where did you source it?
Is it a race cut?
This is often how it starts. You buy another boat because it’s cheaper than just buying a rudder, if you could find one. Add up the cost of the sail, daggerboard, spars, hardware and lines and your “bare bones shell” may not be such a bargain. Then again, I’m all about saving a Sunfish. Keep your eye on craigslist and the local online tag sales and sooner or later you’ll get lucky and score the rest of the rigging one way or another!I to have acquired a boat and needs lots of work so will be lurking here ,my boat was free ,the guy even dropped it off for me . I have nothing but the bare bones boat shell ,said he would bring sail but nothing yet ,fingers crossed. You are ahead of me you have sail ,rudder ,Center Board , ect .
That sail looks like an upside down version of the Newport sail color.
Sunfish Sail, Newport, 10011
Classic Sunfish sails are recognized all over the world for their bright and fun colored sails. Made by Sunfish Direct to be are durable for many years of sailing.sunfishdirect.com
Good eye, tag, I never made that connection! Love the colors and it would look great with the blue decked Fish I’m finishing. That’s a fair price, too but it’s hard to pass on the deal at intensity.
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I saved a Sunfish by repairing the keel, adding a ratchet block, and offering the best pieces of the three Sunfish I intend to sell. The buyer took it away yesterday in his pickup truck. Overnight, he formed a cradle of 2x4s and carpeting, and off he went. He got a decent boat, and I made a bundle of cash.This is often how it starts. You buy another boat because it’s cheaper than just buying a rudder, if you could find one. Add up the cost of the sail, daggerboard, spars, hardware and lines and your “bare bones shell” may not be such a bargain. Then again, I’m all about saving a Sunfish. Keep your eye on craigslist and the local
online tag sales and sooner or later you’ll get lucky and score the rest of the rigging one way or another!
Presently working on a splashguard torn off at some time. ("Traumatically evulsed").Definitely a good buy, and you can trust advice from Alan Glos.
That inspection port in the cockpit is an odd one, as there's only an inch of space behind it!I suspect it was installed to make a professionally-finished repair to a puncture in the side.
The original finish to the fiberglass construction is called gelcoat. It's a hard, thin—but fragile—coating to the deck and hull surfaces.
The fine fractures near the rear stripe suggest someone's hard fall on the deck. I wouldn't bother with a repair, as it's difficult to match colors; likewise, the cracked red splash guard. That splash guard through-fracture and abrasions can wait for next season.
External damage to the bailer could result in imminent loss of the check-ball. That's a good reason to repair the abrasion and buying some Thixo. (Check for compatibility).
The threaded hole on the top-right deck is the drain. A hardware store "set-screw" in stainless steel—wrapped in Teflon tape—will close it up for now. A stock replacement is costly.
Use very little pressure in the pressure test. (Tape over the vent hole, and use the drain—or vice-versa). Someone suggested that "lung power" is enough! What does that amount to? One or two PSI?
While awaiting your pressure test results, it appears all you're "short of" is a few paint brushes!