# I got a FREE BOAT! Uhh, what is it?



## eMKay (Aug 18, 2007)

This morning I was browsing all the local Craigslists as usual, and came across a 10 minute old ad for a "Free Sunfish!" So I immediately email them back saying "I'll take it!" and await a reply. The owner replies and I go out and get it, it's laying in a garden half covered with dirt, looks to have been there at least 10 years. I flip it over and immediately thing, this isn't a sunfish, but I'll take it anyway because all the rest of the hardware looks good, and I want to build a Puddle Duck Racer, you all know what that is right? No? Well, here you go...

PDRacer.com - Easiest one design sailboat to build and race

Anyway, the ad says it's "20 years old" but it has a registration sticker on it from 1974 (my birth year, woohoo!) more like maybe they had it 20 years, and that's how long it was in the garden, if it were really a 20 year old Sunfish I would have fixed it up good, and sold it for a decent amount of money. Anyway, we cleaned it up and the hull isn't terrible, there is some stuff rolling around in it, some crappy repairs done, it's pretty much worthless, but the rest of the stuff is perfect for a PDR.

The sail dimensions equal a Sunfish, but the hull is definitely not. it's the right length, but only 36" wide, and no cockpit (Sunfish is 49" wide), so WTF is it?

Picking it up, I lost my trailer plate on the way  it was a 50 mile round trip, so of course it wasn't free. 100 miles at 20mpgx$3.50 a gallon = $17.50 boat  plus a new plate, not sure if they will charge me for that. 









Looks like a Sunfish sail...









There was a logo shadow, but this is not a Sunfish logo, it's not fat enough...









This is a Sunfish logo









Wife helping









Rudder and daggerboard









Hull...









Deck, no cockpit...









It says Alcort, so...


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## PorFin (Sep 10, 2007)

I'm not certain, but if memory serves it could be a Sailfish. It was also built by Alcort, but was a bit smaller than the Sunfish. It had grabrails and a daggerboard.

I wouldn't bet the house on my guess 'tho. Been waaay too many years since I was out bopping around on either a Sunfish or a Sailfish.

Cheers,
PF


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## chucklesR (Sep 17, 2007)

Don't know what it is, but I'll gladly off you 3x what you 'paid' for a nice day sail kind of boat. 
Wonderful deal, and frankly, could not have happened to a better guy.


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## Stillraining (Jan 11, 2008)

Maybe what you have there is the origional prototype of the Sun Fish..


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## JSL3 (Jun 6, 2007)

Looks like a sailfish to me too.


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## PierreMundo (Nov 29, 2007)

When you google a little bit and search for "alcort pat 2675775" you end up with information to the Alcort Sailfish. Good luck and enjoy it!


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## eMKay (Aug 18, 2007)

I think you guys must be right, I found some info, it looks like I have a "Super Sailfish"...

SAILING, SAILFISH, SUPER SAILFISH, SUNFISH, SAILBOAT

"The original name of the company was Alcort. The company name could have been Cortal, but Alcort listed first in the telephone book, so it was selected.

About 1941 Al and Cort, while still in school, started building and selling Skeeter class iceboats. The skeeters were built in a barn. They carried 752 ft of sail. This sail size was used on later sailboat designs. To provide year round work a summer product was needed, so the Sailfish sailboat was created.

The first Sailfish design was 14 ft long, but 14 ft long sheets of plywood were not available, so the boat was redesigned to be 12 ft long.

Production of the Sailfish began about June of 1945 with both kits and completed boats being made available.

The Sailfish was featured in a Life Magazine article and production increased from a[Sailfish Kit] few boats a year to where a factory was needed to keep up with the orders.

The Sailfish and Super Sailfish did not have a cockpit, so the sailor had to sit on top the decking with legs stretched out in front. This configuration was not comfortable, especially for long periods of time. This was the impetus for the Sunfish design and development.

And in fiberglass...

In 1959 Joe Schmit of Naugatuck Chemical Company convinced Alcort to try fiberglass. The Super Sailfish was produced in fiberglass in 1959 and the Sunfish manufacturing process was changed over to fiberglass in 1960. Several changes to the design came with the fiberglass. One change was that the fiberglass hulls weighted more than the wooden hulls. For the first couple of years the wooden and fiberglass hulls were nearly equally competitive. Later the fiberglass boats were faster than the wooden ones.

The Sailfish was phased out in 1962, but the Super Sailfish stayed in production for several more years with 100 to 200 hulls a year being built and sold.

Alcort stopped marketing kits in the mid-60s."


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## eMKay (Aug 18, 2007)

PierreMundo said:


> When you google a little bit and search for "alcort pat 2675775" you end up with information to the Alcort Sailfish. Good luck and enjoy it!


