Trimmed the toe rail a bit to fit for the bow handle. The wooden Alcort bow handles have a tab that wraps the bow, and another strip attaches below and wraps the keel.
Keel strip wraps back about 16 inches.
Attached mast collar with #8 silicone bronze screws, drilled a pilot hole that matched the screw shank diameter and a countersink for the head of the screw. Attached the halyard cleat with the vintage Alcort bronze screws.
Drilled pilot holes and attached eyestraps with vintage Alcort bronze screws.
We like line bridles, the original boat would have had a 2 loop or 3 loop plastic coated wire bridle. 2 loop bridles are the standard today on new boats.
Attached the bow line and splashguard. Splashguard functions more as a handhold or foot rest.
Finished up the final bits before sea trials for VIPER. Inspection ports, deck hardware, coaming, gudgeon, bailer.
Cut a larger hole for the aft inspection port with a DeWALT jigsaw, taped the deck first to reduce scratches. The hole is drawn using the port cap, flipping it over and tracing around the outside of it. Don't trace around the outside of the mounting ring, you'll have a really big hole :)
Sealed the port with a bead of TotalBoat Seal. One trick we have is to run a bead of sealant around the port outer ring, put the ring in place and give it a 1/2 turn to spread out the sealant. Drilled holes for the hardware. Secured the ports with #6 stainless steel machine screws, washers and stop nuts. I bought screws that were long enough so I can reach them to put on washers and stop nuts, plus I bought a deep socket that will hold the nut while the screw is tightened. One BIG tip is to buy a couple extra washers and nuts, because they are hard to find if they get dropped inside the hull.
Drilled pilot holes for the bow handle #8 x 1 inch stainless wood screws, oval phillips head.
Drilled piilot holes for the halyard cleat and halyard block, installed with #8 silicone bronze screws long enough to catch the 3/4 inch wooden backer blocks under the deck. It is a good thing to see dry wood shavings come out when the pilot hole is drilled.
Drilled the 3/16th inch pilot holes for the coaming rivets. It is important to buy the proper rivet, aluminum 3/16th inch closed end. They need to be closed end so water will not get into the hull. I also put a small bead of sealant in the rivet hole before installation.
Tapped the edge trim into place with a rubber hammer. Drilled 1/8th inch pilot holes for the edge trim rivets, which do not need to be closed end but they need a grip range of about 1/2 inch. Once again it is easiest to buy the rivets from a Sunfish Dealer. Be careful to only drill through the top of the trim and the deck edge, not all the way through, that is enough to hold on the trim. If the drill goes all the way through, take a file and remove any sharp burrs that are finger slicers. We also go back and file the top of the rivet to make them smooth.
Installed the gudgeon with #10 stainless machine screws. The metal backer plate inside is tapped for the screws, no need for washers and stop nuts. I add a small dab of sealant around each screw hole before installation.
Installed the swivel cam cleat and the sheet hook. The screws for the swivel cam cleat come through under the cockpit lip, they do not go inside the hull.
Added a retaining line to the daggerboard, so it doesn't float away during a capsize. Skipper prefers the simple line over a bungee, it makes it easy for her to pull the board out one handed when beaching. Otherwise she keeps it down most of the time, or if on a run the water pressure holds it where she wants it.
The Sunfish coaming or splashguard is held on to earlier models by machine screws and riveted nuts (rivnuts) or by rivets on later models. you can tell by whether there is a slotted screw head or a rivet head. Sometimes coamings come loose, leak, are broken or need to be removed for repair and restoration. Here is a Sunfish damaged by Hurricane Sandy, it has rivets that you can see in the coaming remnants and fractures around the deck holes where the rivets pulled out.
Rivets can be purchased from a Sunfish parts house like Yankee Boating Center and installed with a rivet gun, available from your local hardware store. The demonstration holes in this piece of particle board are 1/4 inch.
Squeeze the rivet fun handle, keeping rivet flush against surface. As the rivet shank is pulled the barrel will expand inside the hole. Continue to pull the shank until it snaps under pressure or will pull no further, gently rock rivet gun back and forth to shear top of shank if needed.
Here is comparison of a pulled rivet on the left vs new rivet. You can see how the barrel is shortened and expanded, filling the hole. It will expand below the deck on a Sunfish and anchor the coaming, the collar of the rivet holds on the top and the expanded barrel holds on the bottom.
1960 to mid 70s boats had closed end rivet nuts (rivnut) and 10-32 x 3/4 inch stainless steel machine screws to attach the coaming. The rivnut had a small bead of sealant that prevented water from leaking inside the hull.
If the screws are frozen, soak them with penetrating oil for a few days. Give them a few light taps with a screwdriver and hammer. Tighten slightly then back them out.
Pretty much every old Sunfish that we come across needs at a minimum a bailer, a bow handle and a line kit. Other common repairs are trim rivet replacement and sealing up cracks in the daggerboard trunk or mast step. Here are a few of the items we had to do to get Scout ship shape.
The bailer was old and missing the float ball so we removed it. Take a set of large pliers and twist off the bailer nut. You will probably have to hold the bailer on the bottom as well so it does not spin, which can be done by one person if you are coordinated and have long enough arms :)
Clean up the bailer hole and check the seam between the cockpit and hull for voids, as water can leak into the inside of the hull from here. If you see an opening or thin gap in the seam, fill it with epoxy resin or putty. You can add a bead of marine silicone when you install the new bailer but it is not required.
Check the daggerboard trunk for obvious damage, caused by running aground and bashing the daggerboard into the trunk base. If there is an inspection port by the trunk you can spray water where the daggerboard goes and watch inside to see if you see any water seeping in. Repair those areas with epoxy or our favorite, Marine Tex epoxy putty. In the first picture you can see a trickle of water, that indicates an area where water was leaking inside. We repaired the inside with West System epoxy resin and hardener, and the external part of the trunk with Marine Tex.
If you have to remove any deck hardware, leave one screw loosely attached at all times so that the wooden backer blocks inside the hull don't fall off. They were originally secured with putty and fiberglass, but that dries up and the blocks can fall off.
The aluminum trim and coaming are held on by aluminum rivets. It is best to buy replacement rivets from a Sunfish dealer to get the proper size, but the 1/8 inch diameter trim rivets can also be found at local hardware stores. Get aluminum rivets that have a 1/2 inch grip range. If the rivet has pulled out of the seam, drill a new hole next to the old hole and put in a new rivet. Try to not drill all the way through the trim, just the top, otherwise you could have a sharp edge on the bottom. File it off if this happens.
Tools and materials used for restoration and repair.
