sunfish rigging knots

here is a quick refresher on how to tie the knots required for rigging your Sunfish.

the halyard connects to the upper boom with a clove hitch:

the halyard should be led through the deck fairlead and then tied off to the deck horn cleat using a cleat hitch:

if your mainsheet does not have a snap clip on the end of it, then you can tie the end of the mainsheet to the bridle at the back end of your Sunfish with the very useful bowline knot:

after passing the mainsheet through the (2) boom blocks on the lower boom, feed the mainsheet through your mainsheet ratchet block (or similar).  as a safety measure, you should then tie a stopper knot into the end of your mainsheet.  I like to use a figure 8 stopper knot:

as an alternative, you could also use an Ashley stopper knot (as recommended by Shoreline Sailboats):

all of these knots (and more) are detailed at Animated  Knots.

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if you don’t have a ratchet block for your mainsheet, I would highly recommend one.  I’ve been using a Harken 2135, and it is a very nice system for controlling your mainsheet.

for additional information on rigging your Sunfish, see my compilation of various Sunfish rigging guides.

how to replace a Sunfish pintle

Sailing Texas has a sweet step-by-step photo tutorial on their website for how to replace your Sunfish pintle.

the pintle is the pivot point for a Sunfish rudder.  it is a small steel pin with a spring that is attached to the rudder head.  the necked down portions of the pintle are where the whole rudder assembly then attaches to the rudder gudgeon bracket on the back end of your Sunfish.

you can buy a replacement pintle (only the pin) at Intensity Sails for $6.50,  or you can buy the whole kit, including the pintle, the spring, a steel washer, a snap ring, and a cotter pin, from various Sunfish dealers – Colie Sails has the kit for $24.

I’ve never had to do this repair myself, but am bookmarking this how-to page for future reference.

how to rig a Sunfish

I found another Sunfish rigging guide, this one at A Comfortable Sail.  it is a simple 1-page written step-by-step procedure that was created by Matt for the Johnson County Sailing Society (JCSS) that sails on Sunfish sailboats at Shawnee Mission Park Lake in Kansas.  here is a snapshot of the introduction (below), and here is a link to the original file (a .pdf file).

combine this with my list of Sunfish rigging guide(s), and hopefully you shouldn’t have any trouble getting your boat rigged correctly, and out on the water for some fun sailing.

or you could just skip all that silly reading, and be the guy out on the water with your boat rigged something like this.  I found this picture on a Craigslist “for sale” ad… I’m pretty sure he has never sailed the boat before.

Sunfish rigging FAIL

sunfish inspection port & hull drying fan

this weekend, I decided to put an inspection port into my new(er) Sunfish. I’ve done this before – cutting holes in my older Sunfish.  this time, I wanted to avoid adding a port on the deck, so instead opted to put the inspection port in the wall of the cockpit.  this would also give me access to the back of the hiking strap attachment, so I could change that out as the current one in the boat was a bit worn out and nasty looking.

I first roughly traced the port onto the wall – this was more difficult than I had imagined because it was tough to get a Sharpie marker behind the lip of the inspection port at the right angle.  I ended up just tracing the inside of the port, and then roughly drawing an outer ring by hand.

some people use a jig-saw to cut in their inspection ports, but I feel that the jig-saw is just about the most worthless power tool known to man, and prefer to use my Roto-Zip, a rotary cutting tool.  I probably should have bought a better cutting bit, but I was able to cut it out no problem.

before I installed the port, I unscrewed the forward attachment for the hiking strap.  I didn’t want the backing nut or whatever the attachment could be to drop off into the hull and be lost.  in my case, though, the backing plate must have been threaded, because I couldn’t find any loose attachment, and it was a machine screw – so I probably could have probably changed it out without the port. oh well.

I installed a new hiking strap from Intensity Sails – at only $13 it is a great deal, and I’ve been very happy with it on my older Sunfish. (and if you look at the link above – the picture on their website is my older boat! – you would think I could get them for free!)  here’s the hiking strap installed in my newer Sunfish:

after that, I installed the inspection port.  you can buy various sizes of ports or deck plates at just about any sailing or boating website – I usually use the 5″ ports.  for installation, I usually run a small bead of 3M 4200 sealant behind the lip of the inspection port.  for fasteners, I used stainless steel oval head #8 x 3/4″ long screws with a nylon locking nut inside.

my newest creation is a drying fan that can be used to help dry out an older Sunfish that might have minor leaks and you come home from sailing with a little bit of water in the hull. for parts, you’ll need a small fan – you can usually find a decent one in an old computer tower, a power converter to get electricity to the fan (you might be able to use batteries, but I’m pretty sure the constant fan running would drain them way too fast), a small piece of screen, and an extra inspection port cover.

first, I cut out a hole in the extra inspection port cover for the fan.  the dimples in the cover for the handle are kind of in the way, so the cut-out isn’t exactly matched to the fan diameter, but it’s not a bad 1st attempt for a home-made job.  a co-worker gave me an old computer fan to use, and we also found an old cell phone charger converter that was close enough in voltage and amperage to the fan.  I mounted the fan to the port cover, and then used Super-Glue to fasten a small piece of window screen to the back of the cover to keep bugs and critters from getting through the opening.

if you’re not able to find an old computer fan and power converter, you can buy the fans pre-wired for a normal plug for about $15 to $20.  you can also buy one of these hull drying fans pre-made from Intensity Sails, but it’s pretty pricey at $80.

the future of Sunfish sailing?

could the research and technology utilized by the giant multi-hull sailboat’s of the America’s Cup be dribbling down into the world of the weekend dinghy sailor?  the last America’s Cup was won by an impressive performance by the BMW Oracle Racing team and their giant 223-ft tall wing sail on the USA-17.

but now, for the very first time – this wing-sail technology has been adapted for a simple dinghy sailboat like a Sunfish.  X-Wing Sails now has plans and specifications available for sail to create your very own wing sail for a Sunfish.

The key to getting a wing sail system that not only affordable but easy to handle, rig and sail, is to keep the weight low.  The first wing that I built was about 50#, and had only 32ft\2 area.  The latest version is about18# with a sail area of 60ft\2.  Using the standard Sunfish mast will reduce that weight by another 10%.  Note that most sailors know that weight in the rigging is bad for sailing.  The latest design has similar weight distribution to the standard sail system for the Sunfish.

at this point, it isn’t going to win any beauty contests, but I suppose things like that can be fine-tuned with future model revisions.  my only other thought – if you want a bit more speed, and something a little sportier than a Sunfish – don’t most people just make the transition to sailing a Laser?

HT: Wavedancer at the Sunfish Forum.

APS spring tune-up & boat sale

this Saturday, April 14th, if you are in the area, Annapolis Performance Sailing (APS) will be hosting their 1st annual Spring Tune-up & Boat Sale.

I’ve had good experiences with APS shopping online, and am sure that shopping at the actual store would be just as good.  if you’re in Annapolis, it might be worth stopping by to take advantage of their sale prices on rigging and new boats, or just to watch some of the demonstrations throughout the course of the day.