Woo Hoo! another boat!

S

Steve523

New Member
I just got a (1978?) Star Dancer clonefish on a trailer for 350 clams, it looks pretty good, lots of cracks around the top of the daggerboard hole, trailer needs sprucing up. The rudder is warped from sitting in New Mexico desert air for ten years, but I think I can straighten it. It has a Sunfish sail which looks pretty good, somewhat faded but the fabric feels healthy. I thought about putting a red circle around the sail emblem with the slash across the middle to make it apparent that I'm not a SF wannabe :). It has some weird rigging mods involving galvanized fence post clamps and pulleys that are just about as ugly (s'pose they worked for PO). I got the itch real bad now, can't wait to get out. But of course I must first fiddle with it and change some things to make it truly mine, a sentiment probably not unlike the canine territory marking thing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tag
Let me know if one of those changes includes a bailer in the cockpit. I also have a Star Dancer, and I learned last summer that it fills up and stays filled up with water. I am currently planning on installing a bailer, but we still have ice on our lakes, so it'll be a while yet. Due to the foam attached to the fiberglass, I don't know if a sunfish bailer will work.
 
It already has a bailer in the cockpit and one in the storage compartment. On the bottom side I think they are brass, at least I think that's what I saw when I bought the boat. I rigged it this weekend and the sail is in good shape, a little sun faded where it was exposed while rolled up (it sat 10 years), and some stains. The plastic rings were no good where exposed to sun and I ordered those along with a mast fairlead so I can get rid of the fence post clamp and pulley. On closer inspection, the rudder is made of oak, guessing someone lost or broke the original, its not fitted to the hardware well. Think I'm going to make one out of 1/8 plywood, foam and fiberglass, shaped in the more modern style. I'll take pics of the bailers for you as soon as I can. When you say it fills up do you mean the cockpit fills up or the whole thing turns into a log on you?
 
Without a bailer, the cockpit fills up very full quite quickly. The handling is changed by this extra weight, but not too badly. The inside of the boat didn't fill up and was well sealed. That was the case until the plate holding the rudder on popped out due to the strain, and I gave it a very quick non-permanent duct tape repair. For future reference, duct tape doesn't hold on a rudder very well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top