Alcort Alcove

 02 Apr 22:

Since the wooden Alcort hulls had a new home, we decided to reunite them with their rudders and daggerboards.

1953 Alcort Sailfish 12 WINNIE. Later called the Standard Sailfish. The daggerboard on the far left, bottom, is her original 31 inch daggerboard. We upgraded her to a 39 inch board from a 1965 fiberglass Sunfish, and she tracks and tacks better as a result.

1953 wooden Alcort Sunfish ZIP. Her upgraded daggerboard is from the 1980s, a larger and longer "Barrington" board developed by the Barrington Frostbiters, and she sails better with a 1960s era spoon tip rudder. Also in the photo are the rudder and leeboards for our 1960s Grumman 17 SCOUT.

Rudder and daggerboard video: https://youtu.be/duW1QEhkCqk

Since we cleaned off some wall space in LEWIS BOAT WORKS, we hung up the Christmas yard art.

Current state of the tool trollies.

It's April! 

Sunfish Rudder and Daggerboard Specifications

 22 Dec 20:

Looking for a holiday project? Make a new rudder or daggerboard for your Sunfish or Sailfish.

3/4 inch stock required, 1x12 select #1 pine from Lowes or Home Depot would work, or check your Mom and Pop Lumber Stores or local mill for hardwoods like cypress or mahogany.

The 1980 daggerboard design is also known as the Barrington Board, developed by the Barrington Frostbiters. It works well on any Sunfish or Sailfish. The 1993 board is made from a plastic type material, and at 44 inches it is too big for Sailfish and wooden Sunfish. That extra 4 inches presents challenges when launching and beaching for mess abouts, the boom can snag when the board is raised and cause capsizes on the beach. Makes for great pictures though. 40 inches is plenty for recreational sailing.

ZIP's original 1953 "Elephant Ear" Rudder and "Spoon Tip" 31 inch daggerboard on the left compared to her upgraded 1960s "Spoon Tip" rudder and 1980s 40 inch "Barrington" Daggerboard. She points and tacks much better with more blade in the water. 

1963 Alcort Sunfish CHIP 03 Jun 19 Rub Rails and Rudder

03 Jun 19:

Coat of TotalBoat Topside Primer for the rubrails, which are preshaped pine trim from Lowes.

Sanded rudder with 120 grit on a DeWALT random orbital sander, rinsed with Clorox.

3rd and 4th coats of TotalBoat Halcyon varnish.

Installed rudder releasing mechanism, patented 1953 and used until 1969.

Installed the bridle eyestraps 10 inches forward of the transom, to the center of the strap. Fastened with #10 silicone bronze Frearson head wood screws, predrilled pilot hole.

2 coats of TotalBoat Halcyon varnish for rudder and tiller.

Gathering bits for CHIP, daggerboard, halyard and sheet.

Log of CHIP.

1978 AMF Sunfish SUGAR 2 20 Jun 18 Rudder and Tiller

20 Jun 18:

Assembled the Sunfish rudder and tiller. The small bits of blue tape hold the pivot bushing in place while the rudder cheek is positioned.

Log of SUGAR 2.

Alcort Sailfish SMEDLEY 24 Apr 18 Broken Bits

24 Apr 18:

SMEDLEY has a few broken bits that need to be cleaned up before sea trials. The gooseneck on the boom has a broken tang where the tack of the sail attaches.

The pivoting centerboards are missing the little spherical bushings that hold them in place and allow them to pivot.

One rudder cheek is missing the tiller support tab.

Log of SMEDLEY.

1980 Drascombe Dabber VICTORY 01 Feb 18 Rudder Construction

01 Feb 18:

Steve sent us a pattern for a Dabber rudder, we traced it onto a teak blank that we glued up, edge glued with Pettit Marine Paint Flexpoxy. The planks were left over from the floorboard, we cut square edges onto them to remove the radiused deck edge that they came with. In this photo I had started to sand the entire blank to remove epoxy squeezeout, then I thought, hey, why not cut out the rudder first, and save a lot of sanding?

Straightened up the tracing with a 2 foot Stanley Tools folding carpenter's rule and Sharpie, then cut out the rudder with a DEWALT jigsaw.

Cut the aft notch for the tiller dowel, cut kerfs up to the line then I was able to cut along the line without binding the blade.

Drascombe Dabber Rudder edges eased with a 3/4 inch roundover bit on a DEWALT compact trim router, except for the leading edge where the pintles will attach and the tiller notches. Then sanded with 60 grit on a Black and Decker 3 inch belt sander, finished with 120 grit on a Dewalt random orbital sander. Cleaned up the tiller notches with a Kobalt ceramic tile file. The Shopvac collected most of the sanding dust but not the jigsaw creation.

The bronze pintles (pins that attach rudder to transom) are vintage, we found them on ebay. They are tapered and the lower pintle is longer so that it slips into the lower gudgeon (tube part of the hinge) first, so we can concentrate on seating one pintle at a time while the boat is bobbing around.

Skipper usually feeds me if I bring her new boat parts!

Restoration Log of VICTORY.

2017 Penobscot 14 St. Jacques 18 Jul 17 Rigging For Sprit Sail

18 Jul 17:

Worked on the sprit rigging, to figure out where to place blocks and how to attach the peak of the sail to the sprit. Lot of pictures.

Edged the rudder with a spokeshave and 120 grit on a random orbital sander. Cut the tiller from cypress.

Rigged the spritsail brailing line. Used vintage Sunfish hardware.

Rigged the upper and lower sprit. Block will lead the snotter down to a belaying pin for easy access.

Bow line and rudder uphaul.

Sprit snotter set nicely.

Bow line and sprit details.

Brail line works great.

First sail went great. We slipped the brail line and the sail set beautifully. While we were out we found out that the rudder and centerboard floated and would not stay down. We also checked several different sheeting angles and determined that it would be best to lead the sheet aft to a line traveler. And Skipper suggested that the tiller be able to move up a bit, so we can duck under it while tacking.

Centerboard downhaul.

Line traveler, the sheet is tied to the clew and runs back through a block, then forward to the Skipper. We also notched the top section of the rudder head and made a pivot point for the tiller, so it can raise about 18 inches now.

Rudder uphaul v1.0. We found that this line was too bumpy and made too many sharp turns. We moved the lower eyestrap to the side and added shackles to each eyestrap. And put on a smooth 1/8 inch nylon line. Skipper still has to give the rudder a nudge down but it pulls down nicely after that and the line is jam cleated.

Brailing line pulls everything snug.



Rudder uphaul.