How often should I change the lines and sail attachment rings?
Last fall I bought a sunfish, best I can tell is built in about 1974 (43 years ago) and has all original sails, sail rings (hold the sail to the spars), tiller, etc. Everything but the lines seem to be original.
Yesterday it was sunny and warm, wind at about 9MPH, 15KPH, 8 Knots. I took it out to the lake for the first time since I got it. The was a lull as I launched and things went very well. On my third upwind leg (narrow lake) I got good wind and was on beam reach doing about 15MPH, then the outhauls and sail rings started breaking. This was something of a distraction, shore rapidly approaching, so I got a chance to practice my self recovery skills, when I tipped it over.
After getting the boat upright, I was able to sail back to shore.
I notice that several places sell "Sunfish Tune-A-Fish Kit" which includes Lines, sail rings, etc. Presumably there is some recommended frequency for changing out gear.
How often should line, sail rings, etc be changed?
1 answer
I have always taught sailing students to run a full check every time they rig the boat (if it's a dinghy or the mast is regularly lowered) or annually before returning it to the water after winter.
Additionally, a full check after any collision or incident, or after heavy weather/storms is recommended.
The problem is that while you can look for worn rigging, it can be very difficult to see problems in areas above your eye-line, or within booms/mast, and deterioration varies due to conditions, storage, sailing stresses, etc so is unpredictable.
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