Super Snark Sailboat
Super Snark Sailboat - Aft port view
I just bought this sailboat, an 11′ Super Snark. I’ve wanted to learn to sail for a few years—this seemed like the perfect sailboat with which to start. It is purportedly unsinkable and very stable. The ABS clad EPS foam hull certainly seems very durable and indeed, could not possibly sink even if completely swamped.
I had it out for the first time this weekend and had a fantastic time. This was my very first time sailing, but I found the boat quite easy to handle – the basic sailing instructions I’ve read were enough to get me underway with this small sailboat. With a little ‘effort’ I was even able to capsize the Super Snark and shortly thereafter learn how easy it is to right this boat. I’ll save the details of that story for another time.
After the first trip out I realized that all the wood parts – rudder, tiller, keel, transom – needed some attention. The marine plywood rudder was delaminating, and though it would be simple to cut a new one, I thought it might be worthwhile to repair it. After gluing and clamping the rudder in several places, I sanded and varnished all of the wood parts.
I also plan on painting the outside of the hull – navy blue. I’ll keep the white gunwhale and medium blue bumper as is. This motif should work nicely with then existing blue-white-blue-white striped sail and equally well with an Egyptian cotton colored sail I’d like to have.
Super Snark Links
- CastleCraft Repair Tips for Snark Sailboats
- CastleCraft Super Snark Sailboat Parts
- Snark Sailboats Group on Yahoo! – Membership required
- How to Sail a Boat – wikiHow
[This article is short and to the point. I think it's worth a read if you are new to sailing.] - Grog’s Boating Knots Index [Note: start with the figure eight and bowline knots.]
Want a New Snark Sailboat?
I was surprised to learn that Snark sailboats are still being made – not only the Super Snark, but also the Sea Skimmer, Sunflower, and others. If you don’t have the time or inclination to repair an older boat, a shiny new Snark is still a relatively affordable way to start sailing. Here are a few links to the best prices available through Amazon.
Rigging the Super Snark
Super Snark sail: detail of head grommet and stay
More Snark Upgrades
Splash Deck – I am planning to sail in the bay at Stone Harbor, New Jersey in late September. It can get choppy there – and while the summer boat traffic will have diminished I have yet to deal with the wake of a decent sized powerboat. The splash deck covers the area of the otherwise open hull from the mast step forward to the bow, shedding water the boat might take on from chop and wake. Coming over the bow. I am nearing completion of a wooden splash deck and I am excited about my design and the results. I will post photos and detail soon.
Boom Vang – Provide downward tension on the boom for better sail shape and to minimize ‘bounce’. Use the free end of the halyard through the gooseneck of the boom and back to the cleat.
Traveller – create a bridle using a short length of line between the two screw eyes on the inside of the transom, leaving enough slack in the line to come up and over the tiller with clearance. Thread a small block on the bridle before fastening the line on the eyes. Then the tack end of the main sheet is secured to the dead eye of the block allowing the tack to travel along the bridle.
Telltales
Tiller Tamer – Loop a short bungee cord around the tiller and connect to the screw eyes on the inside of the transom. This should exert just enoungh tension on the tiller to bring the rudder back to center when the tiller is released.
Daggerboard Retainer – attach on or two screw eyes into a small plywood plate on the stern end of the daggerboard trunk. From these eyes, run a bungee cord around the aft edge of the daggerboard. Pulling on the bungee allows the daggerboard to be raised or lowered – releasing it should hold the board in any vertical position.
Kickup Rudder – Design and make a two-piece rudder to replace the old one-piece rudder, allowing for easy beaching of the sailboat.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Hello Ian,
Nice Super Snark.
I just purchased Super Snark today of $150, needs alot of TLC.
did you paint the hull yet? If so, what type of paint?
Brushed or sprayed?
thanks
July 9th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Congratulations on your super snark acquisition!
I did paint the boat. Usually I do more research on a project like this, but this time I didn’t. Instead I poked around the paint department at my local hardware store until I found myself in front of the Krylon Fusion display. I have no reasons to believe this paint should work on a boat, but I didn’t feel like waiting to have something mixed and must admit I had seen a few compelling ads for the product. ‘Fuses’ with plastic. Durable for exterior surfaces. They have a navy blue, so I though it might be worth a shot.
At 25 sq ft per can I thought 4 cans might do it. After carefully taping off the gunwhale and transom I went at it with the spray. Two cans into it I thought the blue was much brighter than navy. I let it sit for maybe an hour and hit it with two more cans. After that I had a solid even color, but it was more cobalt than navy. So back to the store I went to buy three more cans.
A few hours and two cans – for a total of six – later I decided to let it go for the night. The boat sat for a day and a half after that before I put it in the water. After two hours of sailing I rubbed my hand below the waterline, fully expecting to come up with flakes, globs of paint resin, or at least blue fingertips. None of those things happened. Later I scraped a submerged stump – albeit at a low speed. I called it quits after four hours in the water, stopped, cartopped the boat and went home.
