Sunfish Tension Relief Hook Mainsheet

Article by Paul Stovner

I have owned several Sunfish. They’re easy to rig and fun to sail, and when you own more than one you can stack them like firewood. I ruined this cool stacking feature by adding a swivel camcleat. When I did, I found I couldn’t stack the ones I owned behind my garage and hide them from the wife!

To remedy this, I took the original tensioning relief hook and added two camcleats on the left and right sides. They needed to be the ones without the fairlead/strap, and be positioned just below the tension hook to work correctly. I mounted all three to a piece of plywood and then affixed using the original tensioning hook holes with longer bolts. When I tack, I switch the mainsheet to the other camcleat after completing the tack. A nice side-effect is that it will release (pop out) is the sail is flailing around.

There was enough extra room on the plywood to add a couple of more things. I added a stainless-steel eye to the back side, and a theird kayak-type clamcleat on one edge. I used the eye to clip-on a waterproof container for my keys and wallet.

I also Drilled an 1/8” hole through the plywood, between the two camcleats. I ran a piece of 1/8” Shock Cord through it with a stopper knot at the end. I could then wrap the shock cord around a 2.5-foot paddle secured to with the side clamcleat. This kept my paddle off the floor, secure so it would not drift away in a knock down, and it can be quickly be removed when needed.

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