# Sportyak III



## Bicohan (Sep 18, 2020)

I just acquired a Bic Boats Sportyak III and can find nothing on the internet about it at all. 
Mine is/may have been orange or red at one time but has faded considerably.
I believe it came with a sail set-up and has a transom Mount for an outboard.
neither of these pieces of equipment came with it so it would be wonderful if someone could fill me in on anything that you can remember about the Sportyak III's.
I am planning to fill a few cracks with glue and spray the bottom with flex seal. Any care recommendations are welcome as this is my very first boat and I am clueless.


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## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

It does not look like a sailboat. Based on its shape no keel or centerboard of any kind even with sails it would only be able to go mostly downwind. Do you own a small outboard or oars? Does the boat have an oarlock? Those two options is how you will likely power this little boat. I would do the math on what it takes to get this moving before investing too much on flexseal.


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## Arcb (Aug 13, 2016)

Found an old brochure on line and it looks like Sportyak did at one time to make a sail rig for this boat, but looking at the Bic site, it no longer does. Looks like the boat used a small latine sail and external wood lee boards.

There is a company that still makes a similar sail rig, but it's about $800 and you can usually get a pretty nice used dinghy for that kind of money. Sailboats To Go » Sail Rigs for Dinghies and Rowboats

You might be able to find a used minifish rig that would work and you could build your own lee boards.

Or if it was me, I might build a rig from from polytarp and lee board and cross bar from scrap lumber. Making a Polytarp Sail.


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

I own a Dayton version of the Sportyak II which I bought used roughly 40 years ago for $35. These are very light and easy to carry. They are surprisingly stable and tougher than the look. They are not the best row boats, but row easier than you would expect

These days I use mine for utility stuff (waxing the hull or making repairs under the dock) rather than as a dinghy. .

There was a very simple sailing kit that you could buy. I think it was the same rig used on Snark sailboat (Sea Snark not Super Snark) but with a smaller sail area and shorter mast, yard and boom. CastleCraft Super Snark Sailboat Parts | Part List for Super Snark and Sea Snark Sailboats

The Sportyak II had a simple mast support and leeboard system. There was a dimple in the bow near the seat the butt of the mast sat in and there was a 1x4 plank thwart that went across the boat with a hole in it for the mast step. That plank was bolted and clamped to the rub rails on either side. The mast went through the hole in the into the dimple in the seat. There were leeboard attached to the ends of the plank. and that was the whole rig. There was a skulling oar lock socket (a piece of hardwood with a hole in it) position on the transom, and an oar was used to steer.

The mast support was more complex on a Sportyak III, It had some kind of triangular arrangement of the thwarts but I don't know that I ever saw one in real life.

You could probably build the whole rig for a less than $100 using closet pole, a plastic tarp, and stuff you could buy at a hardware store.

For what it is worth, BIC still makes them and West Marine still sells Sportyaks.

Jeff.


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