The Sunfish Owner's Manual by Small Boat Restoration

We published The Sunfish Owner's Manual in December 2013, 144 pages of info with 230 color photographs, featuring both fiberglass and wooden Sunfish.

From SBR 2013

The Sunfish Owner's Manual is a one stop resource for the world's most popular sailboat. Inside there are chapters on the History of the Sunfish, and illustrated chapters on how to Buy, Rig, Sail, Maintain, Restore, Store, Transport and Sell the Sunfish. The Restore Chapter includes Do It Yourself pictures and step by step details on how to conduct common repairs, including flotation foam replacements and rudder conversions. The Manual has an extensive Illustrated Glossary of Sunfish and sailing terms, with 230 photos by the author, taken in the course of numerous Sunfish restorations, for both wooden and fiberglass Sunfish as well as Sailfish. Included are weblinks to top Sunfish information sites, part suppliers and social network sites. There are also links to extended web content located on the author's youtube channel and over 1300 Picasa Web images. The Manual is not only a one stop reference for any Sunfish owner, it would be of interest to owners of other small sailboats as well.

The most entertaining chapter is the Illustrated Glossary, it includes all the nautical and Sunfish terms you need to know.

Get your copy today through Amazon books. As soon as you order it they print it and ship it! https://www.amazon.com/Sunfish-Owners-Manual-Maintain-Repair/dp/1484987217

Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

Fair Winds,
Kent

30 May 2014: 75 copies if The Sunfish Owner"s Manual have sold so far, new Second Editions showed up today. They include an added boat yard safety section and expanded Resources chapter.

07 Jul 2014: 100 Copies sold!

19 Jul 2014: 125 copies sold!

03 Aug 2014: 150th copy sold! Lots of good feedback on the facebook Small Boat Restoration page and Sunfish Forum Most recent questions are about painting, and that is covered in the Manual.

19 Oct 2014: 200 copies sold!

04 Dec 2018: Over 500 copies aold, thanks for the great support! Makes a great holiday gift :)

Thanks for buying The Sunfish Owner's Manual, and Fair Winds to our fellow sailors,

Kent and Audrey

From Lewis 2013

Click here to buy The Sunfish Owners Manual

Ask Howie: Trailering and trim replacement

Howie wrote an article about trailer bunk placement and trim replacement, published in Windward Leg.

From Sunfish Sailboat

Got these clamps from Howie, he used the to do hundreds of Sunfish foam replacements and rudder conversions. Lots of good Sunfish energy here!

From Sunfish Sailboat

Overweight Sunfish

Another article from Howie on water retention in Sunfish. If they take on water the water needs to be drained immediately and leak repaired. Otherwise the foam inside soaks up water and is hard to dry out.
FMI: Overweight Sunfish

This picture is of a hull repair in progress. I made a backer patch and slid it inside, epoxied it into place and pulled it tight with string until it dried. Then I added 8 layers for fiberglass mat to rebuild the hull. Once dry I used marine tex for a finish coat, sanded and painted.

Foam Replacement Article

Foam Replacement article by Howie Picard, he built AMF sailboats for years in Waterbury. Click Here for google docs folder

WIndward Leg: Dear Howie Repair Column

Howie Picard worked at AMF for 18 years before going out on his own to do
warranty work for them. Windward Leg carried a maintenance tip column from him
for a while, focus was AMF boats and sailboat maintenance. He did hundreds of Sunfish
foam replacements and rudder conversions! Howie sent me a copy the first article
that appeared in the magazine. (1983 Windward Led issue no. 15 summer addition)

Article # 1

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