Repair of Sunfish Daggerboard Trunk

fredimac

New Member
Greetings All,

I've got an old sunfish and the daggerboard trunk became cracked from people running into rocks in shallow water. What's the best way to repair this.

My father's got the notion that the top of the boat can be removed by drilling out all the pop rivets, poping the top off, replacing the trunk and putting it all back together, but I'd like some expert advice.

Thanks,
Fred
 
Hi Fred,

Your father is correct, but that would be akin to performing a tonsilectomy by removing the head from the neck. The aluminum trim doesn't hold the deck to the hull, it only protects the edges of the seam where the two are joined... and they are joined solidly by polyester resin (fiberglass resin). Removing the deck from the hull takes lots and lots of careful work and isn't for the faint of heart.... not to mention reassembling the two.

The daggerboard trunk too is liad up with fiberglass top and bottom and doesn't just slip out with the deck split off.

I believe the best approach would be to (A) perform a leak test and positively identify where there are holes, (B) repair the holes from the outside using conventional fiberglass repair techniques.

see Wind Line Sails "How To" pages - http://www.windline.net/how_to.htm

At very worst you'll need to install an inspection port to gain access to the innards.


Wayne
 
Also a port installed between the daggerboard well and the splash rail can give you pretty good access to the daggerboard trunk. A small arm can actually get to most of it. We usually repair from the outside but a coat of West epoxy resin around the inside where the truck joins the hull can cover a lot of problems as well.
 

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