Want to see inside a Sunfish ???

Phillster

Member
OK, I think it's an AMF Windlite, ID'd w/ Wavedancer's assistance. Close enough to a Sunfish...
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Thanks for posting that picture; quite interesting.
What's next; are you going to rebuild her?

It looks like the supports in the bow area are loose and, as Geophizz already pointed out, way too much expanding foam in the stern section.
 
no, it had been salvaged, albeit poorly, once prior. Below is a pic of the "salvaged boat" and I'll let you be the judge. Twas really in bad shape. I bought it for the trailer. I've refurb'd many Sunfish, but this one was beyond salvage. Would have been prohibitively expensive to save. Decided that the best use of the boat was as a template for fitting skids and trailers for Sunfish. So, the bottom half remains in my backyard tucked behind a bush for use for such later...

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WOW, was that a tarp they converted to a sail? The rudder looks homemade too. I have a Viking that's in similarly bad shape. I picked it up for free and I'm just stripping the parts off of it for my Sunfish since they're basically identical.
 
The sail(s) were tarps, the rudder a piece of strand board, the tiller a treated wood porch rail, the daggerboard a piece of rusty flat steel, the boom electriv cal conduit, and the mast a piece of conduit w/ a steel pipe therein. Yep, just too much to replace on a really bad hull. The tarp will be great for a painting project..
 
The sail(s) were tarps, the rudder a piece of strand board, the tiller a treated wood porch rail, the daggerboard a piece of rusty flat steel, the boom electriv cal conduit, and the mast a piece of conduit w/ a steel pipe therein. Yep, just too much to replace on a really bad hull. The tarp will be great for a painting project..

BTW, when I opened it, I used a circ saw just under the gunnel. It took about 2 minutes. Was as tho I was unzipping it. Really fun!! But, watch the fiberglass dust in your skin....
 
There's a lake nearby my house where a guy converted a Sunfish in similar condition to a fishing boat. He mounted a chair in the mast tube and an electric motor on the bow. He keeps his catches in the cockpit.
 
I might have kept boat intact, tarp sail and all, had I still my cabin where I could have beached the boat and never had to maintain it. But, sans cabin and w/ the existing hull leaks, not feasible. The waterlogged hull was about twice as heavy as a normal sunfish hull, and I wasnt going to double my electric bill at some attempt to dry it out. Also, the potential cost of REAL boat parts. Another interest aspect of this boat is that the cockpit was molded into the deck. Once the cockpit perimeter was cut, it lifted out free of the hull like a small tub.
 
If I owned that hull bottom, I'd be advertising for a Sunfish with a holed bottom, and good deck! :)

(If it would fit, that is). ;)
 
If I owned that hull bottom, I'd be advertising for a Sunfish with a holed bottom, and good deck! :)

(If it would fit, that is). ;)

well, bear in mind that all I really had was an old waterlogged, loose hull. Even has it been salvagable, every other part would have had to be replaced, a pricey endeavor. It's much cheaper to find an older Sunfish on craigslist even if in need of a light refurb... But, believe me, this hull in question would not have been worth saving, and I did find a viable use for the hull....
 

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