SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Sailboat Modifications

10K views 17 replies 9 participants last post by  TQA 
#1 ·
Alright so I have an old sunfish sailboat that was given to me a few years ago and I absolutely love sailing it. I mostly sail out in the ocean off the beaches of Florida. I love pushing it to the limit and keeling it over. Recently Ive been thinking about how I could make my boat faster and I came up with the idea:
What would happen if you put a jib sail on a sunfish??
Has anyone ever tried ridiculous things with these little sailboats?
 
#2 ·
Good idea, but I don't know how well it will work with that little section of lateen sail sticking out in front. Since the mast is so short and so far forward, I don't know that you'll get much benefit from such a small sail.

What might be more effective would be to change the rig and put a large mast on it with a sock sail, like a Bic, Laser, or Force five. Lateens just don't go that fast.
 
#9 ·
scottyy, that is not a bad idea at all but i think it would be a hell of an undertaking and quite a bit of money to make that happen. I mine as well go out and buy a hobie cat. I'd like to work with the boat I have and add another sail somehow. Keep in mind, this is just for fun and I don't want to put a bunch of money into this project.
 
#10 ·
tide water it can be simple

just use some 8 pvc pipe with some sort of cap, then a pipe clamped on to the boat to run out to the out rigger.

or use heat to put a bend in the 8 inch pvc to give the ends an up turn. belive it or not if you put the pipe supported at the ends and just let the sun hit it it will sag, might be faster if you painted them black thou
 
#14 ·
Sunfish are great fun. My question is, no matter what you fasten the top of the jib to, how the heck would you get the bottom of the jib around the point of the lateen when throwing a tack? First I was thinking you could get a longer mast post at any hardware store, that way you could do all kinds of interesting things, like lifting the boom a little higher, and having a point to hook the jib to, but again, it would be interesting to try and figure out how to move around the point of the mainsail without getting all kinds of caught up. Unless of course you stay on the same POS the whole time. Good luck, I would love to hear about what you do with it.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top