Super Sunfish

nikobrogna

New Member
Hi guys,
my name's nick, I am fifteen years old, and had been sailing my little minifish since I was ten, until it was unfortunately, recently stolen. I used a normal 75 sq. foot sunfish sail. I weigh about 100 pounds and the boat was a thrill to sail when the wind was really blowing. I always loved sailing my little minifish and making it go as fast as I could. I made all kinds of modifications, installing main sheeting deck tackle, outhauls, all kinds of telltales and even a boomang. I always considered trying to construct a 65 or so sq. ft. laser/ super sunfish marconi rig. I ended up deciding against this, feeling that it would be a bit much for my little boat. I am now purchasing an old full sized sunfish hull (through this site) I plan on sanding down most scratches, and spraying on a new gelcoat, as well as a graphite/ epoxy rolled on bottom coat. I also want to Make a laser type rig. I am wondering if this would cause excessive leeward helm, by moving a lot of sail further forward, closer to the mast step with a rig less squat then the normal lateen rig. I would als prefer to be apble to houist and lower the sail with a halyard (no sleeve around the mast). Maybe a luff line in an aluminum track? I would appreciate any information on turning a sunfish into a "super sunfish." Thanks.
 
Niko,

It's great to see someone your age so interested in the sunfish. You are in the right place to garner all sorts of advice on improving the performance of the sunfish. You will be hard pressed to find a better or more knowledgeable group than available right here.

Now for my 2 cents, if you're looking to achieve the super sunfish results nothing you can do will get you there quite as fast or economical as searching out the just rigging of the entire super sunfish. I suggest that you spend the upcoming winter searching for either the entire boat or everything less the hull and going from there. As for new gel coat on your existing hull, that is an excellent plan. I have re-get coated 2 hulls for under $200 each. It was a little labor intensive but the results are worth the effort. I suspect re-gel coating is superior to any bottom paint but I am sure others can offer real experience with both options.

Happy Sailing!
 
nikobrogna said:
Hi guys,
"...my name's nick, I am fifteen years old, and had been sailing my little minifish since I was ten, until it was unfortunately, recently stolen..."
This forum could be the place to get it back!

Was a police report made and do you have a description and hull number you could share here?

nikobrogna said:
"...I always considered trying to construct a 65 or so sq. ft. laser/ super sunfish marconi rig.

I had a Laser once, but found it too "tender" for enjoyable and relaxing sailing. Another gripe was sliding the mainsail on the mast—a pain when it got windy and which you had to do each time you used it.

I've wondered if a "Gunter rig" wouldn't be a better choice, as it folds up and down just like a Sunfish, and the part of the Sunfish sail forward of the mast isn't effective 50% of the time anyway.

The Gunter rig, if I recall it correctly, is an abbreviated "gaff" spar that slides up and hugs the mast closely, similar in function to the Sunfish racers with the gooseneck moved very far forward on the boom. It would be a great light-wind rig that could be changed-out for another rig just by substituting the original lateen sail—or a different mast and rig entirely.


A California experimenter sailed a Grumman canoe across the Pacific in the '50s with a pair of Gunter sails in tandem.
mini_gunter_1.gif


I'll bet we have some experimenters here!
 
Nick,

Great ideas! If you end up finding a Super Sunfish Marconi rig, you can retrofit it to be a "hoistable" sail by installing a heavy duty nylon zipper on the luff and a halyard grommet at the head. Then you rig a halyard to a block or tube at the mast head and engage the slider on the zipper as you hoist. You lower by lowering the halyard and unzipping the luff as you lower. I had a Force 5 once with this rig and it was vastly superior to the "sock" rig that comes standard with the boat.

Alan Glos
Cazenovia, NY
 

Back
Top