Okay, I've sailed Sunfish before, though I'm much more familiar with the Lasers...
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Are you sure you are familiar with Lasers?? I cut and pasted this comment you made in your post about repairing your Sunfish: "I admit that I'm not very familiar with the nuances of the Sunfish; the laser was an open hull, wooden craft. No need to do anything but sponge. This is a very different animal."
Lasers have never, ever, been made out of wood, and in fact they are not open hull craft - they are actually in construction relatively similar to a Sunfish - a fiberglass hull, with a deck with integral cockpit bonded on. If you spring a leak in a Laser, water gets in the hull just as with a Sunfish. You can't just sponge it out, you need to drain it.
BB
I've seen this with a lot of other forums; motorcycles, woodworking, Miatas... you name it. I get that folks like to compete, and that competition drives the market for aftermarket improvements...
Okay, I've sailed Sunfish before, though I'm much more familiar with the Lasers...
QUOTE]
Are you sure you are familiar with Lasers?? I cut and pasted this comment you made in your post about repairing your Sunfish: "I admit that I'm not very familiar with the nuances of the Sunfish; the laser was an open hull, wooden craft. No need to do anything but sponge. This is a very different animal."
Lasers have never, ever, been made out of wood, and in fact they are not open hull craft - they are actually in construction relatively similar to a Sunfish - a fiberglass hull, with a deck with integral cockpit bonded on. If you spring a leak in a Laser, water gets in the hull just as with a Sunfish. You can't just sponge it out, you need to drain it.
BB
I had a kit; a wooden adaptation of a laser. Sailed North canvas that was oversized for the hull; was quite a nice boat!
The beauty of a sunfish is exactly that; "It is what it is," and like Popeye (I yam what I yam) it can be a simple sailer or an all out packed with spinach racer. How exciting would this forum be if the answer to every question was, "aw, just leave it as it was"?
Every sailor has limits and expectation of their boats and their budgets, not to mention their DIY skills or what they have to have done by the pros. I have a 70s fish that I am teaching my wife to sail, and recently got an 07 boat to race. I don't have any expectations of opening a can of whoop-ass on the fleet here. I just enjoy racing, and as a sport, one-design sailboat racing is the only one that I know of where rank novices can end up on the same course with the best.
Enjoy sailing. Enjoy the forum. Take what you need and pass on what you know.
See you on the water...