which one to buy sunfish or aluma craft

[ggray]

Actually, it's not the 420 that's the Olympic boat, but the 470.

While a good boat,and should be easy to find, the 420 is a lot more boat than what OP is lookin at. They are pretty, though!

[Knotical]

You will love sailing the sunfish. During one of the initial sails when the weather is relatively calm practice capsizing and recovery - all your fear of capsizing it again will go away.

[tkeithlu]

Sunfish are a lot of fun, and given that much sail on that small a hull, you will flip it with abandon. I'll express an opinion differing from those above, however. Teaching beginning sailing in the 1960s, I learned to be concerned for the skill level of teenagers who learned on sail/sunfish. The reason was that with that much sail, they go independent of how well you have trimmed the sail and balanced the boat. Dinghies taught better sailing. Lasers, which didn't exist back then, are my favorite training boat. The difference between a Laser sailed well and one sailed badly is obvious to even a ham-handed beginner.

[Tetepare]

Haven’t flipped mine. Yet.

Not like my Prindle 16 which I repeatedly flipped and pitchpoled until I learned it.

The screwball kids in sail camp have the sunfishes and lasers. On hot days they’ll pile four kids on one and try their damnedest to upset it and “accidentally “ flip. It’s funny to watch because the sunfish really isn’t that easy to flip in light air, and sometimes the kids really struggle to get it over. And of course they think they’re pulling a fast one on the camp counselors.

[djanis]

I grew up on a wooden sailfish with cotton sails.

[flash1van]

mrbouncyballs shows a picture of a SailFish. Just like a sunfish with no cockpit. I had one back in the 80's. Tons of fun. Mine did get waterlogged and sat low in the water. I wanted to refit the boat but life got in the way. I think i still have the mast somewhere. Great starter boat. The SunFish is nice having a cockpit for your feet and if you do flip it, it is very easy to right.

[Hudson Force]

The Sailfish is far more common and a popular boat. Someone above said the Alumacraft was a "butterfly rig",- I'm not familiar with that term, but it does have a sliding gunter rig that extends the height of the sail above the relatively short mast. The Alumacraft, made by the Reynolds Aluminum Company (no,- maybe it was Alcoa) was my first sailboat and I sailed it off the Fort Lauderdale Beach from the time I was twelve until I was in college. This was the boat that I used to introduce my now wife to sailing 52 years ago. All excels with the Alumacraft except for one, possibly big, negative. The aluminum rail can leak water into the interior around the foam core. I believe the foam inside is closed-cell, but the boat can gain weight and become sluggish through the day. I would sometimes beach the boat; remove the drain plug; and raise the bow to "empty"
it after a few hours in the water. It would usually drain in about a minute. I was never too troubled by this so I didn't pursue a solution, but I believe someone could fairly easily seal the rub rail with some epoxy. I had a great time sail-surfing this boat and it was very responsive when it was dry inside. I kept it winched to the top of my carport and lowered it to racks on the top of my car, but I needed a friend to heft it down to the surf at the beach.
I taught sailing at a North Carolina summer camp with a fleet of Sunfish & Sailfish for a time, but this was at a mountain bound lake with sporadic and fickle wind. The little boats were fine, but I was spoiled by the beach sea breeze. 'better space for two on the Alumacraft.

[jimbojonesbos]

Sunfish! The sunfish is a one design dinghy sailed and raced all over the world. Parts are common and they sail well. The sunfish can be a gateway to one design racing and it will have resale value.


An aluma craft is um,well , its a boat I guess, if it floats and has a mast and sail it will be sailing. I might take one for free but I would not buy one, it has no resale value in the Northeast at least. A sunfish in working order is always worth 500 bucks and a nice one is worth a few grand.



There are too many nice boats of all types for short money nowadays to waste time on junk. There are more boats than people who want boats, whether it be a dinghy or keel boat. Why buy a honda when you can get a lexus for the same price?


A sunfish, hobie/prindle, or laser is about the most fun per dollar you can have sailing

[AKA-None]

Do these have a retainer for the mast?

[Dooglas]

Big difference between a Sailfish and a Sunfish. The Sunfish is far the preferable of the two, but a real sailing dinghy such as this one is a better choice than either for learning to sail IMO.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by flash1van

mrbouncyballs shows a picture of a SailFish. Just like a sunfish with no cockpit. I had one back in the 80's. Tons of fun. Mine did get waterlogged and sat low in the water. I wanted to refit the boat but life got in the way. I think i still have the mast somewhere. Great starter boat. The SunFish is nice having a cockpit for your feet and if you do flip it, it is very easy to right.

Welcome aboard flash1van!