Help with Lazy Jacks

[Fred]

The lazy jacks on my boat (H26) are set up as shown in the diagram and picture attached. I invariably have problems when I raise my fully battened mainsail. The battens tend to snag under the lazy jacks unless I am precisely headed into the wind and even then it will often snag. Currently the high point of the lazy jacks are well above the spreaders and just below the hounds (19' above the goose neck). I'm thinking to lower the high point down to the spreaders which will reduce the angle with respect to the boom and hopefully minimize the interference with the sail battens as the sail is raised.

Should I be able to find a lazy jack configuration that would allow me to raise and lower the mainsail without having to adjust the LJs? The way it is setup now I have to climb up to the foredeck to make adjustments.

Does anyone have any thoughts or recommendations before I start making modifications

 

[Hello Below]

Fred, in my previous boat (28'), I took the advice of the article in "Good Old Boat" and stowed the lazy jacks once I was alongside and had the sails flaked and covered. So no lazy jacks while hoisting or sailing, except when reefed, to alleviate chaffing and catching of the full battens.

Here the article, and I, placed cleats in-line with the boom on the mast.

http://www.goodoldboat.com/reader_services/articles/tamers.php

 

[thinwater]

Mine re just below the spreaders. That helps. Also, with that length boom you may only need 2 legs, which helps. Tension also matters; play with the slack.
I can stow mine forward, but in practice never need to. Chafe did not harm the sail; it died of stretch first.

 

[MaxinCalgary]

In the modification section, a member posted a home made lazy jack system . I installed that system on my 260 this year. It looked too shallow and low on the mast , but works pretty well . It keeps most of the sail above the boom and I can leave it in place when I put the sail cover on . The top of the lazy jack attaches to the spreaders about 10" out from the mast.

 

[topcat0399]

We always have to slack the jacks before raising and tighten them before dropping the sail. Its the only way to keep them from interfering wirth the sail.

I agree that you might have to lower the upper point.

I had to mess with our jacks for several days before I found the best compromise for height, leg length, and attachment points on the boom.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Gents;

When lowering, I found lazy jacks purely in the way. I use to teach my customers to point into the wind, drop the main, and then starting from the back to flake the sail in small folds and tying the main onto the boom with whatever was easy no more than for example three bungee chords with the flaking progressively bigger toward the front of the boom. Then the cover. I could do this in less time plus those lazy jacks just got in the way. The key is the learning of proper flaking the sail at the end of the day. On larger boats than the 26/260 without a furling mainsail, in those cases maybe but the 26/260 never.

 

[seadaddler]

Lazy Jacks

Back in 2001 I made my lazy jacks fold back on my 290 Hunter to the mast
and out of the way and than back on the boom and was very easy
with bungee cord.
I have info but not home for Xmas but do some searching
under lazy jacks and should fine them with info on how to
set up and I was able to buy what I needed easy and cheaper than
setups from harken.
Nick

 

[Jackdaw]

Attach a short length of shock cord from the spreaders to a level point on the jack. Rivet a small pad eye to the spreader to hold it. Make the cord short enough so it naturally holds the jacks spread and away from the sail, but can be stretched when the jacks tighten. That will let the sail pass.

On dual spreader boats, it's common to start the jacks not on the mast but wider on the spreader. Does the same thing.

 

[mm2347]

All good ideas. In the end its what works for you. I often sail by myself and have found that the more I can do from the cockpit the easier it is for me when I'm alone. Lazy jacks have helped. I started w/ a 3 per side system complete with eye splices SS rings that could be pulled forward out of the way. After many hours-days of construction I started over. I went to a 2 per side system with one eye made w/ waxed thread and no thimble, SS ring, or block just to try. With a bit of adjustment of the "eye" height and then playing with the tension of each side it worked I tied it off and went the rest of the season. Now I'm at my third. There is so little wear anyplace that I'm going with it as is. Yes I have to watch the wind and mainsail when raising and I don't get a complete fan fold when I drop them quickly-- but they are captured and not whipping around the roof and deck. When I have a sailing partner Dave is right. It is easy to flake them and it is kind of fun swashbuckling around the roof and decks.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Lazy Jack Trick [FONT=&quot][/FONT]

​

Many folks complain about full battens getting caught up when raising the mainsail. They then spend a lot of time moving BOTH sides of the lazy jacks to the mast.

We developed an easier way with our lazy jacks.

We have a small cleat on the forward starboard side of the boom. When we put the halyard on the headboard, we move ONLY the starboard side of the lazy jacks forward and snug them under the forward side of the horn of this cleat.

