Found a couple of Sunfish in Columbus Georgia, call signs Hoops (red stripes) and YoYo (inverted). Hoops is a AMF 1978 and YoYo is a Pearson 1992.
Sail for Hoops is pretty worn, stained and has some pinholes. Also put on upside down.
Hoops was holding about 4 gallons of water and is about 40 pounds heavy, water trapped in the foam. A good start will be adding a drain plug to keep water OUT.
Mast needs a new cap. The replacement comes with small pins, so look for them when unpacking the new cap. They are used to hold the cap in place.
YoYo has a great sail, mast and spars.
Weird black paint on the bottom, that will be removed.
Small damaged area of fiberglass on the chine.
Removed the damaged fiberglass with a diamond rasp.
Made a blind patch with cardboard and woven roving.
Set epoxy cup in an open area to harden, it heats up and could start a fire.
Filled in the area with peanut butter consistency epoxy and filler.
Started sanding off the black paint.
New bailer is in stock.
04 Apr 14: Cut an inspection hole in Hoops to dry out foam, she weighs over 170 pounds. I used the inner cap as a template for the hole, palced midway between the daggerboard well and coaming. Drilled a 1/4 inch starter hole for the jigsaw.
I sell an inspection port kit that comes with step by step instructions, a port and all the hardware. This port can be installed for maintenance and repair of your boat, especially useful for rudder conversions. The kit includes stainless machine screws, flat washers and stop nuts with nylon inserts. Save yourself time by buying a kit that has the matching marine grade installation hardware. This task may seem daunting if you've never done it before, so we include is a 5 page manual with photos of actual East Bay Marine installations and a list of recommended tools and supplies. Tip: A 6 inch diameter port is a good size for best access.
03 Apr 14: Picked up Hoop's and YoYo's trailer also.
Trying to dry out Hoops with a bathroom vent fan and a shop light, this could take a while.
Oops, foam is loose inside, and pretty wet. Backer block looks good though.
Bow handle backer block is loose, not good, I'll have to open up the bow.
07 Apr 14: bow handle held on by plastic anchors, and there is another hole hiding there. more patches!
Removed trim rivets with 1/8 inch drill bit. Trim will pop loose with a few taps, take care to not bend trim, especially around rivet holes as it can snap.
Insert xacto knife into deck/hull seam and start a split.
Use putty knife and hammer to continue the split. Split deck back to forward edge of cockpit. Do not split mast tube, daggerboard or cockpit.
Halyard block backer block.
Halyard cleat backer block.
Mast tube base.
Daggerboard trunk.
Gudgeon backer.
Stern foam. Big blob is the expanding foam used to hold flotation blocks in place. Blocks also increase rigidity of the hull.
Rremoved 30 pounds of wet expanding foam.
Removed splashguard, found more plastic anchors.
Rudder inspector.
We like Fibreglast 2 part expanding foam to rest the blocks, reset the stern blocks first. Taped around the top of the block to hold foam in place until it can expand.
For the forward block I put a paint stick in the bottom of the block to hold it upright while deck is closed and foam expand.
We cut channels in the bottom of the block so we can pour the outboaard side and let it flow downhill to the inboard side.
Poured foam on the top of the block outside of the hull and with a helper, inserted it into the hull.
You can see where foam expanded through the channels, and the stick worked great. The foam is also sticky, so that block is solidly wedged between the deck and hull.
Hull seam must be clamped while foam expands or else you'll never get it closed again.
Continued sanding YoYo, fairing chine repair and added a new bailer.
Skipper took Yoyo for a leak check, she sailed great!
OBTW YoYo already has a buyer!
13 May 2014: Some of Hoops backer blocks are either dried out or have dry rot, so we cut some new ones from cypress and installed them. We can get cypress locally and it is a good rot resistant wood.
An oft asked question is "Where can I put an inspection port to access the bow handle area?" Right behind the bow handle is a good answer, there is a 4-5 inch gap between the handle backer block and the center foam block. Remember to measure for the entire port (cap AND ring).
Time to start sealing up the deck/hull seam, starting at the stern. Used
West System 105 Epoxy Resin, hardener and 406 filler. Pick a slow or fast hardener depending on air temperature for your work day. If it is cold, you may want to use the fast hardener.
West System has a good chart on their website to point you in the right direction.
Laid out 1 inch fiberglass cloth strips (4-6 oz) and prepped them with thickened epoxy. The cloth and the epoxy will bond the seam and fill any voids.
