Trevor33
New Member
I was sailing with a plastic dagger board for the first time,I capsized it and the plastic dagger board slid right out. Is that normal? If so can I stop it from happening again?
plastic daggerboard
- Thread starter Trevor33
- Start date
Gail
24186
As with all daggerboards, you need to have some kind of retainer to keep the daggerboard with the boat.
Some folks use a long bungee cord, tied around the gaff (upper boom), with clips on both ends that they hook together, and wrap the back end of the loop around the back of the daggerboard when sailing. When set tight enough, the tension of the bungee cord pulls forward on the daggerboard enough that it stays in the slot. Set too hard, it can be too difficult to get the board up and down. Set just right, you can raise and lower the board for launching, reaching, and running so it stays at the height you set it. The thing I don't like about this system is it cants the board forward, putting small dents in the forward and trailing edges of the daggerboard. It does hold the main out when sailing on a broad reach or run, however, on light wind days, so I rig one for that condition secondarily.
The system I use for retaining my plastic and wood daggerboards into Sunfish is two 36" bungee cords with the hooks on the end. I wrap the mid-point of both with some electrical tape to protect the cover from the wear of the board going up and down. I hook one bungee cord onto the ends of the splash rail (and tape the end of the splash rail so the hooks won't damage it). The second bungee cord I hook into the base of the first bungee cord's hooks. To set the tension on the bungee cords, I simply tie matching overhand knots on each side of the middle.
To set the tension properly, I put in the daggerboard in between the two cords (so they somewhat look like a bow with the string pulled back), and slide it up and down. When the daggerboard stays in place, no matter what height I have it at, then the tension is right. At the most I put in one set of overhand knots in the cord that I call the "front cord." The "back cord" typically has two to three sets of overhand knots to get to the right tension.
You'll be surprised by the amount of friction wear you'll get in the electrical tape protecting the bungee cords from just one day's sail, so it's important that you cover the relatively cheap cords. I can often find them for $1 apiece, more than you'll spend for the longer length of racer-used combination sail-controller (often called a JC strap) and daggerboard retainer.
Good luck and enjoy.
Some folks use a long bungee cord, tied around the gaff (upper boom), with clips on both ends that they hook together, and wrap the back end of the loop around the back of the daggerboard when sailing. When set tight enough, the tension of the bungee cord pulls forward on the daggerboard enough that it stays in the slot. Set too hard, it can be too difficult to get the board up and down. Set just right, you can raise and lower the board for launching, reaching, and running so it stays at the height you set it. The thing I don't like about this system is it cants the board forward, putting small dents in the forward and trailing edges of the daggerboard. It does hold the main out when sailing on a broad reach or run, however, on light wind days, so I rig one for that condition secondarily.
The system I use for retaining my plastic and wood daggerboards into Sunfish is two 36" bungee cords with the hooks on the end. I wrap the mid-point of both with some electrical tape to protect the cover from the wear of the board going up and down. I hook one bungee cord onto the ends of the splash rail (and tape the end of the splash rail so the hooks won't damage it). The second bungee cord I hook into the base of the first bungee cord's hooks. To set the tension on the bungee cords, I simply tie matching overhand knots on each side of the middle.
To set the tension properly, I put in the daggerboard in between the two cords (so they somewhat look like a bow with the string pulled back), and slide it up and down. When the daggerboard stays in place, no matter what height I have it at, then the tension is right. At the most I put in one set of overhand knots in the cord that I call the "front cord." The "back cord" typically has two to three sets of overhand knots to get to the right tension.
You'll be surprised by the amount of friction wear you'll get in the electrical tape protecting the bungee cords from just one day's sail, so it's important that you cover the relatively cheap cords. I can often find them for $1 apiece, more than you'll spend for the longer length of racer-used combination sail-controller (often called a JC strap) and daggerboard retainer.
Good luck and enjoy.