over on the Sunfish Forum, a fellow small boat sailor is cataloging his process of updating an old wooden Sailfish – calling it the “JMS project“. my favorite part of the process so far is a picture of the old nail used to hold the wooden parts together – and specifically the nail head. embossed or stamped in the head of the nails: a small anchor symbol!
“they don’t make them like they used to” sure seems appropriate here – as very few things made today would go to that level of unique detail, particularly on fasteners that would likely be covered with layers of paint and be hidden from view after the boat was completed.
the Sailfish was made by Alcort, starting in 1945, and would become the inspiration for the Sunfish sailboat, created a few years later by Alcort. the Sailfish was a wooden boat, a true “board” boat without a cockpit, but overall is very similar to the Sunfish – using similar wooden parts for the daggerboard and rudder, and using the same lateen style, triangular shaped sail, with just the 2 main control lines, a halyard and a mainsheet. early models could be bought as a kit, to be built by the do-it-yourself boat builder/sailor.
Lee Montes, THE Sunfish video guy, had a chance to sail one a few months ago and put together a great video about it. the lack of a cockpit sure seems like it would make it hard to sail. it almost reminds me of a stand-up paddleboard but rigged with a big sail!
Kent at Small Boat Restoration has restored a few wooden Sailfish – here is his blog post about “Winnie” and another post here about a wooden Super Sailfish. Kent also has a video showing off a Sailfish 14 Deluxe – that added toe rails along the edges, which based on how Lee was sailing, it seems the toe rail/grip would help you keep your position better while sitting on the board boat.
my2fish: a blog about sunfish sailing 