1964 Alcort Sunfish ANNA Arrives

29 Apr 2023:

We were procrastinating on the Catfish repairs and wooden Sunfish build, so what better way to get over that than to buy a sunburnt 1964 ALCORT Sunfish off of fb Marketplace? Threw a dolly on the ole picker trailer and off we went to Waverly, VA.

They were asking $700 and had a sad medical story, so we humbly paid $700. They didn't know how to sail and had traded services for the boat, never got around to sailing, so her history is cloaked. All the period correct parts are mostly there, the hull was light, spars semi straight, factory blades with only a little flaking bondo. Sail...yes, there is a factory sail. Loading was easy peasy.

The deck was a dark red/maroon, and other than the burnt gelcoat it is pristine. It will be interesting to see if wet sanding produces an acceptable return to glory. And yes, the hole is supposed to be there in the Serial No. plate, that's the hull vent for early 60s boats. Original hull color visible through the vent hole.

ANNA wedged herself into the Carriage House and is chatting with EXCUSE ME.

The sail has seen better days, but we will clean it as best we can and use it for something.

Log of ANNA.

Drascombe Dabber VICTORY 15 Nov 17 Recovery and Deep Clean

15 Nov 17:

Launched Search and Rescue to go pick up a Dabber we found on Craigslist Pensacola. The seller Bob was working on a canvas awning job and noticed the boat sitting in a filed, keeping an oak tree company. Bob has a boat cover business and builds and restores boats on the side. He inquired on the boat, found the owner and arranged to buy it just to get it out of the field and into someone's hands who would give it some TLC. That's where we came in. Bob put new tires on the trailer and checked over the bearings, we arrived at his place and purchased the boat. Excited to see that the boat still had the oars, oar locks, the main and the jib, main mast, yard, mizzen mast, stays in great shape, rudder, tiller, locker cover, centreplate and a decent trailer. We also like to buy "gray" or "green" boats, boats where all the varnish is burned off or they are covered in slime, hiding their true beauty from other buyers. We usually get great deals on these boats, which makes it economical to restore them. The drawback to this boat, well, there are none that some elbow grease and sawdust can't fix. Here's a few pictures of the condition of the boat a we found it, luckily I think most snakes had lost interest but not all of the frogs.

I was excited to see the Honnor Marine builder plate, they are the same folks that built our 1980 Lugger. The Dabber was imported through Drascombe Boats, Inc in Camden, Maine, that plate was intact as well.

The boat just sat and backed for years. There's a little burnt up pirate flag in there as well.

She already looks better hooked up behind our car. This picture was taken when we doubled back to pick up the sails that we forgot.

The jib and mizzen are in amazing shape.

Plywood rudder blade is rotten but it will make a good pattern.

Got the boat home, put on the hazmat gear to bag up all the big chunks. Removed the non standard plywood floor, which was covering up the mast step and centreplate uphaul eyebolt. Then headed to the carwash to vacuum and spray.

About $35 dollars into the wash.

$70 dollars later.

Went around the boat and made a list of line sizes and lengths to order. R&W Rope sent me some labeled samples a few months back and it has been handy to have that information when trying to remember what line was which size and which brand.

Complete Log of VICTORY.