Chrysler Sailors Forum

So I am in no financial position at all to invest in a spinnaker (nor am I willing to sail less in order to work more in order to afford it - not until winter), but everyone likes to dream, and I have been dreaming of a spinnaker for a while. Can anybody help me figure out what the right size would be for a LoneStar 13 spinnaker. And, most of the spinnakers I see for sail are for much larger boats, so would I need to get one custom-made? Where would I go for that?

The boat actually came with like a 150% genoa as its only foresail, so I will first just add a whisker pole and increase the length of the batten (the sail has a weird non-triangular shape where the leech does this little zig-zag, and there is a batten right there, but it's not long enough to prevent that whole corner from luffing constantly) and move the jib fairlead forward.

Been sailing once or twice a week, on average, and heading out again this weekend!

Thanks!
-John

Does the lonestar 13 have a back stay?
If not, a spinnaker may put to much load on the mast and shrouds, since a spinnakers load is greater at the top of the mast due to it's shape.

It does not have a back stay. Hmm, that is a great point. Does anybody have experience with modding an LS-13 in this way? Or does it really matter that much with a smaller boat and thus smaller sail area? When I am running wing and wing, is most of the load being placed at the bottom of the mast?

The LS-13 did not have a spinnaker option, however, there was one available for the LS-16. Believe it or not, in addition to the original manual, I also have a Chrysler spinnaker installation guide that is dated 1969. The factory model was big red, white, and blue horizontal stripes. The 16 spinnaker modificaton did not use a backstay.