Sunfish Survey

S

Spare Time

New Member
Seeking information and tips on how to survey a used Sunfish. I know with larger fiberglass boats, people use a small ball peen hammer on the hull to check for delamination and soft spots. I can only imagine what a seller might think if I ever so lightly started tapping on the hull with a hammer.. What other things should be checked on the boat? Also, if buying a used Sunfish do they normally provide a Title to the boat?
 
Hi!, my friend helped me choose a boat. He used a rubber mallet to tap on the hull and also pressed on suspicious areas with his hands to check if the hull was sagging. As my friend says, "you don't know the real technical condition of a boat until you buy it." But sometimes sellers hide problems so poorly or don't hide them at all that it becomes clear right away that the boat is in poor condition. Sometimes it's a good reason to negotiate the price.
 
Sunfish can't delaminate as there are just a couple layers of glass and the gelcoat. Boats that delaminate typically have layers of different things that can delaminate. On a Sunfish, the fiberglass and gelcoat usually show damage if they are in fact damaged. Boats sometimes get soft under the cockpit, or elsewhere if the internal foam blocks, which are structural, come unglued from the fiberglass, but that can be fixed. Laser Performance builds new boats without foam blocks, but those boats generally have not aged enough to know if their efforts to stiffen the hull in other ways are effective or not. Those boats probably will require some careful pushing on the hull to know if it has stiffness or not.
 
Titles vary greatly from state to state. I wouldn't want to deal with Pennsylvania or New Jersey titles :mad: and am sure to get a "second" on that!

In New Hampshire, a registration can be obtained with a Bill of Sale written on an envelope. :rolleyes: Yearly "fees" run about $40.

Florida doesn't care a dime about Sunfish.

I don't know what the law is in Georgia... :confused:
 
Thank you all very much for the valuable information. This will help me greatly when I go to purchase a Sunfish.
 
Hulls can be found almost anywhere. You should be able to lift one end without much effort. The hulls with metal deck edge trim should weigh 139 pounds, the 1988-2020 hulls 129 pounds. Sometimes we take an old bathroom scale and balance the boat on its side to get an approximation, but after lifting Sunfish for 35 years we have the feel. We look for poorly done patches or missing hardware. Check around mast step for big cracks through the fiberglass. A few spider cracks here and there are normal for aging gelcoat.

Spars should be straight and no excessive corrosion. Take a tape measure, the mast should be 10 feet, the booms 13'9"

Rudder and daggerboard need to be in good shape, they're $150 or so each to get a decent replacement.

Sail, look for sunburn faded areas or dry rot, loose stitches and torn grommets. A manufacturer sail with official Sunfish logo is preferred.

Parts are pretty easy to find and this Forum is one of the best things on the internet!

Good luck
 
signal charlie said:
Hulls can be found almost anywhere. You should be able to lift one end without much effort. The hulls with metal deck edge trim should weigh 139 pounds, the 1988-2020 hulls 129 pounds. Sometimes we take an old bathroom scale and balance the boat on its side to get an approximation, but after lifting Sunfish for 35 years we have the feel. We look for poorly done patches or missing hardware. Check around mast step for big cracks through the fiberglass. A few spider cracks here and there are normal for aging gelcoat.

Spars should be straight and no excessive corrosion. Take a tape measure, the mast should be 10 feet, the booms 13'9"

Rudder and daggerboard need to be in good shape, they're $150 or so each to get a decent replacement.

Sail, look for sunburn faded areas or dry rot, loose stitches and torn grommets. A manufacturer sail with official Sunfish logo is preferred.

Parts are pretty easy to find and this Forum is one of the best things on the internet!

Good luck
Click to expand...

This is Gold!! Thank you so much!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top