Saw an ad on craigslist for a yard sale with a Sunfish sailboat. Hooked up the trailer and drove over to check out the boat, ended up buying it from original owner. It is a 1987 hull, pretty much original except newer sail, tiller extension and swivel cam cleat. My wife says the Sunfish's name is Elle.
The gelcoat is original, needs to be buffed out. Here the boat is wet, so the gelcoat could look like this with some elbow grease. Nice repair on the chine could be sanded a bit, but not right now.
Here is the swivel cam cleat and splashguard.
Considering this Sunfish was raced in a saltwater environment, the gooseneck, mast and spars are in great shape.
Nice straight spars.
The rudder is in good shape. It shows usage and has been reinforced with a dowel, a common fix on wooden Sunfish rudders. They did a nice job.
The sheet is pretty dirty and the other lines were missing. I'll work on cleaning this up, but in the meantime I'll add a new line kit.
I got a line kit a few months back that didn't match my green boat, so I put it aside. Turns out these colors will work great with Elle.
The sail was off the spars, so I started putting it back on by grabbing a S hook.
We are coming acreoss a lot of
Schurr Sails, made in Pensacola, and still in business making great sails. Hunter and his team do excellent work.
Then I tied on the outhauls.
Sail rings were next, then the halyard and I raised the sail. There are some nice, small repairs on the sail.
I made a bridle from a 32-36 inch piece of line and needed to whip the ends. The line needs to be small enough diameter to fit through the eyestraps, and FYI it is not race legal. First put a few wraps of tape on the line, cut the line then grab a foot or so of small whipping line. This particular line is not waxed and a little thicker. I like it because it is obnoxious yellow. Make a half loop with the long and short tails running off the end of the bigger line.
Start at the end, wrapping the line over itself for 10-12 turns.
Run the end on the line through the loop.
Now pull the short tail so that the small loop gets pulled about halfway under the wraps. Trim off the loose ends, and coat with some glue if you like.
Ru the line through one eyestrap and tie a figure eight knot. Then add a block and run the other end of the line through the other eyestrap and tie another figure eight. Throw a bowline knot on the halyard clip and bridle is ready.
Daggerboard is in good shape.
I alwyas like looking at the vintage Alcort stickers. The hole to the right is the hull vent, not sure what the other 3 holes were for.
This Sunfish has nice white lettering on the side.
The hull is ready for the water, lightweight and stiff.
Added a new bow handle. The different color spots are where the deck is wet.
The sail still has many days of sailing left and works great with the hull and deck color.
This is a sweet Sunfish, ready to sail!