1969 Alcort AMF Sunfish Brochure

25 Dec 20: 

Merry Christmas! Check out all the new offerings available in 1969 for your new Sunfish. AMF had just purchased Alcort and they went wild and crazy, offered STRIPES on the foredeck.

AMF recycled a lot of stock photos, these date back to at least 1965.

We like to think Skipper's 1965 Alcort WAVE was used for these photo shoots, she had a solid blue deck, no stripes. I certainly could rock those black shoes and white socks. We are also in the market for a hardtop Corvair.

AMF made popular bowling balls among other things, and gobbled up several other sporting good  makers, including Ben Hogan golf clubs and Harley Davidson motorcycles.

AMF/ALCORT Brochure 1974

08 Oct 19:

Sunfish Learn To Sail in 3 Days

24 Jan 19:

The AMF catalog from 1976 has a few pages dedicated to learning to sail in 3 days. Day 1 is about getting used to being on a boat, on the water. A few techniques are taught on how to move the boat with paddle, daggerboard or surfboard stroke should the wind drop off. Also turning with the tiller is introduced. These drills are done in shallow water.

Reference:
AMF Catalog, 1976.

AMF Alcort Inc Sailboats 1980 Lineup

15 Jan 19:

AMF bought Alcort Sailboats in 1969 and revamped the lineup through the 70s, keeping the popular selling Sunfish and phasing out the Sailfish and Catfish. The The Minifish was added about 1971-2, a little Sister to the Sunfish at just under 12 feet. She used the same blades but a sail rig similar to the Sailfish, 65 sf on a 9 foot mast. Around the 1976 Bicentennial the "Olympic" red, white and blue deck stripes and sail came out on the Sunfish and we think 10 million of those were sold, they are everywhere! Many other boats were in the lineup by 1980, here is a nice advertisement we came across, you could send off for a poster. Maybe I'll send in my dollar...

Alcort/AMF Parts

05 Jan 19:

Our buddy Howie worked at Alcort in Waterbury Connecticut from 1960-1978, then he did warranty work for them for another 10 years. He is thinning his stash and we just got a box of goodies from him. Skipper claimed the jacket but she let me try it on :)

Alcort AMF sailboat parts circa 1960-1988.

Horizontal latch plate, horizontal hinge pin and vertical latch plate for the wooden Alcort sailboats, it has screw eyes on the stern end for wood screws that fastened into the oak transom. The 4 inch vertical latch plate is for the wooden Sailfish and Sunfish that have the shorter transoms. The horizontal latch plate on the left was for the fiberglass boats. The 7 inch bolt and wingnut is for the old style rudder on the fiberglass Sunfish with the taller transom.

Vintage Wilcox and Crittenden hardware. The block with the eye screw id for the wooden booms on the early boats.

Evolution of halyard cleats.

Alcort and AMF Sunfish Brochures

12 Jun 18:

We gathered up a few advertising brochures for the Sunfish, published back when Alcort/AMF/Vanguard were the manufacturers. They are fun to look at and contain historical data about the specifications of the boat and a record of the color schemes.

Image credits: Alcort/AMF/Vanguard