Rudder, conversion parts and dagger board for 1965 Sunfish

[Mama H Chicago]

Price $

1

State

ILLINOIS

City

Chicago

Updated again: now have dagger board to be shipped soon. Thank you Alan G!
Updated edit: I drove to Indiana at the crack of dawn today and picked up a sweet rudder/tiller at a great price. Thanks to a forum member here, I have a new conversion bracket coming via mail at a fair price too! Now I just need to find a daggerboard.

A 1965 Sunfish hull arrived in my garage this afternoon. It does not have its dagger board or rudder/tiller, nor does it have rudder hardware. I’m thinking if I want to sail her, I should convert to the newer style non-racing rudder right? So I’m looking to find the required pieces and parts in as awful of condition as possible. I can’t afford to just go buy all new, so I’m looking for fairly priced, but needing a lot of work items.

 

[Alan S. Glos]

M.H.C..

It would be helpful if you could post a few photos of your 1965 Sunfish hull so we are all on the same page as to what you have and how it is currently rigged.

Yes, upgrading to the new, post-1972 rudder rig makes a world of sense as the new rig is superior to the old rig in all respects.

I have several original design, round bottom Sunfish daggerboards that I would sell very inexpensively. They are all structurally sound but need refinishing. If interested, e-mail me at: [email protected] and I can reply with photos and prices.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY

 

[Mama H Chicago]

Here are some more pics. The as yet unnamed blue girl is the 1965. I have the coaming, And as of this morning I now have a new style rudder/tiller. I have both spars, gooseneck and a mast. I’m sewing my own new sail. Definitely interested in any pieces and parts in “needs work” condition for everything else. I’m not sure if the bailer is functional or not yet. I have to hit it with blaster and take it apart. The person who rescued this from a beach thought drilling about 6 half-inch holes along the deck and the gunwales right by the edges would dry it out. Notsomuch. I am planning on completely splitting the deck from the hull and checking it out before resealing it and riveting on fresh aluminum trim. I bought out all the Harbor Freight spring clamps today in preparation!

the white deck below is “Fishnet” my 1972 girl.

 

[beldar boathead]

You can split the hull and deck at the bow and bend it back to the mast tube. In the stern you can bend the deck back to the cockpit. But if you disconnect the mast tube, daggerboard trunk, etc you will never get the boat back together. Not sure you need to split it anyway, but if you do, don’t take the deck all the way off.

 

[Mama H Chicago]

You can split the hull and deck at the bow and bend it back to the mast tube. In the stern you can bend the deck back to the cockpit. But if you disconnect the mast tube, daggerboard trunk, etc you will never get the boat back together. Not sure you need to split it anyway, but if you do, don’t take the deck all the way off.

Thank you! I had not thought about that at all. Hopefully I would have realized it before I got it all apart, but I think you may have literally just saved my boat.

 

[Breeze Bender]

Are you SURE you wanna split that hull? Seems like a lot of work to me. Signal Charlie does it in his sleep, but he also recreates Sunfish from jigsaw puzzle pieces.
With all those added holes in the deck I’d think you could air it out with a 5” port in the stern for both a fan and your new rudder attachment. You’ll be replacing the rivets or rivnuts on the splashguard/coaming, so you can pop those out for more air circulation now, plus open the side deck drain. You might even avoid a second port, though others might prefer it.

 

[Mama H Chicago]

Are you SURE you wanna split that hull? Seems like a lot of work to me. Signal Charlie does it in his sleep, but he also recreates Sunfish from jigsaw puzzle pieces.
With all those added holes in the deck I’d think you could air it out with a 5” port in the stern for both a fan and your new rudder attachment. You’ll be replacing the rivets or rivnuts on the splashguard/coaming, so you can pop those out for more air circulation now, plus open the side deck drain. You might even avoid a second port, though others might prefer it.

Definitely rethinking splitting it. I’m going to start with a port.

 

[Breeze Bender]

Definitely rethinking splitting it. I’m going to start with a port.

There’s a 5” Beckson port on eBay right now for $10 with free shipping. Can’t beat that price.