The sailboat looked virtually the same coming out of the water as it did going in – the paint looked great and seems to have bonded well with the ABS shell. The only scrape I could find probably happen when I took the boat out of the water – and that was very minor. The texture of the Super Snark hull – a reticulated pattern of narrow peaks and smooth valleys – takes paint nicely and when scraped leaves only the slender peaks of hull texture are exposed. This means that only the most serious abrasions are apparent, which is important if you are aiming for a dark color.
July 29th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Can’t say enough nice things about Fusion paint. Only used 5 cans on the free Sea Snark we got July 5th. Currently working on the slightly delaminating rudder and keel etc. Am currently trying to decide on water-based polyurethane or the solvent type polyurethane – opinions? Would it be possible to post a close-up of the top of the sail?
I have patched a large section and just can’t commit to where to place the ‘grommet’..
I enjoyed your post, as we too will be teaching ourselves on a small Illinois lake. I hope to have acquired the eye-patch and single gold hoop earring by Labor Day. Too ambitious?
July 29th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
@Kris Pirates in Illinois! I’ve used ZAR marine varnish on the rudder, tiller, keel, and mast step. A little ‘drippy’, but leaves a very nice finish. Unfortunately, my repair of the rudder didn’t hold up as well as I hoped. Water infiltrated and again delaminated the plywood a bit. The exterior wood glue I used to bond the veneer is not the best choice – an epoxy would be better, I’m sure. It’s also really important to seal the cut edge – the end grain – of the plywood with varnish, as that is where water is most likely to get in.
I’ve now sailed the Snark three times with the new Krylon Fusion hull paint – perhaps 12 hours on the water. I am very impressed with the paint. Even got a few comments from fellow boaters on how beautiful this little boat is. The navy color is classic and stately.
I will try get a picture of the leech and clew grommets next time I unfurl the sail. Stay tuned. Happy sailing!
July 29th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
@Kris you said you have a Sea Snark, which I think lacks an ABS plastic shell offered by the Super Snark. So if I understand correctly, you were able to succesfully paint the Sea Snark’s foam hull with Fusion paint. That’s cool! Most aerosol paints (petroleum based, anyway) would react with EPS foam – ultimately dissolving the foam.
July 31st, 2009 at 6:38 am
I am also VERY interested in knowing how to paint the interior of my snark. I just bought a VERY old one (model 100 sea snark) that really needs the inside cleaned up.
I would love to paint it white but am not sure what to use to avoid a problem. I’ve heard that Krylon H2O™ Latex is good for styrofoam but I’m not sure it will hold up to sitting in the boat. I don’t want it coming off on my clothing. Also, what “snark” forums do people belong to that I might join? Thanks!
August 2nd, 2009 at 6:01 pm
@Doug I’ve never used Krylon H2O. As long as it doesn’t have a petroleum solvent – which a water based spray should not have – I think it would work okay on EPS foam. How well the finish holds up to water and wear I can’t say. Please post here if you try it!
I’m not aware of any Snark-specific forums; that’s partly why I started this page. Considering how many of these boats were made, there must be many people out there who have a beat up old Snark in their garage, or who just bought one at a yard sale. There are lots of sites about small sailboats in general – and of course many of the ISAF classes have websites. Not so for the Snark.
August 5th, 2009 at 12:05 am
Hello, I found this site by doing in image search of snark sailboats on google. I just wanted to reply to admin in the last. Not to chase anyone away from here but there are a couple of sites that may interest you. Yahoo has a forum “snarksailboat” with 500+ members and is a good resource. I think you need a yahoo email to join but what the heck its free and you don’t have to use the email.
Also try http://www.snarksailing.com. This one is new and there is not a lot of traffic but it appears someone has started an official association for the snark and there are even class rules for racing.
I sailed a lot in high school but that was years ago. I bought a Super Snark two years ago. I don’t get to go out as much as I’d like but now my kids are getting old enough to want to go with me so hopefully we will get out more often
It seems like the activity about Snarks is growing pretty well on the web . two years ago there wasn’t that much. Anyways, happy sailing. Enjoy your snarks. It is the best fun I’ve had in such a simple machine.
August 7th, 2009 at 12:03 am
@Chad
Thanks for the links. I just joined the Snark Sailboats Yahoo! Group, and added a link to it in the article above.
August 9th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Saw your link on the yahoo group. I bought a Sunflower for $50.00 off Craigslist a couple of weeks ago. I got the daggerboard and rigging from another person on Craigslist. It is the old wood style rudder like yours. They must predate 1980 because my 80 Sunflower had the plastic gudgeon mounted for the new style rudder. I do prefer the look of the 1/2 inch mahogany plywood. I had some delamination too. The best fix is a West Epoxy repair kit. It’s very easy to use and is not smelly. I have another boat so I went ahead and bought a lot of the stuff. I squirted epoxy between the delaminated layers and clamped them over night. I sanded the wood clean with 80 grit sand paper (using a mouse sander it goes fast) and brushed all sides and edges of the wood with epoxy. You can thin it slightly with paint thinner but I didn’t need to. It dries over night very hard and I had some runs. You then sand it with 100 -150 grit and apply two or more coats of Captains Spar varnish. Poly is not a good choice for boats. The method I described is what is used to refinish the mahogany on old wood boats and results in the mile deep finish. Maybe it’s overkill for a Snark but I’ve had fun doing it. I’m in the varnish process and will set up a photo file on the Yahoo group when I finish. I also used West to fill the minor bruises on the hull and painted with the Fushion in an off white satin finish. It does look very nice and seems to have bonded well.
