I have read wonderful things about the sunfish. Everyone who I'd talked to had nothing but praise for them. Naturally when I moved from living near a bay to living near a lake I logically went through the pros and cons of what type of boat I should own. This Summer after much soul searching I bought a brand new Sunfish. I am posting this article in order to have someone provide advice and hopefully convince me I didn't make a horrible mistake. I have found the Sunfish to be barely able to cartop by two people and only sailable "comfortably" by one,(Sunfish and comfortable don't really belong in the same sentence). So unless I am the next powerball winner and can suddenly afford to hire a sherpa, I don't understand why I should keep this white elephant. It has been suggested that I buy a trailer. I respond that I would be better off trading the thing in for a larger boat. Unlike a cartopper a trailer boat is much more flexible with regard to size. The next issue is how it sails. In order to have any view of the side opposite the tack your own you have to have the sail much higher than recommened. How they still sell a sail without a window is beyond me. The second time I sailed it I ran aground breaking the bottom off my daggerboard because I couldn't see through/under the sail. Even raising the sail high enough to get some sort of view horribly alters the sailing characteristics. Any help out there, or perhaps offers in the $2100 range.
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M
Mikeomni1
Time to change boats
You need something like this (see the link). See through sails and lots of excitement. Room for 2 or more.
You need something like this (see the link). See through sails and lots of excitement. Room for 2 or more.
T
Tom s/v GAIA
maybe you should try kayaking.
Didn't you look at the boat before you bought it? I tow mine and sail it almost as much as our Lancer, and LOVE racing it. Don't slam a good boat because you made a poor choice. better luck next time. Tom s/v GAIA
Didn't you look at the boat before you bought it? I tow mine and sail it almost as much as our Lancer, and LOVE racing it. Don't slam a good boat because you made a poor choice. better luck next time. Tom s/v GAIA
Sunfish a great little boat
Cartopping is hard even with a canoe!!!! We have sea kayaks and use a trailer for them and our canoe. A small trailer makes small boats a lot easier to get into/out of the water. How big are you???? Me and my wife sailed our sunfish together at lot. Once we had 4 adults on board but I admit that it was grossly overloaded. I never had the problem with the sail though I liked the window on my laser's sail. The Lasers sail was often wet and not that easy to see through. My secret was to change headings to look ahead from time to time.
Cartopping is hard even with a canoe!!!! We have sea kayaks and use a trailer for them and our canoe. A small trailer makes small boats a lot easier to get into/out of the water. How big are you???? Me and my wife sailed our sunfish together at lot. Once we had 4 adults on board but I admit that it was grossly overloaded. I never had the problem with the sail though I liked the window on my laser's sail. The Lasers sail was often wet and not that easy to see through. My secret was to change headings to look ahead from time to time.
Nice video
Wow, does that look like fun! Those guys really took a digger on that overhead shot 2/3 of the way through. Hmm, no pottie though. Don't think I could convince the wife to get one of those.
Wow, does that look like fun! Those guys really took a digger on that overhead shot 2/3 of the way through. Hmm, no pottie though. Don't think I could convince the wife to get one of those.
The classic answer is how will you use it???
The only thing I dislike about multihulls is capsizing. Every year when I lived at Myrtle Beach SC the rescue guys rescued a Hobie cat that had turned turtle and couldn't be righted by the people on board. On rougher days I often turned turtle but the laser or sunfish were easy to right. By far the most exciting sailing that I've experienced was on my wind surfer.. Though flying a cat or a planeing laser are close.
The only thing I dislike about multihulls is capsizing. Every year when I lived at Myrtle Beach SC the rescue guys rescued a Hobie cat that had turned turtle and couldn't be righted by the people on board. On rougher days I often turned turtle but the laser or sunfish were easy to right. By far the most exciting sailing that I've experienced was on my wind surfer.. Though flying a cat or a planeing laser are close.
Sunfish
The sunfish is good for what it was intended...a sailing surf board. Don't expect to be dry/comfortable/in the shade. They are great fun, but not family cruisers. If you want a cruiser, get one. If not, either use it by moving it on top of your vehicle (what I did) or get a trailer or sell it.
The sunfish is good for what it was intended...a sailing surf board. Don't expect to be dry/comfortable/in the shade. They are great fun, but not family cruisers. If you want a cruiser, get one. If not, either use it by moving it on top of your vehicle (what I did) or get a trailer or sell it.
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