One person holds the seam open while the other lays in the cloth. Then you align the seam and clamp clamp clamp clamp clamp....Throw down an layer of wood strips (paint stir sticks) to help spread out clamp pressure. Do not over tighten clamps or all the epoxy will squeeze out.
17 May 2104: Sanded the daggerboard with a random orbital sander 120 grit, applied first coat of Helmsman Spar Urethane, satin finish.
12 May 2014: Use
marine sealant to hold the block in place as well as the old hanger. Held it in place til it dries with the old bow handle and screws. Once it dries we will fill the gaping holes from the old bow handle with
Marine Tex epoxy putty.
Used old bow handle and screws to hold new backer block in place while it dries.
Wet sanded the bow with
1600 then 2000 to see how the gelcoat would look, it is going to look great! A
sanding block is a good tool to have also, otherwise your fingers can leave uneven grooves in the gelcoat
18 May 2014: YoYo tests out the new Sunfish dolly from Dynamic Dollies. It rolls great, in fact it tried to keep rolling into the water.
21 May 2014: Yoyo has a buyer and is ready to roll.
Curly pool noodles keep the spars from scraping the deck.
YoYo's proud new owner (L) and Skipper 2
If you have a big trailer, use it ! And don't pay extra for curly pool noodles when you can curl them yourself.
Intermission:
Back to our regularly scheduled program.
01 Jun 2014: Hoops' center bow block laying down, getting ready to stand it up and secure it in place with expanding foam. On the left (starboard side) you can see where the starboard side bow block will be installed. Also visible in the picture are the mast tube, daggerboard trunk and cockpit tub.
Patent Pending on my foam block kickstand, half of a paint stir stick...free!
There is not much room to pour foam on top of the block if it is already in the boat. SO we will take it out and wrap the top of the block with 2 inch tape to hold foam mostly in place while it expands.
Wrap the top of the block with 2 inch tape to hold liquid foam in place til it starts expanding. I like the
Fibreglast 2 part 2 pound foam, it is suitable for the marine environment. SOme folks also like the 4 pound foam.
We poured the foam for the starboard and center block, and it set up so quick we didn't get a picture. We clamped the hull so it doesn't bulge out of position while the foam expands. The foam is also adhesive, so you can only get the deck seam open enough to epoxy it back together.
Skipper saturating the 6 oz fiberglass cloth seam strips with West System 105 epoxy resin, slow hardener and 406 filler.
Prepping for seam epoxy while foam finishes expanding inside. Laid out the paint sticks and the rest of the clamps. Roamer in background awaiting parts patiently, borrowed OnKaHyE's cover.
Skipper heads to Hoops with the first strip of epoxied fiberglass cloth for the deck/hull seam.
Epoxying the seam back together. The saturated cloth strip helps fill any voids when the deck and hull go back together.
Skipper 2 clamping the deck hull seam. The paint sticks help spread out the clamp pressure. Do not clamp too tight or you will squeeze the epoxy out of the seam. It is also critical to align the deck and hull seam at this stage.
Hoops clamped up and drying, foam reistalled, seam is all back together now! Next up trim rivets, splashguard rivets, bailer, bow handle, inspection port, rudder build up and test sail Supervision provided today by the Daysailer, Minifish and Penobscot 14.
Upper spar needs to be straightened a little, we used 2 tree trunks for that.
Hoops is getting a new old sail, 1990s vintage from Schurr Sails Pensacola !
06 Jun 2014: Hoops wet sanded with 1200 grit and waxed with 3M Fiberglass Restorer.
Deck edge seam
Sometimes the trim holes fill in with epoxy. If they do just drill them back out.
Put the rivet in the gun then insert into the trim hole. Squeeze handle 3-4 times and rivet shank will shear loose when barrel is fuly expanded inside the hole.
The splashguard takes larger rivets, available from Sunfish Parts Houses like
The Dinghy Shop.
Installed a port with a dry bag and clear cap. The clear cap will let us see if condensation forms inside and we need to air out the boat. Dry bag and port were ordered from
Annapolis Performance Sailing.
Built up Hoops' rudder. The blue tape worked great to hold the plastic bushings in place while the cheek was being positioned over the bolt hole. Notice how this pintle pushes up to install, they can go either way.
Hoops if finished! Put on a new bailer and bow handle, new lines. Skipper taking 1978 Sunfish Hoops through sea trials. We had to jump through a lot of hoops to get her seaworthy again, especially removing 39 pounds of waterlogged foam.
Hoops going to a new home!
....to be continued...
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