Several years ago, my brother Tim spotted a Sunfish hull in the trash and loaded it on his pickup truck. He lives next to a lake, so he stuck a 2" PVC pipe in the mast socket, fastened a flag to the top and anchored it in the middle of the lake. His creation attracted a lot of attention for a couple of years, but weather and kids proved too much for the Sunfish. It became water-logged and was gradually sinking to the bottom. The boat was pulled up on shore where it spent another year until I asked about it. Tim said, "You can have it! I'll even deliver it!"

After examining the sad-looking relic of a boat, I wondered if it shouldn't be returned to the trash where it was found. The hull seemed solid enough, so I decided to attempt a restoration. I knew I would never get my investment back out of this project even if I didn't calculate labor!

The deck responded to a good scrubbing and needed little attention. The cockpit was also in surprisingly good condition with only stains from dirty water.

The bottom had been painted numerous times and was scratched and flaking. After two cans of paint remover and three days of scraping and sanding, the original gel-coat finally became visible.

There was no end of sanding, filling and more sanding to get the surface ready for paint. I applied $80 worth of gel-coat with a paint sprayer, painting the Sailfish and Sunfish hulls at the same time.

The aluminum trim around the edges was damaged and partly missing, so I removed what aluminum edging was still on the boat. The hull and deck had begun to separate, so I first dried the interior, spread silicone around the edges and pop riveted the upper deck to the hull.

For the edges, I bought white garden hose that had a single blue stripe on it. This was applied using simple tools and silicone.

I first clamped the hose to the edge with the stripe facing down

With a felt-tip pen, I scribed a line on the hose, using the hull as a guide. With a sharp knife, I cut a slit in the hose the entire length.

After pressing a generous amount of silicone into the hose, I pressed it onto the edge of the hull. It fit tightly and no clamps were needed except on the stern and bow ends. I cut small wedges into the hose so it would bend around the rear corners.

I robbed the aluminum nose piece from a junk Mutineer to join the hose at the bow.

The finished Sunfish looked quite different from when it was lying in the trash!

I found a rudder, dagger board and sail, all from different sources.

Here are photos of the Sunfish sporting the mast and sails from my Seawitch.

I was still looking for a mast and spars when someone offered me $300 for the boat without them. I condescended, but didn't make a profit on that boat!.