Thanks, I found it by trying "sailfish", your idea brought up a link with pictures though, and yup, this is it...
http://www.sunfishforum.com/alcort-sailfish-sale-t2799.html?p=10014


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

So, it's *not *a 20 year old sunfish? I think that you should return it, and get your money back! 

It looks great after the cleaning! Enjoy!!


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## merlin2375 (Jul 12, 2007)

very nice find! In excellent condition for its age and past life


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

I'm pretty sure it's a sailfish...since that's one of the two boats I learned to sail on many, many years ago...and it looked just like that....


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I think you did alright! sail it like you stole it, you'll have a blast. may i suggest a book called Learn to Sail in a weekend do an amazon search i tried to paste a link but it corrupted. if not familiar with the boat, it'll help out more than you could dream. i bought this book after buying my sunfish and it probably saved my life as your boat will probably flip. but it's all in good fun. and yes, she is looking better. enjoy!


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## Livinondreams (Feb 26, 2008)

darn I just saw that ad about an hour ago and was wondering if anyone had got it yet!


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## eMKay (Aug 18, 2007)

lol, it's mine, can't have it. And I found another gem too, but it's in New Jersey. I just sold my Siren 17, and am looking for a replacement, I was set on buying a Mariner 19 out in Syracuse, but I spotted an O'day 192 in New Jersey for $2000. He listed it last month for $2500, it has pretty much everything, including a Nissan outboard, if it has a trailer I'm buying it.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Probably the best book for you to read as a novice sailor is Dave Seidman's "The Complete Sailor".  Very well written, covers a very wide breadth of sailing information, and has good, and amusing, illustrations.


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## bubb2 (Nov 9, 2002)

eMKay said:


> lol, it's mine, can't have it. And I found another gem too, but it's in New Jersey. I just sold my Siren 17, and am looking for a replacement, I was set on buying a Mariner 19 out in Syracuse, but I spotted an O'day 192 in New Jersey for $2000. He listed it last month for $2500, it has pretty much everything, including a Nissan outboard, if it has a trailer I'm buying it.


At $ 3.40 a gallon to haul back up to Buffalo it will wind up at $ 2500. lol


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## eMKay (Aug 18, 2007)

bubb2 said:


> At $ 3.40 a gallon to haul back up to Buffalo it will wind up at $ 2500. lol


lol, yes it would.


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## eMKay (Aug 18, 2007)

sailingdog said:


> Probably the best book for you to read as a novice sailor is Dave Seidman's "The Complete Sailor".  Very well written, covers a very wide breadth of sailing information, and has good, and amusing, illustrations.


I have it, plus The Handbook of Sailing - Bob Bond, Your First Sailboat - Daniel Spurr, Sailing Small - Stan Grayson, and I have Fix Ii and Sail on the way, forgot the author as it's not in front of me. I have quite the library growing over the last year.

I may be a little beyond "Learn to Sail in a Weekend" as previously suggested, I have a year of sailing in my Siren, always looking for more knowledge though.


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## SimonV (Jul 6, 2006)

But where do you keep the beer.


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## nolatom (Jun 29, 2005)

So you may have a Sailfish, the rig looks right, and the hull looks right (meaning no cockpit, unlike the sunfish). I'd say add some hiking straps, ignore the lack of cockpit, and go out sailing and have fun.


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## eMKay (Aug 18, 2007)

I think I'm just going to use the parts for this...










Except with a lateen rig


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## kirred (Dec 8, 2008)

*It is a Sailfish*

It is a Sailfish made by Alcort-sort of a little sister of the Sunfish.
I used to have one back in the 70s.
I actually rebuilt the rudder out of mahogony on the one I used to have. When I move to the west coast I gave it away and haven't seen one since. 
I live in the S.F. Bay area and if you are nearby I would buy it from you and 
sail it on the bay.


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## eMKay (Aug 18, 2007)

kirred said:


> It is a Sailfish made by Alcort-sort of a little sister of the Sunfish.
> I used to have one back in the 70s.
> I actually rebuilt the rudder out of mahogony on the one I used to have. When I move to the west coast I gave it away and haven't seen one since.
> I live in the S.F. Bay area and if you are nearby I would buy it from you and
> sail it on the bay.


lol, yeah, we figured it out. and the hull is long gone. And you wouldn't have wanted to sail it anywhere, I think there were 3 holes in the hull with some epoxy slathered over them. I used the hardware for a PDRacer so it lives on in a sens, here's a pic...


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## thesnort (Jun 2, 2007)

Well, if it isn't a Sailfish, it just may be one of those elusive Fart Knockers. You can be the first to give it a proper review right here:http://www.sailnet.com/boatchk/showcat.php?cat=221


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## pc626 (Feb 2, 2011)

*Rudder Stuff*

My grandson picked up an old Scorpian. The rudder is exactly the same as on your boat. Could you send me some pictures of the hardware on the transome. I would like to see these what these parts look like. A brief description of how they work to let the tiller flip up. Your current picture shows some of the hardware we have. I need to know what is missing.


