Is it possible, practical, or wise to replace the furling mast sail on our 2006 Hunter 36 with a lazy jack system. I'm tempted because deploying the furling mast sail is pretty strenuous, and I'm getting up in years (76) and foresee this becoming a show stopper issue. My impression is that a lazy jack system is easier and takes less muscle power.
Replacing furling mast sail with lazy jacks
- Thread starter jveatch
- Start date
Oh my, what an opening....... First, I'm 80, almost 81, so I'm your elder so pay attention.
(I get to say that to practically everyone these days).
First, about the roller furling main, it should not be hard. I would have a sailmaker check the cut of your main. I had a main on my H27 that had to be sent back to the main Doyle plant and be recut. It worked fine after that.
Second, you need to get a WinchRite. It is a power adapter for your winches so that when you want to unfurl your main, you put the WinchRite on the outhaul winch and pull the trigger and just stand there. I'm serious, it is the easiest thing to do. I have an aneurism on my aorta and should not strain myself. This takes all the strain out of the task. Furling the main (and the jib) is also a piece of cake.
I think a good furling main is us old guys' favorite friend. Have someone check the cut of your main. And let me know what happens.... Good luck, youngster.
(I get to say that to practically everyone these days).
First, about the roller furling main, it should not be hard. I would have a sailmaker check the cut of your main. I had a main on my H27 that had to be sent back to the main Doyle plant and be recut. It worked fine after that.
Second, you need to get a WinchRite. It is a power adapter for your winches so that when you want to unfurl your main, you put the WinchRite on the outhaul winch and pull the trigger and just stand there. I'm serious, it is the easiest thing to do. I have an aneurism on my aorta and should not strain myself. This takes all the strain out of the task. Furling the main (and the jib) is also a piece of cake.
I think a good furling main is us old guys' favorite friend. Have someone check the cut of your main. And let me know what happens.... Good luck, youngster.
You are trading one job for another. To use a lazy jack system you need a halyard to raise and lower (every time just like furling) the sail. I know on my 40.5 that raising the main by hand only is a 15 minute affair and I'm pretty much done afterword. Thank the good Lord that Hunter put an electric winch on the cabin top for this purpose.
On the mechanical side of things you have a mast with a long slit in it where the mast slides would go so I'm thinking that you would need a new mast for starters. Then the sail will have to get modified to attach the luft to the slides. You will need additional running running rigging to route the halyard and reefing lines to the cockpit... did I mention that reefing lines are pretty much a requirement unless you ALWAYS sail in the same speed of wind........
Perhaps you can rig a block and tackle system to give additional purchase instead of converting.
On the mechanical side of things you have a mast with a long slit in it where the mast slides would go so I'm thinking that you would need a new mast for starters. Then the sail will have to get modified to attach the luft to the slides. You will need additional running running rigging to route the halyard and reefing lines to the cockpit... did I mention that reefing lines are pretty much a requirement unless you ALWAYS sail in the same speed of wind........
Perhaps you can rig a block and tackle system to give additional purchase instead of converting.
Assuming you confirm that you have no equipment issues, stick with the furling main and get help learning to use it. There definitely is a learning curve but it is worth the effort. Trouble deploying usually is caused by the sailing jamming in the mast slot. If you work the blue furling lines back and forth while deploying, it should easily come out. The source of this problem comes from the last time you furled. There was likely not enough tension put on the sail during the furling thus allowing it to be too loosely wrapped inside the mast. Come time to pull it back out and you get slack sail material being pulled into the slot. A close reach on starboard should give you a tighter wrap. Good luck.
This makes most sense to me because we're relatively novice sailors and haven't paid adequate attention to the heading of the boat when furling the main. So I totally believe that the tension was poor and the sail was too loosely wrapped. We had a similar problem with the jib furling line climbing upon itself when deploying the jib because we didn't have light tension on the line.
I still might also check out the winch rite suggested by Les.
Great responses ... thanks.
I have had a furling main and jib for almost fifteen years (H380 and presently on a H27). On both boats I had problems at first unfurling and furling the main sail. Sales personnel at the dealership at first tried to get me to lower/raise the boom, furl into wind from one side or another, furl with no tension on the outhaul or lots of tension on the outhaul.