August 9th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
@Arlo
Eager to see your Snark photos, Arlo. I appreciate the epoxy tip, too. The first time around, I just worked with materials already available in the house; but I think the next rudder repair will be with epoxy.
Incidentally, I have been thinking about making a kick-up rudder out of mahogany plywood – one that would fit my old-style gudgeon. Anyone tried this? (Meanwhile, I’ll go check the Yahoo group.)
August 12th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I thought I’d follow up with you on my painting experience. I used a latex bin on the inside of my boat to cover only the black epoxy repairs that a prior owner had made. They were really ugly looking. Then I painted the entire inside with one coat of Benjamin Moore extreme satin white paint using a roller. It looks so good! I just hope it holds up and does not come off on me when it gets wet!
The outside seems to have some sort of fiberglass cover on it already and had been painted a navy blue. It was very dull and very ugly. I went to Walmart and had them mix a navy blue for me with their own interior/exterior enamel latex brand paint. I rollered it with two coats on the outside and it looks GREAT! It was only $8.50 for a quart can and there is enough to do probably two more coats in the future. It’s shiny and clean looking and looks like a completely different boat! Next I’m going to fill some of the large gouges with epoxy and then paint them as well. Ideally I would have done this before the paint job, but I was too exited to see how it would all come out.
Now as long as the paint stays on the boat, and not in the lake, I’m going to be very happy!
Thought I’d let you know my experience.
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Can you explain exactly what kind of epoxy I can purchase to fill some holes in my snark without damaging the styrofome? And also should i just sand it down and paint? Or put a fiberglass patch over it?
October 4th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Nice site! we bought our super snark a couple years ago for $100 and love it. it’s the one with the plastic that covers the hull.
the only problem i see right now is that it seems to have water inside the plastic somewhere as it weighs more than 50lbs. i might have to cut it open and then somehow seal it back up again.
great site! looking forward to more pics. it seems there’s not enough pics and youtube videos of super snarks on the web.
Melissa, the castlecraft site has good information on what kind of epoxy can be used that won’t damage the styrofoam.
http://www.castlecraft.com/repair_tips_for_snark_sailboats.htm
it mentions filling hardware holes and voids with epoxy cement so maybe that’s a good starting point. good luck!
October 19th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Nice to see other people trying to sail 100 dollar boats . In my previous life I owned/sailed larger boats and left it all behind to kitesurf. I just bought a snark 9 ft trimaran called a Triumph. Ancient , beaten up but really excited to sail it , if I like it will also start looking at cleaning it up and restore it. I sent a request to join the snark yahoo group but no reply . How long did you have to wait to get accepted in the group.
thanks in advance for any tips or inspiration to sail
October 20th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Just bought a Super Snark for $35 sight unseen. Wish me luck. I will be looking for help and hints.
Understand I might need a new sail. Comments? Experiences?
October 28th, 2009 at 12:14 am
I have a Snark Story, We moved to NC two years ago at that time I sold a Snark and Trailer for 800 bucks. I shouldn’t have done it. I missed the little boat and the ease of use it offered. We have a larger boat with a cabin and all the comforts but it needs a crew. SO it was time to get another Snark. I found one on E-bay for almost free. I bought it and discovered that the bottom was cracked and split away from the foam. I removed all the ABS up to the rub rail and used fiberglass cloth and two part marine epoxy (from a company called Clark Craft, highly recommended) Once the bottom was glassed it was painted with polyurethane paint on the bottom and Fusion paint on the topsides. New sail and rigging and I now have a very sturdy albeit heavier boat. I would love to send you a couple of pics. So yes Snarks can be brought back from the dead. Good luck with yours and fair winds. John
October 28th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Great help from everyone! I’m glad to have found this site. I would love to know someone who has, used a much sorter mast on a Snark and used a smaller sail? I have some shoulder issues and setting mine up alone is not going to be doable for much longer. I know it would throw off the balance, possibly requiring a lot of retrofitting, etc., but am still wondering if it has been done. Also, I really appreciate the pictures you include when you describe what you have done or are doing to your boats. One look at some of the pictures and I can “get” what you mean, whereas the words seem to confuse me. Thanks for any help.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:02 am
3 years ago I had a brand new Super Snark, It was a great boat. I sold it because I had a Sunfish, and now there both gone. Im happy to say im about to buy an older Snark for $75…but almost all the material is missing from the bottom, everything else is there. It is nice to know I can fiberglass it and have a sea worthy boat. This was my plan, but until now I didnt know if anyone else had tryed it.