Sunfish Rudder Question

Banoe

New Member
Hi,

I have a sunfish and a minifish both from the early 70's. I am in the process of refinishing the rudders and dagger boards and I noticed that except for the shorter tiller on the Minifish the rudders and boards are the same for both boats. Is that correct both boat parts are the same or did some one do a switcheroo on one?

Thanks
 
Hi,

I have a sunfish and a minifish both from the early 70's. I am in the process of refinishing the rudders and dagger boards and I noticed that except for the shorter tiller on the Minifish the rudders and boards are the same for both boats. Is that correct both boat parts are the same or did some one do a switcheroo on one?

Thanks
That is correct. In 1972 they switched the sunfish board from a rounded shape to what you have, and used it for both boats. However, it proved too small in the sunfish, so a few years later Sunfish got another angular board known as the Barrington Board that was bigger. I don't know if they were still making Minis then or not. BB
 
Tanks for the reply.

Is there some place you can get a barrington board or the dimensions for one so I could make one?
 
Tanks for the reply.

Is there some place you can get a barrington board or the dimensions for one so I could make one?

I think that at Sunfishclass.org you can link to the class rules, which I think has the dimensions of the various daggerboards the boats have come with - with the exception of yours, since no one uses them for racing as they are too small. If that does not have what you need, someone here will be able to post it. You may be able to find one used. Some people offer used items fairly often on here or on ebay. BB
 
Looking at the diagrams for the post 1993 board it doesn't show any radius for the bottom of the new board. This cant be true I would think the sunfish class would leave a detail like that up to the board builder?
 
Many details for building a Sunfish are not publicly available, but are specified in LaserPerformance construction manuals. This holds true for the blades as well.

However, I can tell you that the width at the bottom of my (post 1993) board varies from the trailing edge, where it's pretty narrow (~3/16"), to the leading edge (width ~5/16"). If you intend to make a board yourself, think airplane wing and round the bottom nicely. The bottom of my board was a bit damaged and repaired (not unusual, unfortunately), so my measurements should be taken with a grain of salt.
 

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