Fixing up old AMF Sunfish/ Minifish boats

FunInDuhSun

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
472
Grew up in the 60’s and always had a Sunfish. Sold it in the ‘80’s because I moved to powerboats and ‘didn’t have time’ for a sailboat.
Retired about 18 months ago and suddenly found myself with lots of free time. Just happened to see a Minifish for sale locally cheap so I took a look. Not bad, but it needed some minor fiberglass work. I bought it for $180 and did some research on how to fix it. I discovered that a new Sunfish now costs $5900 base, WOW!
Got to thinking this might be a decent way to stay busy and make some extra income. Tinkered with it for a few weeks and sold it for $1000. That motivated me to look for more! Over time, I‘ve picked up 5 more, never paying more than $300, and even snagged a Sunfish hull for free. One of my friends has a Scorpion that collected water so over the winter I dried it out, fixed the keel damage, and added 2 deck plates. Easy $240.
So currently I’m sitting on 4 Minifish and 3 Sunfish. All but 1 is complete, and that one only needs a tiller. All the hardware for these boats are similar (Minifish lateen sail is a bit smaller but can use the Sunfish).
I’m now working on a Minifish that had fairly severe damage to the bow- but nothing I can’t handle. I plan to give this one a fresh coat of paint and maybe refinish the wood. i added a beefy towing eye to the bow so it can be towed by another boat- something they never had from the factory. Last summer I took one to my marina and had a great time. I might just convince myself to keep one of these rigs!IMG_1580.jpegIMG_0046.jpeg
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2023
Messages
19
These boats just keep on keepin' on. I used to help teach people to sail on them. Today I had my first sail on a '77 Sunfish I bought from a guy I know earlier this summer, he'd had it for decades, hadn't used it for a long time. It was in good shape, stored inside, pretty much ready to sail, though I made a few hardware improvements and new halyard and mainsheet. Some years back a friend of mine who grew up back east with a family Sunfish bought a Minifish off a Craigslist post I sent her, that was a fun little boat too. You gotta keep one for yourself...or, just sail 'em for a bit after you finish repairs and before you sell 'em.
 
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