"Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." (The Wind In the Willows, Grahame).
Skipper has been sailing since she was a kid and Captain Clark has been knocking rust off of trailers for a while. The family started off with the homebuilt 16 foot sailboat ADRIENNE, then the Drascombe Lugger ONKAHYE in 1980, added the 1965 Alcort Sunfish WAVE in 1994, and has grown the fleet since then.
In 2012 we rechristened 7 Sunfish; SASSY, EDUARDO, TILLY, PFFFT, MADISON, BUTTERCUP and WAVE.
2013: Drascombe Lugger ONKAHYE, Sunfish "RAY" OF HOPE, Rose"Bud", ELAN, BELLE, MERCI, Alcort Sunfish NEPTUNE, ZIP, Alcort Sunfish CHIP, Alcort Super Sailfish ZSA ZSA and Alcort Super Sailfish MKII SWEETNESS.
2014: Drascombe Lugger ROAMER, Penobscot 14 ST. JACQUES, AMF Sunfish HOOPS, YOYO and CATHERINE, AMF Minifish SMOKY and BANDIT, Barnett Butterfly SWEET EMOTION and SWEET EMOTION II, and Capri 18 SUGAR 2.
2015: Penobscot 14 ST. JACQUES, Vanguard Sunfish CRYSTAL, AMF Sunfish VIPER, SUGAR 2, Vanguard Sunfish Ciel, Sorg Runabout 15 WILLOW, ODay Daysailer CYANE.
2016: 1880s Leathers 21 Tender BARBASHELA, Alcort Standard Sailfish WINNIE, Penobscot 14 ST. JACQUES and Penobscot 17 HANNA.
2017: Penobscot 14 ST. JACQUES, AMF Sunfish VIPER, Drascombe Dabber VICTORY, Alcort Catfish SMEDLEY.
2018: Restoration continues on VICTORY and begins on ZSA ZSA. Sunfish Boomer restoration complete.
2019: Alcort wooden Super Sailfish ZSA ZSA restoration complete and wooden Alcort Sunfish CHIP as well. Gave a presentation at the Herreshoff Marine Museum on the U. S. Navy's Flying Boat NC-4, the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic in 1919.
Members:
American Society of Marine Artists
Antique Boat Museum
Antique and Classic Boat Society
Drascombe Association Network
Messing About In Boats
National Maritime Historical Society
Small Boats Magazine
Traditional Small Craft Association
WoodenBoat
Author:
Small Boats Magazine
WoodenBoat
Moderator:
The Sunfish Forum
Owner:
Small Boat Restoration facebook page
Sunfish_Sailor yahoo group
Our Restorations:
1963 Alcort Super Sailfish MKII (fiberglass) Sweetness.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
195? Wooden Alcort Super Sailfish Zsa Zsa.
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
1963 wooden Alcort Sunfish Chip
Before
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
1953 wooden Alcort Sunfish Zip, number 13 of first 20 pre production Sunfish, given out to family and friends of ALCORT.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Zip during.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Zip after.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
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| From Small Boat Restoration 2013 |
1977 AMF Alcort Sunfish Neptune.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
1968 Alcort Sunfish Merci
Before.
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| From Small Boat Restoration |
Merci After.
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
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| From SBR 3: Jan 2014- |
Merci's Restoration Log
1978 AMF Sunfish Belle picked Perdido Beach, FL May 2013:
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| From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration |
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| From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration |
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| From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration |
1987 AMF Sunfish Elan picked in Panama City, Florida February 2013, sold Mar 2013: Refostered Fall of 2016.
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
1968 Alcort Sunfish Bud picked in Perdido Beach, Alabama November 2012:
Bud During:
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| From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration |
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| From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration |
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| From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration |
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| From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration |
Bud After:
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| From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration |
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| From Sunfish Sailboat Restoration |
1971 Alcort Sunfish Ray Before:
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
During:
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
Ray After!
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
Alcort SunfishTilly Before:
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
Tilly After:
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
1978 AMF Sunfish Eduardo:
AMF Sunfish Sassy Before:
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
Sassy After:
AMF Sunfish Pffft and Buttercup enroute to East Bay Marine:
Pffft Before:
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
Pffft During:
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
Pffft After:
Barnett Butterfly Buttercup
Before
Buttercup After:
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
AMF Sunfish Madison
Before:
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
Madison After:
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| From Sunfish Sailboat |
1965 Alcort Sunfish Wave:
1958 Sorg 15 Runabout Willow
1880s Leathers Skiff Barbashela
1950s Alcort Standard Sailfish Winnie
2017 Penobscot 14 St. Jacques
Sea Rat from Wind In The Willows (Grahame).
