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Who Out There Has an AMF Flying Fish?

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Banoe

New Member
I also have a Flying Fish. I have the original owners manual and bill of sale came with the boat. Picked it up for free guy was going to saw it up and throw it away. I had to glue the sail track back on the mast and clean it up a bit. Great boat very stable and the boom is over your head so less brain clunking. I would love to find out where I can get a new sail luff track for it the one I have i getting pretty shot.
 
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Lee In VT

New Member
Hi, I'm doing some repair work on my old Flying Fish and would like to contact other owners with a few questions. I love the boat but when we pulled it out last fall there was a lot of water to drain out, so I'm chasing potential leaks. Getting a late start this year. Any of you guys still monitoring this site?
Lee
 
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Dave Lang

New Member
Yes, I have a Flying Fish. Very fun to sail. I picked up a couple of years ago. All original except mast. The mast that I bought it with was much smaller in diameter than the mast hole. It also had a fore stay and one on each side. I reduced the mast hole with PVC pipe and a foam noodle. It's a very snug fit now and sails like a champ! I will try to post some pics soon. Has anyone been able to polish the deck? The top side is VERY weathered.
Dave
 
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Lee In VT

New Member
FlyingFish.jpg
Got mine last year, for my wife and I to learn to sail. Lots of fun and fright at times. Interesting about your mast. I think the mast hole on mine was once replaced. My mast base is too small in diameter, but someone fiberglassed 'bulges' at the bottom and top of the section of mast where it sits in the hole (hourglass shaped sort of), to make for a good fit. Also the bottom of the mast hole has a metal plate with a raised central "nipple" that fits into a matching plate on the mast bottom. I just did a bunch of minor fiberglass repairs, chasing a leak and reinforcing the mast base, mast hole, cockpit, and hull. You can see my boat looks kind of rough, it's been used, but still sails great. But it drained a lot of water when I pulled it out last fall. The deck surface has a lot of crazing and is rather dull, but I figure it's less slippery and appears intact. I'll bet a good car wax would work to polish it, but I'm only guessing.

If you look close at my enlarged pic, there is a small pulley at the base of the mast. Looks like it's for the halyard, to help raise the sail, but I'm not sure how to use it. Does your boat have that pulley? I find raising the sail alone is challenging, a definite two hand operation, to keep feeding the sail into the mast groove while pulling on the halyard. I lubed the groove with silicone spray, but still it takes a pretty strong pull, the further up the sail goes. At the same time it's difficult to keep the sail feeding cleanly into the groove with my other free hand. Do you have this problem? Perhaps the bottom of the mast groove is too worn/wide, or maybe this is just the way it is. We talked about having the sailmaker sew on little attachments (snails?) that would ride easily up the mast groove, rather than feeding the sail itself into the groove, make it easy to hoist. But I like how the sail and mast form a clean unit for airflow, and the ability to overrotate the mast while sailing, to tweak the shape of the sail.
Lee In VT (Lake Champlain)
 

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Glennrmccall

New Member
Hey lee,

I bought a Flying Fish about a year ago! Had to build a rudder from scratch. Now it looks like I need to rebuild the mast. It seems one of the previous owners patched it after it suffered some serious damage.

In reply to the difficulty of raising your sail, make sure your pully at the top of the mast is free. Mine was frozen. Also, I noticed that the sail will get snagged in the grove if it is not guided properly. I typically have the rope to raise the sail in one hand and guide with the other.

I assume you still have your boat and all is well?
 

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Araanim

Araanim

New Member
I'm a bit confused about the rigging of the halyard on this? There's a small loop that sits right in front of the mast, then there's a cleat to port of the mast that I assume you would tie off too. But then Lee's picture shows a pulley attached to the front of the vang? I don't think mine has that. Any tips on how it's actually supposed to rig up?
 
