Hull only

smkunder

New Member
Got a lead on another older Sunfish. Hull only, no hardware at all. Prcce is right. Just wondering how hard it is to find the mast etc. seems like a lot to ship. Wondering if others have done this, or should I just look for a more intact boat.
 
It might take a while, and some horse-trading to get all the pieces. :rolleyes:

I'd want a '72 or newer, and would want to know how much it weighed, and what year it was made. Consider advertising (start with a 100-dollar offer) for a "complete Sunfish", and decide if it's worth swapping all the hardware.
 
Getting all the parts ala carte can be very pricey. There have been other posts on here about trying to do that. And shipping masts and booms is prohibitively expensive so you would have to find those locally.
 
It's not hard too find a boat with a bad hull but usable hardware. If it's a good
hull for $100 or less I'd buy it and store it away for when you can find a deal
with usable parts. If nothing more you can get your money back by selling the
trim and drain plug.
 
Depends on your location. Not too hard in the NE and South Florida. Check Craigslist to see if other bits or boats are listed, or closed ebay auctions. Sometimes there are little pods of boats around the country that had strong sailing programs back in the day.

And what is your primary motivation? To have 2 boats sailing this Summer or a project boat? Shipping is expensive, but you might check to see if there is a Laser Performance dealer nearby, and if the have new spars. They are running just over $600 for mast and upper/lower booms, but dealer usually eats the shipping.

Also there may be a seller here in the Forum nearby, road trip!
 
Depends on your location. Not too hard in the NE and South Florida. Check Craigslist to see if other bits or boats are listed, or closed ebay auctions. Sometimes there are little pods of boats around the country that had strong sailing programs back in the day.

And what is your primary motivation? To have 2 boats sailing this Summer or a project boat? Shipping is expensive, but you might check to see if there is a Laser Performance dealer nearby, and if the have new spars. They are running just over $600 for mast and upper/lower booms, but dealer usually eats the shipping.

Also there may be a seller here in the Forum nearby, road trip!
Well after a bit of research and the advice of this forum, I am finding that trying to piece one together comes in at a much higher price than just waiting for a decent used intact boat. I was mainly just looking for another project boat to fix up so my son and I could eventually sail together.
 
It's not hard too find a boat with a bad hull but usable hardware. If it's a good
hull for $100 or less I'd buy it and store it away for when you can find a deal
with usable parts. If nothing more you can get your money back by selling the
trim and drain plug.
Exact sections of the otherwise useless hull can be sawed-out with contacting areas ground to fit the inside of chine, deck, or keel for fiberglass repairs to those areas.

Too often, the outside appearance of damage can be a poor indication of just how extensive the damage is.

A wet backing applied to the inside of the damage can then be built up with layers of fiberglass and faired to make the hull much stronger than before--so it won't break there again!
 
It's not hard too find a boat with a bad hull but usable hardware. If it's a good
hull for $100 or less I'd buy it and store it away for when you can find a deal
with usable parts. If nothing more you can get your money back by selling the
trim and drain plug.
To repair a damaged area of a hull, exactly-matching sections of the othereise useless hull can sawed out. Grind away the contacting areas, and slip the "band-aid" to the inside of the damage. As a precisely-fitting backing, layers of fiberglass can be applied sanded smooth, to make that section of hull much stronger, so it won't break THERE again. ;)
 
Well after a bit of research and the advice of this forum, I am finding that trying to piece one together comes in at a much higher price than just waiting for a decent used intact boat. I was mainly just looking for another project boat to fix up so my son and I could eventually sail together.

$100 is too much for a hull unless 1) it is pristine and 2) you are "boat struck" like we are and enjoy crawling through the muck to find the puzzle pieces and putting them all together, like Mike and Frank from American Pickers crawilng through hanta barn to drag out half of a rusty Indian motorcycle frame. From our Florida experience the complete boat was cheaper by a few hundred dollars in the end, $600-700 down here in Florida vs getting the "free hull" and adding $1100 of parts to it to get it to our spec. A "free hull" is like a "free kitten."

I would not say that piecing one together comes at a much higher price, it can just might take longer to gather parts. Some used. Some new. You might try a Craigslist ad asking for parts, it is not a bad idea to have a spare set of spars, I turtled Skipper's WAVE once and turned the upper spar into a V. And I would like to know, where are all of those spars that go to the hulls that are laying around? Someday when all the hoarder hangars are cleaned out there will be a mountain of masts and booms!

We enjoy the restoration and the sailing, messing about in boats. This forum has been fantastic for helping us to learn and share fun.
 
Got a lead on another older Sunfish. Hull only, no hardware at all. Prcce is right. Just wondering how hard it is to find the mast etc. seems like a lot to ship. Wondering if others have done this, or should I just look for a more intact boat.
I have all the parts from a wood kit I built in ‘62. Backyard project with dad.
Hull has since rotted out, but I have 2 spars, mast, center bd. Rudder. All in good condition. Center bd and rudder will need some sanding and re-varnish, but are solid.
Stored in TC Michigan. $100 for all. Prefer to not separate.
Doug.
 

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