"There, sooner or later, the ships of all seafaring nations arrive; and there, at its destined hour, the ship of my choice will let go its anchor. I shall take my time, I shall tarry and bide, till at last the right one lies waiting for me, warped out into midstream, loaded low, her bowsprit pointing down harbour. I shall slip on board, by boat or along hawser; and then one morning I shall wake to the song and tramp of the sailors, the clink of the capstan, and the rattle of the anchor-chain coming merrily in. We shall break out the jib and the foresail, the white houses on the harbour side will glide slowly past us as she gathers steering-way, and the voyage will have begun! As she forges towards the headland she will clothe herself with canvas; and then, once outside, the sounding slap of great green seas as she heels to the wind, pointing South!
And you, you will come too, young brother; for the days pass, and never return, and the South still waits for you. Take the Adventure, heed the call, now ere the irrevocable moment passes! 'Tis but a banging of the door behind you, a blithesome step forward, and you are out of the old life and into the new! Then some day, some day long hence, jog home here if you will, when the cup has been drained and the play has been played, and sit down by your quiet river with a store of goodly memories for company. You can easily overtake me on the road, for you are young, and I am aging and go softly. I will linger, and look back; and at last I will surely see you coming, eager and light- hearted, with all the South in your face!"
Contact Clark at lewis dot kent at google mail
to be continued...
Awesome work!
ReplyDeleteThanks, it's been a lot of fun and a learning experience.
ReplyDeleteHi.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog and book. Have read both entirely and learned a lot.
I have a question about buying a used boat. There is a local Super Sunfish that is 100% complete with all the rigging, hardware and sail stored properly in dry barn, however the boat has been sitting deck up on a trailer outdoors for about 20 years. There is a crack in the base of the tub and of course water inside the hull. Over the past winter we have experienced freakishly cold weather for the Southeast, down in the single digits for several days in a row and so I am concerned about additional freeze damage, esp to the mast step.
I have experience opening and drying hulls that had normal leaks and can do basic fiberglass repair.
Is this something that you would run away from or do you think it would be worth salvaging. Asking price is around $500 which would be too high for a Sunfish, but I really like the idea of owning a Super Sunfish rig.
Thanks in advance for any advice and keep up the good work.
Hi Henry,
ReplyDelete500 doesn't seem to be too much if you want a SS rig, there are not a lot of them around in good shape. If you can do the repairs then go for it. Concerns would be saturated foam which adds weight on the trailer, so check the bottom real good for damage, and look around inside the cockpit for evidence of tub pulling away from deck. If the boat is heavy you'll have to dry it out and/or replace expanding foam, that might take season but it can be done with patience.
Start at half price and go up as needed :)
Cheers
Kent
Thanks Kent.
ReplyDeleteI can deal with saturated foam, but worried about mast step which might have not survived frozen water, etc.
I assume the gel coat can be buffed out or repainted if too far gone.
The traveller car may need to be replaced which will require some serious hunting. Wondering if a modern compact traveller track like a Harken could be mounted securely on the deck just aft of the dagger board.
It is pretty straight forward to put epoxy inside the mast step to repair, or cut an inspection hole nearby to repair inside. Gel coat can also be wet sanded.
DeleteTry the Sunfish Forum Wanted Ads to locate a traveler car if you get the boat: http://sailingforums.com/forums/Sunfish_Wanted/ or adapt a new piece.
Good Luck!
Hey Clark - me again,
ReplyDeleteI just picked up a bargain 68 Sunfish that had been stored in a garage for a while and the owner needed space. The deck was a dirty cream color with what looked like chemical stains and other dirty splotches. It had no striping - only its metal badge behind the combing. I assumed someone had painted over the gelcoat with house paint and it had not aged well. When I got it home, I went to cleaning it with Star Brite hull cleaner and some wet sandpaper. Whatever the finish is, its rock hard and scrubbing it intensely over the dirty spots yielded almost no results. I thought it would powder up and I would have to be careful about not going too deep. So I am trying to figure out how to de-ugly it without painting, as the finish is hard and clearly durable.
Next step is to try an orbital buffer and some compound, but I am not very optimistic. Any thoughts? Have you ever seen a stock , all white/all cream 60's boat?
Its possible that the boat originally looked like this but right now the top is just a dirty tan/cream, with no hint of either yellow or white.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.boats4sale.pro/detail/us/nPeOnndnHOnUmmmUHUmO/12-AMF-Alcort-Sunfish-No-Motor-w-Trailer-T1235580
Henry,
ReplyDeleteThat look like paint. I'd try some Iron Out then some wax
http://astore.amazon.com/smalboatrest-20/detail/B008G60RQ2
If that doesn't help, you might have to repaint or sand off that finish and see what is underneath
Saw your segment in the Jamestown Distributors catalog that came with my latest shipment. Very cool! I also live in Navarre and build wooden boats! Currently building a 20' Simmons Sea Skiff. Get in touch r.j.delaney1@gmail.com
ReplyDelete