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...

AMF Boat Builder

From Sunfish Sailboat

I had a great phone conversation with Howie P yesterday, he has parts for older AMF sailboats for sail. He worked at AMF from 1960-1978 and was friends with the designers. When he started they were producing about 10 boats a day, and worked up to 65, plus other AMF boats were coming off the line like the Catfish, Sunbird and Tracs. He worked at AMF in Waterbury for 18 years and bought some parts from them when they sold out. He also set up his own shop doing warranty work for AMF, where his most common jobs were foam replacement and rudder conversions. He had the skills and tools to split the deck from the hull, remove and replace the foam. Water logged foam would hardly ever dry out, especially the inner section. For the rudder conversions he split the seam on the transom and up each side about a foot with a putty knife, glassed in a backer plate then resealed with resin, glass and 8 clamps.
It was an awesome conversation, talking to a craftsman who not only built the Sunfish but also many other Alcort and AMF boats.

FMI: AMF Boat Parts