Introduction

K

Kuriti

New Member
Hello,

Just wanted to introduce myself to this forum. My name is Chris and I live in Cary, NC. I love sailing and my primary boat is a 1976 San Juan 21. My son and daughter attend a sailing camp on the coast that uses Sunfish as their primary training boats. I decided to volunteer my services to restore and repair some of their sunfish fleet. I completely restored my SJ 21 last year (or two!) and enjoyed the work. I have been looking around and these boats seem pretty simple to repair, but I am sure I will have several noob questions as I get started. Won't pick up the first boat for two weeks, but since I am lurking on the forum, I thought I would introduce myself. If you are interested, here is a link to my SJ21 project:

http://www.sj21class.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=10114

Cheers,

kuriti
(kuriti is the spelling for Chris used in the central pacific country that I served in during the peace corps)
 
Welcome Kuriti

Fantastic job on Dire Wolf, you'll have no problem on the venerable Sunfish...until you get to...THE FOAM!!

Can't wait to see your work

Kent, Caretaker of 2 wooden Sunfish, 3 fiberglass Sunfish, Super Sailfish, Super Sailfish MKII and a Minifish, ages 30-60.
 
Thanks guys for the kind words. Yeah, the foam is scaring me as I read about it. Luckily, these aren't racing sunfish, just work boats, so I am shooting for functional, durable and cheap. Is the mast step the only thing left holding the deck to the hull when you pry up for foam replacement? has anyone just cut it and re-built it to ease foam installation? I want an efficient, repeatable process if possible. That said, the foam will have to be pretty bad for me to go through all that....
 
Kuriti said:
Thanks guys for the kind words. Yeah, the foam is scaring me as I read about it. Luckily, these aren't racing sunfish, just work boats, so I am shooting for functional, durable and cheap. Is the mast step the only thing left holding the deck to the hull when you pry up for foam replacement? has anyone just cut it and re-built it to ease foam installation? I want an efficient, repeatable process if possible. That said, the foam will have to be pretty bad for me to go through all that....
Click to expand...

I would not even consider prying up the hull for foam replacemnt, for a number of reasons. New foam, not to mention the labor involved, would be more than the end result is worth. And the end result could be a net negative.

Like many on this thread, I have restored many Sunfish and for camp boats especially it makes little sense. I am assuming the boats are stored on racks by a lake or something, and the most I would do is put ports in (all identical size and manufacturer so the covers are interchangeable) behind splashguard and maybe also on the stern deck, both on the centerline, and funnel air through them over the off-season. The result will be far better than trying to replace foam. I would also get familiar with a parts source along the lines of IntensitySails.
 
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Thanks Minifish. Yeah, I think you are right. bending the deck up seems like it could create as many issues as it solves. if the foam is absolutely toast or slopping around loose, are there structural concerns or are those null for a none racer?
 
Search for my thread on Merci or Hoops and you will see what is involved for expanding foam replacement. Yes, the mast step is left holding the deck to the hull, DO NOT CUT THE MAST STEP LOOSE :)

Many folks have had good luck drying boats with inspection ports, dark tarps, fans etc over the course of an off season. I have dug out the saturated expanding foam on a few boats because I didn't want to wait, and that is what the factory/warranty repair would have been. Most likely you can reuse the foam blocks after they dry a few weeks, but you'll need new expanding foam and it takes about $100 worth. It's messy but it can be done. For your camp boats I'd try drying them in the off season.

If the foam is loose it is not an issue for a "beach banger" (Glos, 2013). If you put the inspection port between the daggerboard trunk and coaming, you may be able to reach in with a rubber mallet and coax it back into position, then use a some new expanding foam to hold it in place.
 
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