AMF Sunfish MADISON

MADISON is a Sunfish that the family owned from back during the 1996 Corpus Christi timeframe, previously known as Rosie's boat. She went to Jax and then called Pensacola homeport around 2000.


She was out of the family's hands for a few years while Hurricane Ivan came through, and her rig was lost or maybe borrowed by the Holley Boys. We tracked her down in 2011 and bought the hull back, had a fun time picking her up and chasing out a few critters from her hull. Tip: Don't leave the inspection port open on a boat without a rodent screen in place.

From Small Boat Restoration

From Small Boat Restoration

From Small Boat Restoration

MADISON gets called for photo shoots in Seaside periodically








04 Jun 18:

Day sail then we color coded the blades on MADISON< PHOENIX and WAVE.







20 Jan 19:

Our AMF Sunfish MADISON came from Corpus Christi out to Florida in 2000, she had been part of a College sailing program there. We just came across this shot, Clark sailing Escambia Bay while Skipper supervises. The amazing thing about this photo is the two other sailboats in the background. Not only is that more than we have ever seen out there, they are way North in the Bay, up past the I-10 bridge and the train trestle!


10-11 Sep 19:

Picked up SMEDLEY, Eddie and his team made the trailer 15' 6" so it will fit in a Pods moving and storage container. They cut off about a foot on the tongue, and the trailer looks better and still tows great. We had asked for a longer tongue when we had the trailer built, thinking we could back the boat all the way into the water, but it turned out it was easy to get the boat on and off the trailer with the rollers.


The Pod arrived and SMEDLEY fits! With room to spare on the side.



Once SMEDLEY was in we built a rack over the top. It holds the Super Sailfish ZSA ZSA and Sunfish MADISON. Suspended above is our wooden Sunfish ZIP, and below are the Standard Sailfish WINNIE and wooden Sunfish CHIP. The rack also held all of the spars and sails, there was also room for 4 Dynamic Dollies which break down easily. We also put the compact planer in the Pod and all of our boat patterns.


12 Sep 19:

The Pod Full of Fish departed to Virginia, full of our Standard Sailfish WINNIE, Super Sailfish ZSA ZSA, wooden Sunfish ZIP and CHIP, Catfish SMEDLEY and fiberglass Sunfish MADISON.


12 Sep 19:

The Pod Full of Fish departed to Virginia, full of our Standard Sailfish WINNIE, Super Sailfish ZSA ZSA, wooden Sunfish ZIP and CHIP, Catfish SMEDLEY and fiberglass Sunfish MADISON.








Next stop Chesapeake!

Or not. Cue Pandemic 2020...

11 Jul 20:

Air Temp 84F, Dewpoint 80F. Water Temp 78F. Winds NNW 10-13. Light swell.

Peeked outside this morning to check the status of the Saharan dust and Heat Warning. Nice wind from the NNW and it wasn't a sauna yet, so we launched our Sunfish PHOENIX and MADISON. Skipper launched first in PHOENIX and I followed. 2 boats out, so a race ensued.


Video: https://youtu.be/x3L3Bu81mys



Results: Skipper won, I DNFd but got back to the shade first.


11 Jul 20:

A conversation in The Sunfish Forum got us motivated to launch our 1981 Sunfish MADISON (green and blue sail) and 1982 Sunfish PHOENIX this morning, because I couldn't remember which tiller setup was on which boat. I think every boat has something different.

After we got back we cleaned up the boats and took some pictures


Just to confuse everyone, we made our own tillers, they come up just short of the cockpit so Skipper can steer with her leg or her upper leg (butt) while she slides around the aft cockpit edge to tack.


Another custom length tiller with a Ronstan Batttlestick 31 inchish. The extension gets used on occasion, mostly when ghosting and reclining in the cockpit.


Color coded blade tips. I hope Skipper doesn't change her mind on which tiller she likes on which boat.



On to halyard and gooseneck settings, how we like it. See how the aft end of PHOENIX's boom (near boat) is peaked up a little more than MADISON?


Both rigs are set to Geezer Rig, plenty of cockpit boom clearance. Both sails are tied 5 sail rings down from the top grommet, or the 6th grommet down, approx 60 inches.



PHOENIX's gooseneck is set at 20 7/8 inches aft of the interlocking bolt.


MADISON's gooseneck is set at 23 3/8 inches aft of the interlocking bolt.


Video: https://youtu.be/qs2FVwrvIlI




 15 Jan 21:

Okay, this is the last one, I promise. MADISON was the third boat in from the shoreline when Hurricane Sally's 9 foot storm surge rolled through, and she got chine damage on the port side aft of the beam. Not sure from what, the dolly next to her maybe?

Pre Hurricane Sally.




We grabbed another piece from the salvaged Sunfish SALLY and cut a backer patch. I suppose we could just epoxy that to the hull and call it done. We have also made patches like this by laying poly sheet over the hull, and laying up 4-6 layers of 4 oz fiberglass cloth, either on the same profile of a good boat or on a section nearby that has the same basic shape.


Test fit to see if it will go through the hole.


String to pull it tight against inside of hull, buttered up with THIXO. For style you could sand the inner edge of the rpair area and outer edge of the patch, but it was cool and windy outside, we didn't do that. THIXO (or Pettit FLEXPOXY too) is pretty much dirt proof.


Hmmm, now where and how to tie off that string...


.....one of The Usual Visitors whispered in my ear to tie the string off to the Carriage House. Brilliant. I did that then added some more THIXO, smoothed it out level with the side and bottom as best I could. In the past I'v laid in strips of fiberglass cloth but I've done a few recently thay were just THIXO "plugs" and it's worked great.


20 Jan 21: 

Did some touch up fairing, sanding and rolled a small bit of primer to the repair spots on PHOENIX and MADISON. Ready for paint.


26 Jan 21:

And just like that MADISON is ready for Sea Trials. The paint on her repair is dry enough that we flipped her back upright on her Dynamic Dolly, found her mast, rudder and daggerboard and put her cover on, rain is a coming.



She'll wait for PHOENIX to be finished and they'll Sea Trial together.

11 Feb 21:

MADISON didn't wait. We had a small weather window to drop MADISON in for a Functional Check Float (FCF) and Rigging Check. Skipper let me be the Functional Check Pilot (FCP). 







69F, very little wind, most of it coming straight off the beach. MADISON had fun and hit me in the head with her boom about 20 times, knocked my hat off twice. We stayed shallow, never made it out far enough to get the daggerboard fully down, my kind of water.


Light wind coming right off the beach so I used the Crickle to get back to shore.


to be continued....

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