However in both cases, the mainsail had to be recut.
Now I can unfurl or furl the main from any position, up-wind or down-wind. I can furl it loose or tight. Once your sail is properly designed, the furling system is just that-a system to furl your sails. You shouldn't have to do any specific to adjust your sails.
One of the beauties of a main furling system is that you can adjust your sail to any wind condition. So if the wind picks up, you just bring in the sail a bit. If the wind lightens up, you pull the sail out a bit.....from whatever point of sail that you are on. I've seen a companion boat of my 380 having a glorious sail in Bellingham Bay with just a bit of the main and the jib in forty knots of wind. And they were having fun..as reported back to me after their sail.
I could go on but my main point is that a furling main should not be difficult to do. Check with your sailmaker.
However in both cases, the mainsail had to be recut.
Now I can unfurl or furl the main from any position, up-wind or down-wind. I can furl it loose or tight. Once your sail is properly designed, the furling system is just that-a system to furl your sails. You shouldn't have to do any specific to adjust your sails.
One of the beauties of a main furling system is that you can adjust your sail to any wind condition. So if the wind picks up, you just bring in the sail a bit. If the wind lightens up, you pull the sail out a bit.....from whatever point of sail that you are on. I've seen a companion boat of my 380 having a glorious sail in Bellingham Bay with just a bit of the main and the jib in forty knots of wind. And they were having fun..as reported back to me after their sail.
I could go on but my main point is that a furling main should not be difficult to do. Check with your sailmaker.
Instruction instruction. I have a hunter 36 and would not give up the main furling. I am near 70 (3x cancer) and could not imagine sailing with out it.
There is a fair amount of skill or intuitive knowledge, if you do not roll it tight enough it will not come out, and there is a technique to getting it out when you roll it too loses.
If you are struggling with it some professional instruction would help. My system is more reliable than jib furling.
There is a fair amount of skill or intuitive knowledge, if you do not roll it tight enough it will not come out, and there is a technique to getting it out when you roll it too loses.
If you are struggling with it some professional instruction would help. My system is more reliable than jib furling.
I have delivered three boats in the past 6 months, 3345 nm (open ocean) all with furling mains,all different makes. All failed for one reason or another at some cridical point. I can understand why older sailers like them, but I believe they are a curse and one of the worst thing ever put on yatchs.
Sorry but with that many miles and that many trips why have you not figured it out? There is no doubt one needs to learn how to make it functional. I have sailed mine for 10 years but never had a critical failure. Usually when it does not function as I wanted it was because I did something it did not like.
In addition to what everyone has said about sail cut and making sure you have tension on the out haul to get a tight wrap, make sure the halyard is tight enough to remove any bagging in the main. The dealer we bought our 38 from told us the number 1 problem they find when people had trouble with the furling was that either they hadn't put enough tension on the halyard or someone had accidentally opened the rope clutch causing the main halyard to get loose. Having had a Dutchman system on our Catalina 34 and loving how that worked for sail management and then going to the furling main on our 38 I can honestly say I'd never want to go without a furling main. As mentioned above its so easy to take sail in or out that we find we manage conditions much better. With a traditional main we either waited too long to reef or waited too long to shake the reef out because it was a fair amount of work and we didn't want to do it if the conditions were to change. Back on your original question of conversion should you really want to do it. You don't need to replace the mast but you will have to purchase some sort of track mechanism that attaches to the mast for the sail slides to run in. Then recut or buy a new main. And buy the lazy jack system. It's going to be expensive. Have an elderly friend (80) and his wife who love sailing. He has a Jenneau 42 deck salon. Yes at 78 years old he bought that monster of a boat. Came with a in mast furling main. He loves furling but hates in mast. So he decided to convert it to in boom furling. Bought the track that rivets to the backside of the mast, had the main remade to allow for battens and the right shape, bought a furling boom. Thankfully the bloat had electric halyard winch already. For somewhere north of $25,000 he had in boom furling. You wouldn't need to go to that extreme but I have to believe you'd be near $10,000 by the time all was said and done to convert your boat.