Then, when we raise the mainsail, instead of going exactly head to wind, we bear off a tad to starboard so the wind is coming from the port side of the bow.

We then raise the mainsail and it doesn't get hooked on the lazy jacks even though the port side jacks are still there.

Been working for 16 years.

Yes, we have to go forward again to unhook the starboard lazy jack for dousing the sail if I forget to do it right when the main is raised, but there's never any hurry. The drill is: after the main is raised, I unhook that starboard lazy jack, so they're both ready to go when we drop the sails at the end of the day.

So, for those of you with lazy jacks, consider doing only one side.

Your boat, your choice.

 

[Pat]

We had a ton of trouble trying to raise the main on our Doyle Stack-Pak w/full battens to the point I stayed awake at night trying to figure out the problem....finally, it came to me that there was so much tension on the lazy jacks they were too close together (port & starboard) that they invariably caused trouble...only about a 5 inch slot headed directly into the wind....my brainstorm...pull the mast up with the topping lift before attempting to raise....that opened up the slot and changed the 5 inch slot to 8-10 inches and the main would go right up....I would only have to raise the aft end of the boom maybe 6 to 8 inches but it made all the difference....once up I could re-adjust the topping lift accordingly...of course I would have to loosen the vang and mainsheet ahead of time to allow the topping lift to head up.....and again, head straight into the wind as much as possible.

 

[dziedzicmj]

another improvement might be to switch them front to back, i.e. have the bitter end of the line at the aft end of the boom. When you are hoisting or dropping the sail, the boom has to be close to the centre line, so you will have an easy access to the line from the cockpit.

On my C270, I always tighten the lines before dropping the sail and make them very loose when hoisting. A small jam cleat around the end of the boom would allow for easy adjustments.

You are welcomed to have a look at mine (I am probably just a few fingers away from you)

 

[trainmanjess]

hello all

on my 71 Morgan 35ft, I have lazyjacks.... but it has 2 upper lines, not one setting it up... is there a big difference in operation or advantage to having 2 lines coming off the mast down to 4 lower lines from the boom to the upper lines ????

sincerely
Jess

 

[topcat0399]

hello all

on my 71 Morgan 35ft, I have lazyjacks.... but it has 2 upper lines, not one setting it up... is there a big difference in operation or advantage to having 2 lines coming off the mast down to 4 lower lines from the boom to the upper lines ????

sincerely
Jess

It depends on the boat.

Some have looong booms and need more legs.
Some have short booms and get away with fewer.
Might depend on how boom is rigged and the sail type.

Really its trial and error until you get it as right as it can be and then you are done.

Others with the same boat may have done the home work already for you.

There are many ways to rig lazy jacks - no one right answer; only methods to attempt.

 

[Fred]

Thanks for all the great input! My inclination at the moment is to bring the top point down to the spreaders and move them out about 10" to each side (per Jackdaw suggestion). This should reduce the interference with the battens by reducing the angle and also spreading out the opening. I will also experiment with moving the adjustment aft on the boom so that I can adjust from the cockpit (per dziedzicmj suggestion).

Now to get through the next 5 months until the boat is back in the water

 

[Benny17441]

It has been my opinion for years that lazy-jacks are a PITA and only necessary when the mainsail is too heavy to handle. You should not need them in an h26'.

 

[MaxinCalgary]

I single hand a lot ( H260) or sail with my wife or daughter ( Same thing.). I am not expecting perfection but the ability to drop the sail and have it contained on the boom when I'm mooring/ docking is priceless. I can stay in the cockpit , steer and just tie up the clew and everything is sorted. Much better than sail all over the coach roof .

 

[topcat0399]

I single hand a lot ( H260) or sail with my wife or daughter ( Same thing.). I am not expecting perfection but the ability to drop the sail and have it contained on the boom when I'm mooring/ docking is priceless. I can stay in the cockpit , steer and just tie up the clew and everything is sorted. Much better than sail all over the coach roof .

I'm with you pal.

I also single hand often and before when I dropped the sail in a blow
there was often not enough of me to go around to manage everything that needed immediate management.

The jacks buy me time when it counts and that offsets whatever PITA they may cause.

Whatever works for ya!

 

[weedstomper]

Agree with calgary and topcat. Lazy jacks make me head for the wind and raise quick (H270). Eeven so, I often need to fiddle a bit with a caught batten tip. But they make my reefing and sail dropping easier at the end of the day and keeps the admiral happy ...