Sunfish Hull

J

Joe Daly

Active member
I found a Sunfish hull locally really cheap. I searched the posts dealing with conversions to duck boats and it looks like it is a good hull for a layout boat. Not sure if I want another project right now but worth considering.




Joe
 
Your post was why I started the search for a Sunfish .... Having scratch built a duck boat in the 70-s using a donor hull is too simple.




Joe
 
search sunfish with Leonard as poster, His friend Dave did a nice sunfish a while back. mine is 50% done and will be a combination of ideas from Steve and Leonard's friend Dave.
 
I am interested in any photos you have of the construction. I scratch built a 14' duck boat in the 70-s. The boat was made of marine plywood with a glassed over hull. It had to weigh 600 lbs. I made a couple of errors in the construction and I want to do this one incorporating the best ideas that others discovered the hard way.


Joe
 
There are 12 pages of posts from a search. I viewed them all. Some are redundant but there are only a few photos and not many taken during construction.


Joe
 
search sunfish with Leonard as poster, His friend Dave did a nice sunfish a while back. mine is 50% done and will be a combination of ideas from Steve and Leonard's friend Dave.
Click to expand...

Dale is my friend who did the great work on the sunfish .
He is a member now .
Maybe you can get some info, from him
come on Dale speak up !
 
Joe, Here are a few pictures from my build. I got the boat from a guy because he dropped it on a 6x6 and cracked the hull.View attachment damage.jpg

I opened the crack and filled with structural filler then glassed both sidesView attachment filler.jpg

I cut 24" off the stern using a cutoff wheel on an angle grinderView attachment cutoff.jpg the cutoff section is a great starter template for transom.

I cut the cockpit open[inline cockpit.jpg]

I removed the old cockpit floor and sidesView attachment underdeck.jpg

Then I made my life difficult by splitting the top off the hullView attachment split.jpg
guess thats the limit on pictures, next
 
top is set aside for now in my spacious, well organized work areaView attachment top.jpg

I built transom with two layers of AB marine plywood View attachment sailtransom.jpg

I added front and rear flotation pods View attachment rearfloat.jpg View attachment hull.jpg

Ground down and filled the drain hole and keel hole on the inside and glassed both side photo to follow.

I have some foam to trim, grinding to do, some FME to smear all over the hard to reach areas and I will be ready to try to put the lid back on. I will be using West systems thickened epoxy and trying to get the metal trim back on before it sets in 90 degree heat.

If it was easy anyone could do it.
 
gee - this is what I need, another idea for a project- a local boat dealer just took in a half dozen sunfish hulls from a scout camp-

LOL
 
Joe,
My glass over plywood boat was built on LI in the 70's. Do you happen to know anything about it?


P1010217.jpg

 
I don't know about that one ... do you have any idea what area from LI it came from. The boat I built was similar but I know where that boat is. I traded it 10 years ago. It was built from 1940-s magazine article without real plans. I have the magazine around somewhere. They weren't complete enough to do the construction and I had to use my imagination for some interior construction. It is 14' long with bigger cockpit.




Joe
 
I picked up the Sunfish hull today. It has a ding right after the center board that will repair easily. This build I will plan instead of jumping. Any construction photos of this conversion are greatly appreciated.




Joe
 
I bought the boat from Red Oster in Sayville about 10 years ago. I believe he said that the boat originally had a shorter bow but someone added onto it at some point.
 
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The bow is what through me off. Longer and sharper than most duck boats. I have to find the magazine article that I built mine from. This could be the same design without the bow.


Joe
 
West marine's structural filler works well as a filler for larger dings and filling keel hole. It is a very thick epoxy with long strand fiberglass. I got the lid back on my build last night and should be moving onto combing and glassing top to transom today.
 
put the lid on last night and fabricated and installed combing today. Really stiffened the sides up. I was afraid looking at other designs that there was not enough support but seems rock solid. I used 1x4 on the sides and 1x5 for and aft to follow the arch of the deck. just glassed the lid to the transom and filled a few holes from original rigging tomorrow a little sanding and then I should be able to put outside for some UV curing. While I wait for the 5200 to cure I will be working on oar locks, floor, seat and spray dodger support.
View attachment lid.jpg View attachment combing.jpg
Oh and there are two pond boxes that have been on the back burner
 
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