Me Bad
Well with all the helpful advice I give to sailor's who have inmast and have problems and have never had a jamming with my inmast even I goofed.
I was getting ready to race and all of my crew not having inmast said that I needed some new teltails on my main inmast and so waiting for a wind less day
at the dock finally came the day before the race and so I pulled the sail out and added new telltails and yes with no wind and no real pressure on the sail I really rushing and not making sure the sail went in nice and tight un be known to me
So the day of the race we are motoring out to the race course and finding out the sail was all bunched up and jammed real bad,well
much yelling no no not now of all times for me to screw up.
I took thee winch handle to the mast winch and was able to crank out and in with much help from crew and so got it all out and also checked the halyard tension which needed more tension also.
We we raced all 3 races that weekend and got 1st place in true cruising with one first and 2 second place out of 10 boats in my class.
Check the halyard tension and make sure the sail go's in very tight.
nick
Well with all the helpful advice I give to sailor's who have inmast and have problems and have never had a jamming with my inmast even I goofed.
I was getting ready to race and all of my crew not having inmast said that I needed some new teltails on my main inmast and so waiting for a wind less day
at the dock finally came the day before the race and so I pulled the sail out and added new telltails and yes with no wind and no real pressure on the sail I really rushing and not making sure the sail went in nice and tight un be known to me
So the day of the race we are motoring out to the race course and finding out the sail was all bunched up and jammed real bad,well
much yelling no no not now of all times for me to screw up.I took thee winch handle to the mast winch and was able to crank out and in with much help from crew and so got it all out and also checked the halyard tension which needed more tension also.
We we raced all 3 races that weekend and got 1st place in true cruising with one first and 2 second place out of 10 boats in my class.
Check the halyard tension and make sure the sail go's in very tight.
nick
Kid al verricello elettrico Lewmar 40 ocean
Hello, I'm writing from Italy. I just made an electric winch of my very own H 38 for the problem that you say. Effort to wrap the mainsail. I solved the problem. Look at the pictures I posted olso on the forums: "Kid the electric winch Lewmar 40 ocean."
good wind
Dante (Tango Six)
Hello, I'm writing from Italy. I just made an electric winch of my very own H 38 for the problem that you say. Effort to wrap the mainsail. I solved the problem. Look at the pictures I posted olso on the forums: "Kid the electric winch Lewmar 40 ocean."
good wind
Dante (Tango Six)
Attachments
Stevew123 if yoour still out there
I have sailed with a furling main for over 10 years and have never had a problem. I sail mostly single hand and it has been a blessing in several situations. However, more details on the cause of the failures you experienced and how you fixed the situation would be valuable to know and help all of us who sail with furling mains learn from your experiences. Thanks for sharing
Hello,
my English is not very correct and I apologize.
I make a brief summary of the problems I had with the mainsail furling. The luff of the tree was small Traps for the sticks I had and I was forced to remove them and trim the sail with a new design. I lost a little of the surface of the sail. Not bad I'm not a racer but a cruising sailor. My wife and I are normally only seen on board and we're no longer young, sometimes with the wind that is flapping sail when we have to wind it up, it's hard. With the new electric winch, wrap the circuit on which the mainsail, we have solved every problem and not struggle anymore.
Now I get the urge to put a mainsail with battens but that's another story.
Tip: If you plan to buy a boat with furling mainsail and batten, be very careful to 'luff of the tree.
Good wind
Dante (Tango Six)
my English is not very correct and I apologize.
I make a brief summary of the problems I had with the mainsail furling. The luff of the tree was small Traps for the sticks I had and I was forced to remove them and trim the sail with a new design. I lost a little of the surface of the sail. Not bad I'm not a racer but a cruising sailor. My wife and I are normally only seen on board and we're no longer young, sometimes with the wind that is flapping sail when we have to wind it up, it's hard. With the new electric winch, wrap the circuit on which the mainsail, we have solved every problem and not struggle anymore.
Now I get the urge to put a mainsail with battens but that's another story.
Tip: If you plan to buy a boat with furling mainsail and batten, be very careful to 'luff of the tree.
Good wind
Dante (Tango Six)