Araanim

Araanim

New Member
Araanim said:
I'm a bit confused about the rigging of the halyard on this? There's a small loop that sits right in front of the mast, then there's a cleat to port of the mast that I assume you would tie off too. But then Lee's picture shows a pulley attached to the front of the vang? I don't think mine has that. Any tips on how it's actually supposed to rig up?
Click to expand...


Is this right?
 
Araanim

Araanim

New Member
So I have recently got a Flying Fish from a friend that had no sail and a broken mast. I just happened to have the mast and sail of a Jetwind (Snark Mach II) lying around (the boat itself was long gone) so with some modification we rigged it up with that! It's definitely about half the sail area it's supposed to have, but the Fish is so broad that it barely heels at all, and can still pick up some decent speed. Makes for a great cruiser, especially with those nice wide seats! I'm excited to take her up to the lake next week. (Hence why I'm trying to figure out the proper rigging.)
 
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leakyflyingfish

New Member
hi, all,
I bought a flying fish about 20 years ago and used it part of one season before it started to take on water and sit heavy and low. then we noticed some cracks in the bow and haven't used it since. still have all the original parts and want to try again. any suggestions as to how to fix the cracks?
 
Araanim

Araanim

New Member
leakyflyingfish said:
hi, all,
I bought a flying fish about 20 years ago and used it part of one season before it started to take on water and sit heavy and low. then we noticed some cracks in the bow and haven't used it since. still have all the original parts and want to try again. any suggestions as to how to fix the cracks?
Click to expand...
From what I've heard, something like JB Weld is strong enough to seal up the plastic shell. Just smear it in there and make sure you squish it all the way into the crack. When it hardens, you can sand it smooth. If its a serious crack, you might have to do some actual fiberglass work to patch it (which isn't a HUGE deal, as I've been told.)

I would take another look at the boat though. Superficial cracks in the plastic shell probably aren't enough to cause serious leakage. I would check instead at the joints and seams, especially at the daggerboard. The Flying Fish sits so high in the water that that's pretty much the only place water COULD get in.
 
Araanim

Araanim

New Member


By the way, got a chance to take my Fish out last month. Had a couple good sails, but unfortunately it was pretty hot and windless most of the week.
 
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monkey4life

New Member
Wow. A somewhat recent thread about the flying fish. I have one I got in trade two months ago and man I love the thing. Plenty of character. Hull number is 503, with a green topside. Other than a crack that I had to fix in the mast step tube, and some gelcoat issues its a blast on the water. Previous owner had to fix the mast (boat had tipped and snapped the carbon fiber about 4' from the tip), but I'm glad to see there are other mast alternatives if it ever fails.
 
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MattRixx

New Member
While going through my parents old barn, I discovered an original "like new" AMF Alcott Flying Fish mast, complete with hardware.

It had been ordered for their FF, but was never used. If I remember correctly, there was only one OEM mast left when they ordered it.

Anyone know if there is any interest in this mast? Thanks for any info you can supply.
 
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monkey4life

New Member
MattRixx said:
While going through my parents old barn, I discovered an original "like new" AMF Alcott Flying Fish mast, complete with hardware.

It had been ordered for their FF, but was never used. If I remember correctly, there was only one OEM mast left when they ordered it.

Anyone know if there is any interest in this mast? Thanks for any info you can supply.
Click to expand...
Interested, Where is the mast located?
 
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Quietfire

New Member
I just picked up a 1982 Flying Fish I a few weeks ago. It had been sitting on the other side of the Chesapeake in VA for about 10 years. So far I've replaced every rope on her and about 70% of the rivets. Getting ready to do the last remaining rivet this week. Unfortunately the rivets holding the jib pulley tracks down had to be replaced. I ended up cutting 6" holes in each side of the cockpit and putting in access ports with water proof bags, so I made the best of it.

I have 2 questions. Has anyone found a cheap way to put new rollers on the reefing claw? And does anyone have a diagram of the rigging for the hiking handles?

I've had her out once with no wind, but still loved it. I am a fan of light wind sailing's challenges. I will say I'm looking forward to more wind once I have the rest of the rivets replaced.
 
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