Heavy Sunfish

joel2

New Member
I need to start from the beginning with a heavy sunfish. Can you please point me to the step by step directions from finding the holes and what to do!! Thanks very much
 
Search "beginning" under "threads". There are 9 pages that should get you off to a good start.

There is unlikely an alternate way to lighten your Sunfish other than to cut inspection ports, but it is important that you do so. Finding leaks is also covered.
 
If you don't need to repair the mast step or something in the bow, the standard two inspection
ports locations are:

1. Center of the deck just behind the splash rail.
2. Center of the deck 4 inches forward of the stern.

3. Or two in the forward wall of the tub.

Choice of inspection port size is up to you. I go bigger than most people with a 6" in the back and a 8" forward.

Holes cut best for me with a fine saber-saw blade. You'll need four blades to do 2 holes.

Roto-Zip I can't ever seem to master, I end up breaking spiral bits or cutting holes like a drunken monkey.

Time needed to dry out 2/3 of the water, about 4 or 5 months. Time
to get the water completely out of the core of the closed cell foam blocks, about a year.

Use outside of inspection port ring as a template to mark holes for cutting.
 
When fixing MY boat, initially, I did TWO leak tests.... With no leaks found. Then i posted pictures exactly what I was doing and how I was doing it (and what I was doing wrong). The guys on this forum talked me through the corrct process, telling me what I was doing wrong, and spotted exactly why I was not finding more leaks. I simply was not putting enough air into the boat (be warned about putting too much into it). On my third leak test I found about 10 leaks total (about six pics posted) - some very minor - some major.

My boat was 40 pounds overweight when I started - and I had 10 leaks. If your boat was 100+ pounds overweight, my guess is that you are doing the leak test improperly, and are mssing more leaks that what you are finding. This is just a hunch - from a guy with very little experience - who was in your shoes five months ago. My guess is that the leaks are there and you are not finding them!

Redo the leak test again, taking care when you do it. Make sure the correct amount of air is being forced into the boat, and that the pressure is sufficient to leak out of any holes (which are there methinks). The last thing you want to do is to sand, fare, prime, and paint your boat - only to have it fill up with water again next Spring. Take your time and find those leaks now.

Take a look at the thread "starting at the beginning". I learned a lot from my journey - and Im sailing a totally dry boat now. truly having a fantastic time on the water.

Hope this helps.

-Whitecap
 

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