Car topping sunfish spars and sail

Fresh Fish

New Member
I just purchased a sunfish and keep it on a dolly in the marina storage lot. Currently the spar and sail are in a canvas bag on top of the boat, but would prefer to keep at home. Does anyone have suggestions for transporting the sail and spars on a roof rack?
 
Well, there is the concern of losing your rig through someone else’s windshield! Safety first, always. I would use a ratchet strap or two. Go around the rig and through your car windows on either side, effectively strapping it to the car. A trucker’s hitch is also a great knot to learn. YouTube has several videos. It will cinch down tight and never come loose, then is untied in a second when you’re home.
 
Well, there is the concern of losing your rig through someone else’s windshield! Safety first, always. I would use a ratchet strap or two. Go around the rig and through your car windows on either side, effectively strapping it to the car. A trucker’s hitch is also a great knot to learn. YouTube has several videos. It will cinch down tight and never come loose, then is untied in a second when you’re home.
That is more complicated than necessary for a set of spars. Rope will get the job done and going thru the car windows is complete overkill unless you cannot tie a square knot. Some people use bungee cords and have never had a problem, but rope is safer I think.
 
If you can't tie a knot, tie a lot! Our Pro windsurfer buddy Tom ties what he calls a Hatchet Hitch....

It is important to tie the spars to the cross bar and to the roof supports, otherwise you might see the spars migrating across the crossbars, very distracting. We use line to tie things off on the roof.

Keep the sail and spars in the bag for transport. Roll the sail on itself, not around the spars, and try to keep the sail on top of the spars, not trapped between the spars and the crossbars.

Tom's Tip: Stop every 1, 10 and 100 miles to check the security. After 100 miles you are good to circumnavigate.

Tie an extra knot for the motorcycle riders. We recently helped a couple who ended up in our driveway after abandoning their Harley at 45 mph, a ladder fell off a work truck going the opposite way and headed straight for them. Luckily he had 40 years of riding experience, he did what he could and laid the bike down on the dest spot he could find.

Post a pic of what you come up with, and good plan to store those spars and sail away from the critters.
 
Like most have mentioned it’s pretty staight forward. Being in construction I often have to lash equipment or materials to my truck.

In this case I’d be sure to lash the spars together first, then strap/tie them to each of the 2 roof racks. At this point side to side movement should be taken care of, as for front to back I’d run a piece of line through an end cap to the roof rack, one front one back, this should take care of movement in this direction, that would be for a long haul, for a shorter trip you could use the gooseneck to your advantage once lashed to the roof racks tie a line to the gooseneck to the front rack, obviously this will stop forward motion. Barring any hole shots I’d think you’d be fine as it wont slide back if your lashed tight and the gooseneck should stop it from sliding of the rack!!!
Good luck
 
Hatchet Hitch

Hatchet Hitch.JPG


Will Knot, informally known as the Bill Knot

Bill Knot 2.jpg


All featured in Why Knot: Skipper's Guide to Small Boat Knots, which also covers all of the knots we use on our Sunfish.
 
Damn, Signal Charlie, those are some impressive clusterf... er... I mean knots, LOL. :eek:

Hey, OP, when you get around to storing your spars at home, those half-rectangular, plubber-coated storage hooks at Home Depot work well for storing spars & sail, or you can build a simple wooden wall rack at a convenient height so your gear is off the ground, and less likely to be infested with bugs & critters. :confused:

A separate & equally simple wooden drying rack works great to dry out lines after rinsing, just tack a piece of wood up where there's breeze or ventilation... I put mine between two posts in the old carport, far enough under cover to be out of the sun. Line lasts longer that way... less solar abuse, aye? :cool:
 
Hatchet Hitch

View attachment 39398

Will Knot, informally known as the Bill Knot

View attachment 39399

All featured in Why Knot: Skipper's Guide to Small Boat Knots, which also covers all of the knots we use on our Sunfish.
Damn, Signal Charlie, those are some impressive clusterf... er... I mean knots, LOL. :eek:

Hey, OP, when you get around to storing your spars at home, those half-rectangular, plubber-coated storage hooks at Home Depot work well for storing spars & sail, or you can build a simple wooden wall rack at a convenient height so your gear is off the ground, and less likely to be infested with bugs & critters. :confused:

A separate & equally simple wooden drying rack works great to dry out lines after rinsing, just tack a piece of wood up where there's breeze or ventilation... I put mine between two posts in the old carport, far enough under cover to be out of the sun. Line lasts longer that way... less solar abuse, aye? :cool:
Like most have mentioned it’s pretty staight forward. Being in construction I often have to lash equipment or materials to my truck.

In this case I’d be sure to lash the spars together first, then strap/tie them to each of the 2 roof racks. At this point side to side movement should be taken care of, as for front to back I’d run a piece of line through an end cap to the roof rack, one front one back, this should take care of movement in this direction, that would be for a long haul, for a shorter trip you could use the gooseneck to your advantage once lashed to the roof racks tie a line to the gooseneck to the front rack, obviously this will stop forward motion. Barring any hole shots I’d think you’d be fine as it wont slide back if your lashed tight and the gooseneck should stop it from sliding of the rack!!!
Good luck
 

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