Sunfish repair - ball pond, New Fairfield, CT

susan mccardell

suzmcspeedy
Hi - bought a used sunfish last year - when kids went to put it in the water they lifted it by the front handle and it pulled up the fiberglass (at closer look it had been repaired before though not disclosed when purchased sadly). Is there a place to have it repaired professionally? thanks in advance for your ideas
 
Boatyard or marina... if they won't do it themselves, they'll know someone who does it on the side. You might also ask at local garages, some of those hands do fiberglass work on vehicles. Surf shop if you're close enough, they often do glass repair or know someone who does. It's not a very difficult job repairing that damage under the bow handle, you might also read up or watch video tutorials and tackle the repair yourselves... kind of like a small family project, adults to do the actual mixing of resin & catalyst. As in all glass repair jobs, preparation is important, you want your materials laid out properly and the target repair area prepped correctly, aye? Worst-case scenario, install an inspection port to access the bow from inside the hull... not rocket science, so don't be intimidated, just have the adults handle the chemicals and keep an eye on the kids. The sooner they learn to effect simple repairs like these, the more money they'll save down the line... just my $.02, FWIW. :rolleyes:
 
I would poke in the holes to see if there is anything solid. Sounds like the wood block fell off and the person just screwed in back on without a backer. A port and a new backer block to put the screws into. There is lots of help on this forum.
 
Sounds like the deck came off. Is there a Sunfish and/or Laser dealer nearby? They should know of someone who can do the work.
 
"Professional repair" means Pricey! :eek:

If your local High School has a shop, they might take on the repair—fix it in one day—and cover ALL the expenses! :cool:

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What year is your boat? Check upper right transom for last two digits, that is the year. The bow handle most likely has a wooden backer block inside for the screws. We removed the weird handle on a recent restoration and probed the holes to see if there was any remnants of the wooden backer block. What we did is poke inside the hole with an awl or paper clip to feel for solid wood. If there was still wood there, then we could have repaired the hole with thickened epoxy and a dowel or toothpicks, let it dry and redrill new holes. Or move the bow handle aft a 1/2 inch or so to drill into new wood. We also drilled a small hole and watched to see if wood shavings came out, no luck, that would have indicated that there was still a block there. So we'll split the bow to put in a new backer block. More in that if you want to go that route.

SUGAR 2 Restoration.
 

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