Good to know! Thanks.And beware Beckson does not recommend using 5200 for their hatches.
Some of the plastics don’t fare well with anything other than silicone as the adhesive.
I replace the complete bailer every 4 years.
It does seem that some have waited months for bailers and parts, though I had no problems with my recent order to Intensity Sails.
Unfortunately, they went TOTALLY out of businessAnnapolis Performance Sailing (APSltd) was the gold standard for small sailboat parts and gear but they no longer sell hardware. I have had good luck with The Dinghy Shop on Long Island, Intensity and Sunfish Direct.
Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
Wow. Thanks for all the info. I'm in Panama city are you in pensacola? Are you moving all your stuff and yourself somewhere else. If your in this area of NW Fla. You know sunfish are at a premium and like looking for a pair of chicken lips to find. You never find whole rigs.It's perplexing to me also, the number of businesses that work very hard to avoid human contact except for an order form. No phone number, no email, no text, no query form, comments, etc. The most frustrating is no returned calls or emails. My genetic makeup from my Mom and Grandma includes Librarians and Secretaries, they provided information and if they didn't know, they found out. One of the first things the Marine Corps taught us also was if this Private didn't know then this Private would find out. In their defense, you could burn up an employees work day and payroll answering the phone to chat with Old Salts for 30 minutes who want to tell them all about the crusty boat they're restoring, not that I've done that...
More musings. The webernet, eBay and Amazon killed local businesses having thousands of dollars of parts hanging on the wall waiting for an Old Salt to wander in and buy a bailer O ring or drain plug. My Dealer on Pensacola Beach used to have an entire 8 x 20 wall of goodies, probably over $10000 of inventory plus 3-4 new boats at all times. He'd usually order 10 at a time. So the business model changed as far as parts availability at the same time that Web 1.0 one way communication emerged, very simple online order form. Some places have grown to Web 2.0 and there are actually two way communications, and I try to give a lot of business to those places. Sailrite and Jamestown Distributors and West Systems are a few of those places. I called Sailrite recently, talked to a human and while I was on the phone they texted workers on the factory floor to get an answer to my question, amazing. But along the way we lost vendors Annapolis Performance Sailing and I'm afraid we've lost Yankee Boating Center as well, I used to be able to call them, talk to a person and order line kits that were color matched to our resto boats.
New kids on the block include Shoreline Sailboats and Vela Sailing Supply. The Dinghy Shop and Intensity Sails have historically been good and Laser Performance ramped up their parts website a few years back, although their inventory is slime right now. At least the LP site seems to show current inventory. Everyone is suffering shortages from worldwide vendor issues during Pandemic, and LP is recommending folks start their part orders early so they can track down the bits from their ever changing supply of international vendors and have them available by Spring. Some agile businesses have also ramped up Chat functions and invested in social media platforms like facebook to communicate with customers.
As mentioned above the best place to start looking for new or used parts is here, there are many folks who have a bin full of parts in their Carriage House or know which businesses have been responsive to new part orders. Our parts stash is heading to Hampton Roads right now, should be passing your location son, just run up to I-10 and look for a PODS container with 75516BX on the side.
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So it's not just you. But the other thing the Marine Corps taught me was to be "Semper Gumby."
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I have the friction plastic washers available. Contact me at cjo1023 at yahoo dot com.
I know of a 1-acre property with an interesting 3-story house on Big Pine Key. Not on the water. Old lady wants to move, asking 750K, has bargaining room, and hates realtors.That is good to know. My wife and I are planning on moving to Florida in June and I wasn't sure if bringing my Sunfish down was worth the trouble versus buying a used one down in Florida.
I'm already bummed out that I will have to sell my Flying Scot, only a year after painting it with $200 a gallon paint. (If anybody in the Boston area needs a reasonably prices Scot, let me know).
Now I just have to decide whether we are moving to the lower Keys around Big Pine Key at the top of our budget or the West coast near Venice or FT Meyers where it will be easy on the budget.