Transporting Sunfish mast

Jhefel

New Member
I just inherited a sunfish with an EZ Loader trailer. Any other options on tying down mast on top of boat. I had to stop quite a few times to re tighten straps.
 
With the mainsail line and halyard, I do a spiral wind of the whole works, then use 2 inch packing tape once around bare mast and spars. Tape a HD plastic bag to "windward", using more 2 inch tape, and check for movement at your normal stops.
 
We roll up the sail on itself , not around the spars. The boom stays in the gooseneck. Throw on a couple of sail ties. Wrap a towel around the bundle at the coaming for cushion and back aft where the mast ends. Then we use the halyard starting from the bow handle and marlin hitch it as far was we can. The line runs through the deck fairlead and the swivel cleat. With the sheet we start aft and tie the bundle to the bridle, around the towel and marlin hitch forward until we run out of sheet. If you have a block on the bridle make sure to secure it, as well as other blocks on the boom, so they don't scratch the deck.

The 2-3 ratchet straps over the hull, not too tight. And throw another strap over the sail/spars up by the coaming.
With our Grand Caravan the mast would fit inside the van, centered and slide up under the seats between the front seats. On our Odyssey, the chair supports drop too low.
 
Make yourself a mast/boom crutch out of 2 inch pvc and the biggest T-Joint you can
find to fit on top of the 2 inch pvc. Cut off the top of the T-Joint to make a U Shaped
saddle. Insert in mast hole. If you're going down the highway a bit a Spar Bag will greatly
increase the life of you Sail. I use to wrap a couple bungee cords around the T-Joint
and use the sheet to tie the front of the mast/booms to the bow handle. The rear was
secured by a bungee chord over the mast and hooked to the traveler deck eyes. Hull
tie down straps are kept separate from the mast assembly. You can probably come up
with a much better way to tie it down than I did.
 
A spar bag is nice. Mine is from Masthead and has lasted at least ten years.
Also more gentle on the sail.
 
I ike Webfoot1's idea and that jogged my memory, Skipper's Dad had made 2 U-shaped spar cradles out of wood. The base was about 6x12, padded with carpet and the cradle part was padded as well. He used some scrap line to run off either side down to the trailer, and one more piece of line to tie the bundle to the cradle.

And also remembered the spar bag idea this morning. There is one for sale on ebay and they are easy enough to make.

Cheers
Kent

PS Our buddy Capn Scott turned some ferrules out of aluminum and cut a set of spars so he can carry them in the Jeep, the hull stays on location.

Meanwhile at the Casa we are playing with a Drascombe Dabber...
 

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I did quite a bit of research on the methods to transport the mast/sail/spars as well. I came up with a combined method of once the sail is spiraled around the mast, using a couple of Velcro straps to hold the assembly together. I have seen the photo before but could not locate it again to attach to this post, but to hang a 5" PVC tube below the trailer (assuming the trailer is high enough) to store the mast/sail assembly in. It will not only keep the items safe during travel, but also shield the sail from UV.

Just another though for you to ponder.
 
Make yourself a mast/boom crutch out of 2 inch pvc and the biggest T-Joint you can
find to fit on top of the 2 inch pvc. Cut off the top of the T-Joint to make a U Shaped
saddle. Insert in mast hole. If you're going down the highway a bit a Spar Bag will greatly
increase the life of you Sail. I use to wrap a couple bungee cords around the T-Joint
and use the sheet to tie the front of the mast/booms to the bow handle. The rear was
secured by a bungee chord over the mast and hooked to the traveler deck eyes. Hull
tie down straps are kept separate from the mast assembly. You can probably come up
with a much better way to tie it down than I did.
 
or you can build a "field goal" out of wood, and slide it down into the daggerboard trunk. a 2nd "field goal" can be attached to the trailer near the bow support. this pic is my old setup to carry two Sunfish type boats at a time - but if you look closely, you can see the wooden "field goals" at the front and aft locations.

I had a few eyescrews attached to the wooden parts that I would use bungees to strap the sail tight to the wooden brackets.

doublefishtrailer1.jpg


I've since upgraded my method to transport two Sunfish - and built an A-frame trailer. for that, I just cut some "U" shaped pieces of plywood to carry my sail bag (with 2 sail/spar setups) on top.
img_1639.jpg
 
Please don't spiral sail around mast, gooseneck can damage the material. And it's easier to roll sail up on itself, that's how we store it on the boat on the beach between sails.

Pull the sail off to the port side, find the center with the spars tucked to the starboard side of the rudder.
IMG_5900.jpg


Loosely roll the sail.

