we love our hunter 340 2001 sailboat. however, hauling the main sail up, even on the calmest days is becoming extremely difficult ; it's a hard pull and the sail stays get hung up on the lazy jacks all of the time necessitating being up on the bow to manually haul and tease it up. As my husband approaches his 70th year, i can see how this might end our sailing prematurely because something electric to haul it wouldn't solve the stays getting hung up--- does anyone else have this problem (sail sticking ;not getting older)? any advice for senior citizen sailors?
main sail stays hanging up on lazy jacks on hunter 340
- Thread starter giffordn
- Start date
Sail Stays, you mean the battens? Can you move the mount points of the jack lines on the boom so the ends of the battens don't cross the lazy jack lines?
The other thing is to loosen the jack lines so they are slack prior to hauling up the sail.
The other thing is to loosen the jack lines so they are slack prior to hauling up the sail.
Thanks Don: we are going to loosen the jack lines when we haul the main up next: I'll let you know how it goes!
Lazy Jack Trick [FONT="][/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.
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.
On our boat the leach of the full-batten mainsail will get caught on the lazy jacks IF the bow is not dead into the wind while the mainsail is being raised. It if does get caught I ease back (lower) until the wife puts the boat head to wind again, and then I haul. So, you've got to be sure the bow is dead into the wind with the boom on the centerline of the boat--that you're going fast enough so it (the bow) does not blow off even slightly while he's hauling up the sail. I hope you have a Windex up top (masthead) that you can see from the helm.
However, the sure-fire remedy (very similar to what Stu just described) is to detach the lazy jack lines from the boom and cleat them to the mast b/f raising the mainsail. That is--they're no longer even flanking the mainsail at all as it is hauled up. [Stu detaches one side, instead of both, which is more expedient.] Once the sail is up, whenever I use this method, I reattach the lines to the boom and readjust for when the sail is dropped. So, you need to install some kind of quick detachment device to get them off the boom. I use small plastic brummel hooks (similar to sister hooks; many do not know what brummel hooks are--see pic) to terminate the lazy jack lines at the boom. One hook and attached line passes through a small sliding eye on the boom to the opposite side where the two hooks then clip together.
However, the sure-fire remedy (very similar to what Stu just described) is to detach the lazy jack lines from the boom and cleat them to the mast b/f raising the mainsail. That is--they're no longer even flanking the mainsail at all as it is hauled up. [Stu detaches one side, instead of both, which is more expedient.] Once the sail is up, whenever I use this method, I reattach the lines to the boom and readjust for when the sail is dropped. So, you need to install some kind of quick detachment device to get them off the boom. I use small plastic brummel hooks (similar to sister hooks; many do not know what brummel hooks are--see pic) to terminate the lazy jack lines at the boom. One hook and attached line passes through a small sliding eye on the boom to the opposite side where the two hooks then clip together.
Attachments
That is why I hate lazy jacks but the weight of the mainsail on the h340 requires their use. There is a couple of things that you can do. Loosen the lazy jacks and the boom vang, leave the reef lines out, clean and lubricate the sail track. With the lazy jacks loose just slowly start pointing the boat into the wind and a soon as the boom is centered just partially raise the sail quickly to clear the first couple of sail battens. After that just use your weight as leverage to raise the sail as far as you can utilizing the cabin top winch to finish it up and tighten the halyard. After the sail is up you may want to adjust the boom vang and the lazy jacks. When we lower the sail we just curl up the reefing lines into it. At least a couple of times a year we will exercise the reefing lines to prevent them from freezing up for when they are really needed. I like Stu's method as a sure improvement over what we do but it is just that we have been doing it for so long that just allowing the jacks to sag down and timing the short raise has become 2nd nature. What really reduces the strength necessary is loosening the vang, eliminating the friction of the reef lines and maintaining the mast track clean and lubricated.
the battens getting hung up dramatically increase the effort and aggravation of getting the sail hoisted, so once you get that problem under control the aggravation should be gone and the effort much less.
but still, sometimes effort needed to get the sail fully up and tensioned properly can be overwhelming for some people, no matter if its age, a handicap or just a small person without the strength or stamina required.
so you could install something "electric" to haul it, like an electric self tailing winch, but in my opinion that is an unnecessary piece of very expensive equipment.
but if you were to use a manual self tailer, then you could take all the time necessary to raise and tension the sail with very little effort required, and still have time to stop in the middle of the task and make an adjustment without losing all you have gained thus far...
this method will NOT help the batten "hang up" problems, but it will add lots of power and buy some time before the effort overcomes the person doing the work.
and a bit of the proper lube on the sail slugs and track will help a lot also.
We had the same problem on our 272 w/Doyle Stack Pak....kept looking at the issue and
was becoming extremely frustrated....then walla...realized the boom/ was lower than horizontal when raising and that was narrowing the slot making the port and starboard lazy jacks too close....decided to raise the topping life slightly which of course, raised the boom, thereby opening up the slot between the port and starboard lazy jacks....completly solved the issue....Once the sail is all the way up...I can always go to the mast and release the topping lift some if I want...but not really having to do that...
very much. Good Luck!
was becoming extremely frustrated....then walla...realized the boom/ was lower than horizontal when raising and that was narrowing the slot making the port and starboard lazy jacks too close....decided to raise the topping life slightly which of course, raised the boom, thereby opening up the slot between the port and starboard lazy jacks....completly solved the issue....Once the sail is all the way up...I can always go to the mast and release the topping lift some if I want...but not really having to do that...
very much. Good Luck!
This is basically the way that single-line reefing works. One tensions the reefing line at the clew cringle using a self-tailing winch on the cabin top; thus, no need to leave the cockpit. However, before I'd give up sailing "prematurely" still consider that there are "winch mates" (not to be confused with wench mates!) which are battery-powered, hand-held devices that you and insert into the winch lock and power lift the sail for a ways, if not totally to the top of the mast. Also, consider installing a mast track for batten cars and adding the ball-bearing cars to the mainsail luff. Yeah, a few bucks--but the sail goes up manually with comparative ease. Stopping the hanging up is easy; adding devices is more difficult but takes some of the strain out of the effort!
I was running into this issue as well, but with the headboard on our main when it was raised to about the first spreader. Solved it by accident/cheapness. I needed a new sail cover for the main, and found a great deal on EBay for a brand new one, but it did not have the slots for our lazy jacks. I had plenty of extra line on the jacks, So being the cheapskate I am, I decided to go for it, and then just move the jacks forward to the mast when stowing the sail. I found that when we go sailing, if I leave the jacks forward until the main is up, and then move them back, No more issues.
Part of the problem could be related with design of older sails. In essence, batten, the batten pocket and its securing flap (or other means of attachment) is extending past the leech of the main sail catching the lazy jack lines. If you look at photos of modern cruisers (large and small) equipped with factory lazy bags/lazy jacks, you will notice that the end of batten is very much flushed with the sail's leech. Perhaps, the problem you are experiencing can be cured by a visit to a sail loft and having the main sail modified.
I am using lazy bag with lazy jacks for years now and yes, every now and then something will get stuck, but I do not share the negative opinions of other lazy jacks users.
I am using lazy bag with lazy jacks for years now and yes, every now and then something will get stuck, but I do not share the negative opinions of other lazy jacks users.