Okay, I'll admit that this isn't technically a bike, but I tow it to the bay behind a vintage bike, and it is definitely C&V. I bought this off Craigslist a few weeks ago.



That's what it looked like when I got it home. We took it out on the bay a short while later, and found (a) it's a lot of fun and (b) it leaks pretty bad and (c) it's not that much fun when it's full of water.

So I'm working on fixing it up before the next sailing season. And the funny thing is, I'm feeling this strange urge to restore it, not modernize it at all... isn't that what you'd expect? Lots of guys upgrade the tiller to a more modern design, for example... and I can't face that. Much rather keep it original. Serial number suggests it was made early in 1962. Fitting, that it's from the Kennedy era... since the Kennedys had one.


Now I've determined that the original paint was white with a yellow non-slip patch on the deck (what appears grey in the photo above), and I want to repaint it yellow.

nice...need a pic of it trailered behind the bike

Needs the RHM logo on the sail.

Fun. That sail looks to be in amazing condition.

So sorry, no can do (but remind me in June!). For now, here's an earlier expedition involving a Grumman canoe that my family used on vacations in the early 70's!

Nice find! And yes, keep it original. I try to keep my 1972 boat as original as possible as well. I find it really adds to the fun.

When I was stationed at Kwajalein in the late sixties, we had a small fleet of Alcort dinghies, both Sailfish and Sunfish. They were great fun sailing from island to island inside the lagoon.

I second that pics suggestion! I'm thinking about rigging up something for my kayaks, since I now live next to a lake but the only public access is down the road with little parking.

Sounds like every boat out there

What's that old saying? The best days of a boat owner's life is the day they buy it, and the day they sell it!

Well, okay! Let's see what I can show you with existing photos....

Go back to my first photo.


Just behind the bow of the little sailboat you can see my trailer, which consists of the frame of a jogging stroller that originally had 20" wheels; the 12 1/2" plastic wheels from a Kent scooter; a 10' piece of conduit; and some modifications made with scrap wood. I'll look around for more photos and upload something more explicit.
Here's the boat on the trailer:

Here's a photo of the Sailfish's predecessor, an early 1970's Sea Snark, on the same trailer:



I was actually able to tow the Snark down to the bay with the mast up. I was not foolish enough to try it with the sail raised, though.


But I was foolish enough to take the Snark out on the bay on a day that had some pretty good wind and some pretty good waves. Here's a couple photos taken on our return from its final voyage:




You can get a pretty good canoe dolly that gets a boat off the ground high enough that you can hook the other end of it to the rack on your bike. I use that one for my canoe:

Sounded like a very exotic bike. Cool vintage sailboat anyhow.

There was a woman here in C&V a couple of years ago whose main occupation was boat restoration. Her screenname was something like spooky bird or something close to that. She learned to restore bikes really quickly here. I bet she could impart some useful advice about boats.

I've never sailed a Sailfish, but I did sail Sunfish boats for many hours when I was young. Lots of fun. I agree you don't necessarily need the standard upgrades. That tiller was fine for me.

And your snark: Ouch!

Awesome, thanks!

Now, though, I feel as if I need a sailboat

That brings back great memories, pitching over the side and standing on the centerboard (daggerboard) to right it.
Ours was red (faster, of course) with a gray no slip oval.

Funny though, i do remember becoming jealous of the Lasers when they took over the harbor. Sort of like the love I had for my Green Puegeot U-08, until I saw a whole race worth of bikes with tubulars, that was about 3-4 years later...

Sweet! And kudos for the trailering.

Cheers, Eric

Looks like fun Rudi! I've been looking at Sunfish and Snipes as well. I like the idea of a Sunfish because one person can launch it. Very inexpensive this time of year.

I had a Laser that I raced, but could never stay upright when the whitecaps started.

They had those at my old scout camp. Quite a bit of fun.

I spent many hours sailing Sunfish and Lasers while at the Naval training center in Orlando.

Thanks for posting -- a bike-haulable sailboat would be awesome.

While in high school in Huntington Beach CA, I did a fair amount of sailboat racing, usually as crew on my friend's Lido 14. One highlight of the week was the Thursday evening 29-to-32-foot class races -- one of my father's work colleagues sometimes invited us out on his Ericson 32.

I have a question for you ,I buy ,sell ,and refurb about 5 canoes a week throughout the summer ,and had a fellow from France that was cycling across Canada ask me to find him a trailer so he can haul one of my canoes to Quebec with him ,which is at least a 6-7 hour drive in a car through some very hilly terrain .I did some research and found him a trailer ,but he didn't get back to me until well after I had sold the particular canoe he was after .Was he as nuts as I think ,feeling that it's a good idea to be hauling a 40 lb 16 foot canoe down the Trans Canada highway on a bicycle ?I would think a short in town trip or a few mile highway trip might be doable ,but seriously 4-500 miles just seems insane ,let alone he will need to resell his new $2000.00 pride and joy in a very short time as well .

Yes, that's nuts. But we're talking about a bicycle tourist here, so it goes without saying that he's gotta be nuts, right? I mean, the main site for blogging about bike tours is called "crazy guy on a bike." There's a reason for that.

Thinking somewhat seriously about this, I think a bicycle+canoe tour is definitely doable, but you'd have to do it right. Canoe touring typically involves a portage every now and then, usually less than a mile, often just a hundred feet or so. With a folding bike and dolly you could do much longer portages. I can certainly imagine pulling a canoe full of gear ten or twenty miles, maybe fifty if absolutely necessary.

I rather doubt he intended to tow the canoe 400 miles. He would have been putting the canoe in the water every chance he got, no? Otherwise, there wouldn't be much point in bringing it.

I would not do it with a fragile or valuable canoe, though.

He was after a handmade Kevlar whitewater canoe so a light and tough canoe but nothing compared to your Grumman .He was in the prairies when he contacted me ,and specifically asked about using it on a certain river known for whitewater fun ,so I honestly assumed he was not going to use it on his way there as well .
There is a company in Guelph Ontario that builds a canoe trailer for about $200.00 Canadian that looked like it might fit the bill for him ,I thought that was pretty inexpensive for a very specialized accessory .

[MENTION=73614]rhm[/MENTION] - Is that a rabbit splayed out on the grass in the bottom right of lower photo on post # 9?

Where do you think all the leather comes from for RHM saddles?

I completely restored my '72 Sunfish .. then bought two more. Sunfish/Sailfish are fun but three are better!

The '72 had a pretty big hole in the deck near the stern ..



Plus it needed a good scrubbing ..



But it was worth it. Cliff Pond Brewster, MA



Scott

Miniature schnauzer. You can tell it was a hot day, they kinda melt.