Sunfish Rudder

Since all my recent C'est la Vie projects have involved fiberglass and epoxy work, I included some rudder repairs for Phoenix, a 1970's era sunfish.  The wooden rudder was cracked longitunally near 3/4 of the length and the hole for mounting the pindle plate was expanduing due to rotten wood.

I drilled a stop hole a the terminus of the crack and removed all the rotten wood.  I then filled the stop hole and void left from removing the wood with thickened epoxy.  The next step was to laminated the entire rudder with a layer of fiberglass mat. The final step was to fair the entire project in with epoxy.  In a effort to retain the beauty of the wood, I did not thicken the epoxy.  This allowed the final product to retain the appearance of the original wood.

Hopefully the project list and winds will allow me to post some images of Phoenix once again rising from the ashes and back on the water.

Phoenix

Well after a full restoration of the deck, a full replacement of the running rigging, full replacement of the deck hardware, and refinishing both the tiller & the centerboard; the sunfish has suffered two dismastings in four times at sea. With the addition of a stout new aluminum mast that was fabricated locally for less than half the cost of a factory mast I now christen the vessel the Phoenix for her ability to repatedly rise from the ashes.

another one bites the dust

Well after two outings the modified windsurfer mast proved insufficient for the task of carrying a Sunfish sail. During the first, light wind, outing the mast bend was alarming. On the second, windy day outing, the stress proved too much for the fiberglass mast. Back to the drawing board.

If at first you don't succeed

Well with the demise of the original aluminum mast the Sunfish was yet again a yard ornament. A quick online search revealed that a new mast from the factory was out of the budget. What to do? Well it is a good thing that many of our staff refuse to discard, well, anything. Digging around our various nooks here on Sunset Island I came across a old fiberglass windsurfer mast. the diameter was too small, but by cutting a healthy section of the old sunfish mast and slipping it over the fiberglass mast I was able to adapt the mast to the Sunfish. A couple coats of epoxy to secure the aluminum section and seal the old fiberglass mast and the Sunfish is yet again on the water.

A day of firsts

After about an hour of upwind beats to Bear Island and downwind runs back to the docks at Sunset Island, my first day of sailing a sunfish became a day of multiple firsts. With a loud crack heard 200 yards away by staff sitting on the front steps of the lodge; the aluminum mast of the sunfish snapped... my first dismasting! Fortunately the only causality was the mast. I was able to gather the rigging and swim the boat back to the island. So after three years of slowly chipping away at repairs, we had approximately 90 minutes of sailing time and now we are back to repairs. Such is sailing.

A side project on the Sunset Island Sunfish

Above are some before and after shots of the restoration project on the Sunset Island Sunfish. The hull repairs are completed. Now I need to spend a little time on rigging repairs and then it will be time to head out for a sail on Chokoloskee Bay.