sunfish hull

nikobrogna

nikobrogna

New Member
a friend of mine recently purchased a used sunfish. I went to check it out with him, as he doesn't know much about boats, he just wanted to get out onto the water. The boat was in decent shape for its price, so I told him to take it. However, he recently gave me a call, asking how to find out the year of his boat. He gave me the serial number: PSB26384F192. Does this mean that it is from 1992? That's what I told him I thought. For his sake, I hope that the P doesn't stand for Pearson, the infamous boat that one is supposed to, "avoid like the plague." Why is this? The serial number of my 1970's Sunfish starts with AMF, which I am assuming means that it was manufactured by AMF alcort.?
thanks,
nick
 
Check Yahoo Sunfish Sailor Files, there is a SF history there with serial #'s broken down by year and manufacture. The # you gave seems to indicate 1992 and Person, but Sunfish Laser International was formed in 1991. Dan at Wind Line Sails has a used boat buyers guide and does mention Person boats as ones to watch out for (due to quality control). Double check the Ser # and the history list. If there is still a discrepancy, maybe Wayne C at SF Sailor can help figure it out.
 
Check Yahoo Sunfish Sailor Files, there is a SF history there with serial #'s broken down by year and manufacture. The # you gave seems to indicate 1992 and Person, but Sunfish Laser International was formed in 1991. Dan at Wind Line Sails has a used boat buyers guide and does mention Person boats as ones to watch out for (due to quality control). Double check the Ser # and the history list. If there is still a discrepancy, maybe Wayne C at SF Sailor can help figure it out.
 
I can say for sure that Pearson's involvement with sunfish ended in early 1991. A friend and I ordered new fish in IIRC February 1991. We waited until May and started squawking to the dealer. He was also yelling because he had 6-7 boats presold and hadn't gotten boat one so far that season.
He ended up going to the factory in May and demanding something. He was given 4 boats that they pulled from a container that were destined for that year's Worlds and were the only boats in the factory. So I had one of the last Pearson boats ever made. IIRC in June that year SLI started producing boats. The dealer got his remaining boats in early August that were from SLI.

I can also say Pearson boats need to be VERY carefully looked over. My hull was still in great shape when I sold it in 2005, but I took extrordinary care of it. It weighed 108 pounds compared to earlier Alcort/AMF and later SLI boats which came in around 130 pounds. So there was definitely a lack of materials in the hull.
I got a good laugh at a regionals when several folks were puling boats out of the water and when they grabbed my hull they all looked shocked at how light it was. I got accussed of everything from filling it with helium to stripping the foam out.
 
Not all Pearson boats were seriously flawed, but there were some quality control problems to include weak decks and leaks in the dagger board trunk and the hul/deck joint. I had a Pearson hull that I raced hard and successfully for 12 years. It did develop some minor deck cracks and I had to beef up the underside of the deck over the cockpit tub to keep them from getting worse and in the last year I owned it, the mast hole assembly came loose from the deck and I had to make a WEST epoxy repair. That said, it was fast and never leaked, so it was OK by me.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 
PSB 26384 F1 92
This Hull ID says the hull was manufactured in June (F) 1991 (1) for model year 1992 (92).

If there were USCG compliance changes for 1992 it would mean the hull had those changes incorporated. Beyond that it is up to the mfg's discression when the transition takes place.

During an ownership change there's always a question as to just when old stock built by the former owner is depleted and the new mfg ID begins to appear. I too was under the impression August was the month of choice, but under the circumstance of ownership transfer anything could be possible.
 
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