Sunfish capacity and boom height

Jun 27, 2013
42
Beneteau First 285 McFadden Cove Marina, Kaw Lake, OK
Two quick questions about a sunfish.

What is the actual weight capacity? All I can find is '1-2 people', but I'm wondering the weight capacity.

Also, when sailing, the boom is very very low. With a life jacket on I can't even duck under it, I have to lift it over my head when tacking. I have tightened the halyard as tight as it will go and it's still low. Can I change the location where the halyard ties to the upper boom? Will that fix the problem?

Normally sail a keel boat but, just getting into the sunfish thing with my son and we're kind of self teaching. Thanks for any help.

Matt
 
Mar 1, 2012
2,182
1961 Rhodes Meridian 25 Texas coast
Yes, you can change it. Move the gooseneck forward on the boom, and the halyard down on the yard.

Or leave the gooseneck alone and raise the halyard tiepoint on the yard- that will cant the after end up higher..

You'll need to play with it a bit to find the optimum point for both you and the sailing trim

Sunfish racers commonly shift the gooseneck for varying winds
 

KD3PC

.
Sep 25, 2008
1,069
boatless rainbow Callao, VA
used to be 250 pounds in the olden days

the two of you should do just fine

one of the best boats ever to learn to sail on...even more fun if you don't mind getting wet.
 
Oct 10, 2009
982
Catalina 27 Lake Monroe
My son and I sail our sunfish all the time, and that's about 3 bills between the two of us.
 
Jun 27, 2013
42
Beneteau First 285 McFadden Cove Marina, Kaw Lake, OK
Thanks everyone. I moved the halyard down and it worked great. We had some really good wind yesterday too.
 
Aug 1, 2018
1
Sun Fish My parent's barn
My girlfriend, best friend and I just took a ride out. I'm 250lbs, he's about 185lbs and she's 135lbs. It was a great time, but when I sit in the back to man the rudder, the rear of the boat was almost submerged.

Two quick questions about a sunfish.

What is the actual weight capacity? All I can find is '1-2 people', but I'm wondering the weight capacity.

Also, when sailing, the boom is very very low. With a life jacket on I can't even duck under it, I have to lift it over my head when tacking. I have tightened the halyard as tight as it will go and it's still low. Can I change the location where the halyard ties to the upper boom? Will that fix the problem?

Normally sail a keel boat but, just getting into the sunfish thing with my son and we're kind of self teaching. Thanks for any help.

Matt
 

Kermit

.
Jul 31, 2010
5,657
AquaCat 12.5 17342 Wateree Lake, SC
My experience was you needed to just be heavy enough to right it. Especially after turning turtle.
 
Mar 30, 2013
700
Allied Seawind MK II 32' Oologah Lake, Oklahoma
My experience was you needed to just be heavy enough to right it. Especially after turning turtle.
A couple of years ago my sailing club put on a 2 weekend youth sailing class with a handful of Sunfishes. On of the 1st lessons was how to right an overturned boat. 3 kids to a boat because 2 kids generally weren't heavy enough to bring one back up. Somewhere I've got a picture of my grandson and another youngster standing on a centerboard going nowhere.
 
May 4, 2018
23
Catalina 25 SV Colorado
Myself and both young boys sail on our Sunfish together. Yea its loaded down but ok.

On boom height, we have one Sunfish set the boom high so its easy to duck under and not get in the way, we use that boat for qualifing/learning. The other Sunfish has the boom set low...low is faster.

Erik