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Use some of the mainsheet to secure the sail. Once you're ready to hit the road, lower the mast and use the halyard and sheet to wrap up

IMG_5903.jpg
 
Please don't spiral sail around mast, gooseneck can damage the material. And it's easier to roll sail up on itself, that's how we store it on the boat on the beach between sails.

Pull the sail off to the port side, find the center with the spars tucked to the starboard side of the rudder.

And there you have it, learned a better way to store my sails now! Thanks Signal Charlie! (they did not show us how to store our sails back in scout camp as a kid... hence the lack of good habit!)
 
Hola Cody,

The BEST way is to take the sail off of the spars and lay it gently in a 75 square foot triangle shape box, cushion it with Golden Unicorn fur. And never, ever, never let harmful UV rays strike it :) Hard to fit that box on top of a Chevy Corvair though...

A lot of folks use the tube, the tip there is to not leave a damp sail in the tube. Some folks drill small drain and vent holes along the bottom so air can circulate on the ride home. The only tubes we found were super heavy, which might be a good thing for someone wanting to balance out the spring load rating.

Check out our Small Boat Restoration blog post Sunfish Trailer and Dolly Extravaganza, we shot photos of all the rigs that showed up in Pensacola for the Masters a few years back. These folks have been hauling Sunfish for many years, at least 20 years of Sunfish racing under all of their belts, some Masters are still sailing past age 80!

sunfish dolly beach pyc.jpg


Cheers
Kent and Skipper
 
Hola Cody,

The BEST way is to take the sail off of the spars and lay it gently in a 75 square foot triangle shape box, cushion it with Golden Unicorn fur. And never, ever, never let harmful UV rays strike it :) Hard to fit that box on top of a Chevy Corvair though...

A lot of folks use the tube, the tip there is to not leave a damp sail in the tube. Some folks drill small drain and vent holes along the bottom so air can circulate on the ride home. The only tubes we found were super heavy, which might be a good thing for someone wanting to balance out the spring load rating.

Check out our Small Boat Restoration blog post Sunfish Trailer and Dolly Extravaganza, we shot photos of all the rigs that showed up in Pensacola for the Masters a few years back. These folks have been hauling Sunfish for many years, at least 20 years of Sunfish racing under all of their belts, some Masters are still sailing past age 80!

Cheers
Kent and Skipper

Thanks Kent and Skipper!

I will check out that post! I have been following you on Facebook for quite some time and your blogs intermittently as well. You post some great information. Thanks for the laugh and the informative suggestion, always looking for new and better ways to do a task.
 
I roll the sail on itself, then slide the spars/sail/mast into a spar bag (bungees are spaced down the length to keep it from fluttering while going down the road). The cradle in the pic supports the front, the rear rests on a boat cushion placed just aft of the cockpit. The cradle is made of 3/4" plywood laminated to give it more thickness, and shaped to fit the PVC pipe that goes in the mast hole (matching stripes are optional :D)
Spar support.jpg
. The forward end is tied to the bow handle and the aft to a line that helps secure the boat to the trailer (the tie down line goes through the straps on the boat cushion to keep it from getting away while towing)
 
That's a creative solution... you even put stripes on it, LOL. Bonus points for this mast step cradle... very nicely done. :rolleyes:
 
Please don't spiral sail around mast, gooseneck can damage the material. And it's easier to roll sail up on itself, that's how we store it on the boat on the beach between sails.

Pull the sail off to the port side, find the center with the spars tucked to the starboard side of the rudder.View attachment 27460

Loosely roll the sail.

View attachment 27461

Use some of the mainsheet to secure the sail. Once you're ready to hit the road, lower the mast and use the halyard and sheet to wrap up

View attachment 27462
Today, this is how I rolled my new sail, Thanks Kent... it works very well
 
I have used a crutch which mounts in the mast hole together with an aft support behind the cockpit with different configurations for several fish. The aft support is across the boat with cutouts lined with carpet. On previous boats the cross piece was a 2x4 the width of the boat with attached pads to account for the camber of the deck. They had eye bolts on the end with heavy shock cord to attach to eye bolts on the trailer. On my current fish I made a cross piece that fits in the cockpit. The mast & sail rig are held in place with a rope through the sheet cam cleat. Check the attached pics.
sunfish bracket 1.jpg
Sunfish bracket 2.jpg
 
For those wondering what the newer "sharp-edged" sail attaching clips look like, they appear just above.

The "spiral wind" I'd mentioned earlier appears on the blue Sunfish below. A missing splash guard was replaced by the previous owner with plastic angle—formed with a heat gun.

The red 1971 Sunfish, moored all of its life, was an unrestored beauty, and sold quickly. The new owner sent very gratifying photos of his kids enjoying it the same day. :)

P1010009.JPG
 

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