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## CalebD (Jan 11, 2008)

pc626,
The rudder hardware shown in the first few pics is the 'old style' rudder attachment. If you want to use the hardware you have you may have to cobble the missing parts together at a hardware store (most likely needs a few bolts and a wing nut). There should be one long bolt going from the bottom 'jaw' or gudgeon to the upper 'jaw' that when tightened clamps the rudder to the hull.
There is also a group on yahoo you should check out called 'SunfishSailor' that would likely have some photos of the 'old style' attachment system. You have to create a yahoo id to use yahoo groups and then join the group to be able to see a relevant picture like this one: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sunfi...ode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc
APS carries the newfangled spring loaded attachment system: APS - Sunfish - Rudder, Tiller and Daggerboard


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## Boathook (Feb 26, 2011)

I think any thing for a sailboat under 30 bucks is a good deal. The missing logo looks like the KC chiefs arrowhead which In my opinion detracts from the apperance of the boat but I wouldn't have turned it down. You got a good deal so I wouldn't look a gift sailboat in the rudder. Sail on!


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## Sabreman (Sep 23, 2006)

Definitely a sailfish. My dad bought a sunfish when I was 6 (1963), starting the addiction that I now fight each day.  

My friends and I sailed sailfish off the beach in Ocean City, NJ. Memories!

You really need the grabrails to keep you on the boat (they're footholds, actually).


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## chef2sail (Nov 27, 2007)

Sabreman when were you sailing off the beach in Ocean City, NJ. I lived there from 1982-1999. We had a hobie 16 in front of our house in the beginning, then had to place them on designated beaches. Since we lived in the Gardens section we kept ours on Seaspray Road for quite a few years. My daughter I I used to race it and often raced with wally Meyers and his wife up on 40th street. The last few years we lived there we actually kept it on the South end in the State Park as there were more places to go with it.

Those were sure simple days. Put it on its wheels, roll it to the surfline, put up the sails and go. More involved when we bought our first keel boat an Islander 28 which we kept up on Barneget Bay, on the Toms River because there was more sailing up there other than just the Ocean like in ocean City. and we would head the opposite way of traffic on the weekends.

I think I asked you before in a PM, When did you live there?

Dave


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## Leander (Jan 16, 2010)

*This is definitely a sailfish!*

To add to earlier posts- this Sailfish was made by Alcort, and earlier models were plywood in the 1950's. My dad picked one up for himself and his 3 sons, in approx 1959. The boys were approx 7,10, and 12, and we had just moved to a home on Lake Maitland, just north of Orlando, Florida. You have got a fantastic boat. All 3 boys taught ourselves to sail by repeatedly tipping the boat over and righting it by sitting on the daggerboard. IMHO, the Sailfish is better than the Sunfish because, at a lighter weight, it can easily be handled singlehandedly by a kid in those age ranges. We tried to sink that boat for years, never succeeded. Zero maintenance for >10 years until we all went off to college and it died of loneliness. Definitely resurrect this boat! You need footstraps and a very good coat of nonskid paint-as I recall, we used a popular brand where you added your own sand to taste.

The Sailfish also makes an excellent raft/torpedo to tow behind a ski boat when there's no wind. Also, if you get becalmed, you can scull with the tiller all the way home!


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## Sabreman (Sep 23, 2006)

My parents bought the house at 23rd and West about 1969. We stayed there spring-summer-fall until about 1999 when my mom sold it. My father had passed away and it got to be too much for her to maintain.

We sailed off the 23rd beach and fished from time to time. Once, we caught a 3' hammerhead shark, threw it in the Sunfish's well, beached the boat, and ran to the lifeguards at 22nd st. Oddly, they weren't too concerned. The sailfish is just like the sunfish, but without the well. It was a bit cheaper for that reason, I think. *Trivia - The sailfish was once sold as a kit*, built from plywood. At one of the rental places, we had a bunch of them rotting in the marsh. The owner built 12 in his dining room in a row house in South Philly and then rented the place in Somers Point and started a marina with the kit boats. He eventually became one of the largest Catalina dealers in the East. Humble beginnings.

The sunfish is a great boat - I taught sailing at rental places on the back bay near the Elec plant and at BayView marina in OC. Great boat - nearly indestructible. Kind of wish that I had one to blast around in... simple...pure sailing.


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## Leander (Jan 16, 2010)

*More sailfish*

After re-reading all the responses, I have a few more tidbits:

My Saifish was built from a kit, all wood. It seemed very well designed and built. The builder was a friend of my Dad and he probably built it in 1956. Ours had the siderails, but we were able to hang way over the side heeling, so I think we did that barefoot with our toes.

For my family, this was definitely a warm water boat. We always sailed in bathing suits, expected and got total immersion with every sail.

Leander


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