it followed me home-Sunfish

[rob herschel]

http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv170/rgoeckel/100_4809.jpg

looks late 50's. sail is like new. no rot or damage.

[rob herschel]

hey Howard, here's another small bluewater cruiser for you.:-)

[scudder]

Nice! And it has twice as much coaming as the new ones!

[Hwyl]

Congratulations

[rob herschel]

that coaming will be a bear to lean out over. but i think it's original to the early boats.

[scudder]

On the plus side, think how much deeper you can bury the rail before taking on water!

[Todd Bradshaw]

Yes, if you plan to sail it much in anything other than really light stuff, you might want to remove the combing along the cockpit area, or at least cut it down dramatically there if you want to keep the basic look of having it wrap so far aft. I spent about three years sailing a Sunfish in all kinds of weather when I didn't have anything else and they are amazingly capable little boats, but you do need to be able to scoot your butt over the rail when it's blowing.

[rob herschel]

since i think it's a really early sunfish i want to keep it original. i assume there are not alot of these around anymore.

[scudder]

you might be able to get creative with a boat cushion ,maintaining the original design while sailing comfortably

[rbgarr]

Oh yeah. That coaming is going to be very painful! :D

(from an ex-Sunfish racer)

[katiedobe]

I have been looking into getting a couple down here to rent out to tourists. So if you want links to suppliers and so forth send me an PM.

Here is a link to one for sale in Georgia that was old.

http://www.sailingtexas.com/ssunfish159.html

http://www.sailingtexas.com/Pics/picsunfish159a.jpg

[rob herschel]

how to get a sail like that? hmmmm

[Ned Asplundh]

how to get a sail like that? hmmmm

What you REALLY need is a sail like this:
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m148/Neddles47/jollyroger_photo_window.jpg

Source link: http://www.thesailstore.com/jolly-roger-sunfish-sail-wwindow-p-544.html

[Daniel Noyes]

beautifull boat !
I dont know why there arent hundreds of home built board boats around... much nicer than these boxes, no harder to build and they sail soooo much better... they dont carry all the excess gear/distractions as well though.
Here are my thoughts just drawn up a couple weeks back
Dan

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2474/4053634429_89a99cf42f_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dansdories/4053634429/)

[katiedobe]

There are free pdf plans available. Google "mini cup" free plans and check them out.

[Daniel Noyes]

There are free pdf plans available. Google "mini cup" free plans and check them out.
http://www.stevproj.com/MiniCup.JPEG

Yeah those are the idea, and the photos-plans look like there from popular mechanics in the 70's...nothing happening since then?
The mini cup looks a little crude compared with a sunfish.

Neighbor on the river had a 15'x3' plywood sailboard, lots of fun very fast and pretty and an easy beginners boatbuilding project.

Basically if you can build a decent plywood box boat you could have had a beautifull board boat for about the same effort and price...

Dan

[Daniel Noyes]

does a sunfish really need registration numbers in michigan or does that indicate they had a motor rigged on the boat at one time?

[Ned Asplundh]

does a sunfish really need registration numbers in michigan or does that indicate they had a motor rigged on the boat at one time?

My understanding is that any sail, or motor, powered vessel 12' and longer requires state (not nec. MI) reg numbers in MI waters.

Fortunately, I haven't yet found out the hard way. A state "fish-cop" boat once gave me an oral warning for my sailing canoe, about 10 years ago. They let me off because my tiller was a cut-down hockey stick. Musta been Red Wings fans....

This summer, a Van Buren county sheriff's boat approached us right in the middle of the kids' heat of our annual Sunfish regatta. Thought it was gonna be a mass-beaching to evade them, but they turned back to chase down some DWI powerboater(s) near the nuke plant.

Edit: a quick re-read of MI-DNR regs (http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127-1585_15242-34638--,00.html) DOES note an exemption for "sailboards." Hmmmm. Gotta check this one out....

Per Michigan Secretary of State's office -- the bureaucracy in charge of boat regs -- "sailboards" are windsurfers, not Sunfish. Now I gotta get legal.

[perldog007]

That boat is going to be more fun to hike out on than you should be allowed to have, I don't think you'll notice the coaming that much. They are a complete blast.