1982 AMF Sunfish PHOENIX 28 Dec 20 Jigsaw Puzzle Time

 28 Dec 20:

WAVE is primed and awaiting hull paint, her TotalBoat Wet Edge BleGlo White is on a UPS truck headed down from Bristol, RI. Along with some Gray Topside Primer for the deck. So we spent the day fiddling with PHOENIX, hoisted her off of the Dynamic Dolly and swapped WAVE onto the Dynamic.

We forgot that PHOENIX needs a chine repair, we'll put in a blind patch and then build up the repair area.

Might see if we have any new old Sunfish stickers hanging around...

Removed the bow trim by drilling out trim rivets with a 1/8th inch metal drill bit, carefull to not drill through the bottom edge of the trim.

We had already trimmed the broken bits off of the deck with a jigsaw, regular wood blade worked fine.

The "plank" was fractured up by the number 2, that comes in handy...keep reading...

Our friend Tom manages a fleet of Yacht Club Sunfish out by Lake Norman, several of them beyond economical repair. He sent us the nose and hardware off of one of the boats, let's call her NORMAN. We split the deck from the hull, took off PHOENIX's bow handle and aligned NORMAN's deck with PHOENIX's deck, clamped in place. 

I was standing there thinking, if I could just reach inside and trace a cut line...wait, I can reach inside through the plank flap! Traced the cut line with a calibrated black Sharpie. Before I could do that, though, I trimmed off some of the old foam and the bow handle backer block hanger with the DeWalt oscillating multitool, oddly satisfying.

Another bit that we trimmed from NORMAN was the deck edge flange, to replace PHOENIX's missing flange.

Flange and deck clamped in place.

Trimmed off high spots of the seam with the multitool, that leaves a tiny gap for the thickened epoxy to fill.

Log of PHOENIX.

1965 Alcort Sunfish WAVE 27 Dec 20 First Coat Primer

 27 Dec 20:

Sanded deck this morning, applied final coat of TotalFair, let it dry 8 hours in 70F.

Sanded TotalFair with 120 grit, wiped hull with TotalBoat Special Brushing Thinner 100. Applied 2 light coats of TotalBoat Topside White Primer.

Log of WAVE.

Log of PHOENIX.

1965 Alcort Sunfish WAVE 24 Dec 20 Deck Fairing Round 2

 24 Dec 20:

Sanded the second coat of TotalFair fairing compound with 120 grit on a DeWALT random orbital sander. Smoothed out the TotalFair and also sanded away old, flaking one part paint in several areas, to get a good surface for primer to attach to. This photo shows the different layers of fiberglass, original blue gelcoat and 2 layers of Interlux Brightside Medium Blue. 

The last coat of Interlux had some ridges, so we sanded those smooth, prep for primer.

Theseus' Ship?

Video: https://youtu.be/-iK0BRHfuU0

1965 Alcort Sunfish WAVE 09 Dec 20 Deck/Hull Seam Adhesive

09 Dec 20:

Sandbags off, deck shape looks great.

I should let Skipper order fabric, she knows what she is doing and I MIGHT have over-ordered. 5 square yards of 6 oz fiberglass cloth and about 12 square yards of woven roving. Might be able to build another boat.

Jamestown Distributors sends out these nice mixing cups, and we highlight the ratio we are using so we can find the right column easily while pouring. Today it was 5:1 Epoxy. Resin to Hardener. Ignore the last 1.

We used Great Stuff expanding foam to adhere the top front of the structural blocks to the underside of the deck. It will work fine as long as we don't let water fill the hull for extended periods, it is not closed cell and would eventually absorb water. We used it here because we didn't want to split any more seam than was already split, and the deck could only be raised so high.

Put down a bead of THIXO Wood thickened epoxy then laid a one inch wide strip of fiberglass cloth. The cloth helps distribute and hold the epoxy in the seam, a tip given to us by Howie, who repaired built Sunfish for 18 years at Alcort then AMF, and then did another 10 years of warranty repairs.

Skipper wet out the cloth with TotalBoat 5:1 High Performance Epoxy

We used a syringe to inject thickened epoxy into the deck/hull seam when the gap got small.

New adhesive to fasten Capn Jack's bow handle stainless repair plate to the deck, that was his fix to where a previous bow handle had torn off and left a hole in the bow. We added a strip of fiberglass cloth to act as a catch basin for a THIXO blob, that will fill and seal the hole. Just to confuse you I have the stainless plate turned around facing the wrong way.

Hmmmm, Float Test or fairing and sanding next? Maybe an air leak test...

Alan sent WAVE and PHOENIX some bow trim.

WAVE's peeking outside...

Log of WAVE.

1965 Alcort Sunfish WAVE 02 Dec 20 Hull Repair Prep and Parts Boat SALLY

 02 Dec 20:

Used a jigsaw to trim off broken fiberglass from WAVE and PHOENIX. Took trim off of parts boat SALLY and split hull/deck seam, cut forward deck section off for use on WAVE.

Tools to split the deck/hull seam.

1981 AMF SALLY, she has extensive stern damage and her internal foam is detached. She will donate some bits for WAVE and get to go sailing again. Our friend spotted her in a storm debris pile after Hurricane Sally, scheduled to go to the landfill.

SALLY is excited about her new adventure, this bow handle backer block jumped out of a split in the seam when we flipped her to begin sorting parts.

Deck/hull seam is already split in places, so we'll continue what was already started.

Log of WAVE.

1965 Alcort Sunfish WAVE 24 Nov 20 Restoration Begins

24 Nov 20: 

We had reattached the starboard bow block in the Spring...sigh....now the port bow warrants attention. Mast tube is in good shape though.

Flex tape maybe?

Starboard block stayed attached! Well, most of it.

Skipper decreed today that we'll retain the side piece, along with the stealth Hawaii registration numbers.

The fiberglass loop was used at the factory to pop the hull out of the mold.

Woven roving is a little unwoven...

We think we can salvage the deck in this area, put a backer strip underneath to reshape it.

Hoisted WAVE off of the finishing dolly and removed a strongback that we had attached for use in our catboat build. Catboat build is delayed.

Bow section will be reattached! The pink duct tape may or may not be permanent.

1982 AMF Sunfish hanging out with WAVE in the Carriage House. She took similar abuse from the 6x6 posts in the Sunfish Shack. Catboat parts stacked to the side.

Pier planked, 137' of 250' complete.

Log of WAVE.

Log of PHOENIX.