Two questions (hull layup schedule, deck drain plug)

Compared with the original construction (polyester with [only] glass mat and roving reinforcement), your layup is super gutsy.
 
Well, I have to get something off my chest. I cut a hole in the deck last night to put a new backing block behind the deck cleat that pulled out. As it turns out the backing black was actually fine but someone had over tightened the screw and bored out the hole which is why the cleat pulled out. So, I don't have to put a new block on (though I'm going to put a strip of aluminum underneath the block and run a bolt down through both) so that problem didn't turn out to be much of a big deal.

However, and this is the part that I am only admitting with great shame, I damaged one of the styrofoam Stringer blocks when I did it. I'm not going to say how and I'm too embarrassed to say why but there is now a chunk of Styrofoam about 8 inches long missing from one of the blocks just about a foot forward of the coaming on the starboard side. In my defense the block had already separated from the deck so there was some flex to begin with, but now there is quite a bit more flex. I guess I will try to tab some plywood in there to act as support for that particular spot and then close up the hole on the deck and hopefully never put another hole in this boat again.

If I had taken the extra time to look up where the stringers are I would have cut the hole on the right side of it as opposed to the wrong side. So, lesson learned.
 
Don't worry about the gap? I thought I might try to use some plywood to fashion a little mold to at least full up the gap in the poly styrene foam.
 
There's nothing holding it in on the sides unless I put something there. If the foam would still fill it that's a huge relief. Here's a drawing of what it looks like now. Sorry so crude.
 

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if you pour enough of the expanding foam in, it will expand to fill the gap(s). did you read the blog post I linked to earlier?
 
I did, yeah. It seemed fairly likely to me though that the foam would spread out the sides and possibly not up high enough if there wasn't anything bracing in the gap on each side so I wasn't sure exactly if I had communicated the situation well enough. Very much appreciate the advice and the help -- it saves me a load of trouble if I don't have to find some way of keeping the foam from spreading out and not up.
 
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Just a FYI for the next Sunfish you do after this one. If you put the inspection port in the standard location behind
the center of the splash rail you can reach the deck cleat block.
It's a long reach but you can get the nuts and fender washers on.
 
My rationale in choosing the hole I did was that it was exactly a forearm's length from both the deck cleat and what would be the fairlead on a newer boat (I'm not sure what it's called on my boat -- just a block I guess). I would not do it that way again, but in any case that's what I was thinking with this one.
Tonight I was able to get in there and put it in an aluminum backing plate that now runs underneath the mahogany blocks for both those pieces of hardware. They're definitely not going anywhere now.
I also put the two-part, 2lb expanding foam in the gap I made in the stringer and slowly layered it back up to the deck. Then I injected some between the deck and the intact parts of the stringer and stacked a few cinder blocks on it to press the deck down. So that's at least as strong as it was.
Tomorrow I'm going to put a cleat on the mast and glass over the hole in the deck and hopefully there'll be some of this nice strong east wind left on Saturday to sail.
 
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It's all done. Brushed in the gel coat last night before packing up and all I have to do now is go sand it down and then sail. Decent winds today if a little light but I'm going to make an afternoon of it anyway.
 
Wow. Maiden-voyage-number-two-serious-this time was crazy. Lighter winds all day but as I was heading into the jetty I saw a friend coming out on his boat and I'm sorry glad I tourney around and followed him. A serial line came through and I got to give the sunfish the sea test I really wanted. 20kt gusts were coming through. So much fun! Didn't break anything this time so that was nice.
 
*... and I'm super glad I turned around and followed him back out. A squall line came through...

I really have to start proofreading my posts when I type in my phone.
 
Well, it's all done. I glassed over the bailer hole. I realize that's controversial for some reason but anyone who likes (including me) can reinstall it with little to no trouble. It's just a matter of knowing what size hole to cut.

When I was doing that I spotted a bad repair to the hull towards the bow. Someone had crunched it in pretty good. By the time I got all the bad glass out, I had another decent-sized hole to glass over.

The last injury I found was that someone had crunched the lip on the bow, and broken the laminate there as well. I just put some thickened epoxy on the underside to brace it up a bit since it didn't seem very extreme. I probably should have used some laminate but I can always revisit that one.

I got a little lucky with the drain plug hole. I found a plug the nearly fit, so I painted the inside of the rim with a little gel coat and now it fits, snug as a bug.

I bought new rigging and put on the infinity sail I purchased.

All in all I have about 350 bucks into the boat. I'll take some more pictures soon. This is just a quick one I snapped when we finally finished rigging it up.
The location of the bailer in the hull is a special one. The cockpit is bonded to the bottom in that small (and only) place.

Relocation would require attention to duplicating this bond area.

This weekend, I saw a Sunfish with three adult males on board :rolleyes:. A working bailer would be a good idea. If your sailing is less stressful (than that) a plastic cup would suffice in a bailer-less Sunfish.

This old thread was revived seeing as it answers a lot of bailer questions by authors Webfoot1, Roller, mixmkr--all seasoned Sunfish advisors we don't see often-enough lately.

(Go to page one for the beginning of this discussion).
 
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I cut my original ancient metal bailer out using a very course overlapping flap wheel on a right angle grinder and a die grinder with carbide burrs. The exact size 6-point socket could not get a grip on the skinny hex nut.

if you don’t replace with the new white plastic ball check self bailer you will be hauling a lot of water as the cockpit tends to always be about half full. Uncomfortable and heavy. My new bailer keeps the cockpit empty. It’s way better than the original.

The plastic bailer screws in easily. Use silicone calk liberally before assembly. You will need a helper unless your arms are very long.

If you really insist on glassing over I recommend epoxy. It has better bonding and strength than polyester.

If you need a new paint job - I used Safety Yellow Rustoleum 5300. 2 part water based epoxy. Water dilute and roll on.
 

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Installing a new plastic bailer on a clean bottom should not require caulking. The O-ring should do the job.
The general recommendation is to hand tighten; I found that another quarter turn (use a big wrench on the cubby side) is necessary to keep water out of the footwell.
 

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