Lazy Jacks, dutchman, stack-pack,??. Which one???

[Cathy]

We need to buy a new mainsail for our new (to us) Pearson 31. I want something to make lowering & stowing the sail easier since I already have trouble "man-handling" our Catalina 250 mainsail. ideally, we'd wait a season & get used to the boat before buying, but the boat's current main is ripped so we need to order a sail ASAP so we'll have it by spring when we bring the boat home from Annapolis. We will get a fully battened main. The current owner has lazy jacks, but thinks they're a "pain" with the sail getting "hung up". My husband Dan isn't fond of lazy jacks either. i've seem the dutchman system on some newer Catalina's, but I've also seen the little strings running down the sails broken on most of the boats I've seen - even the new ones. The Doyle stack-pack looks interesting, but I've never seen one in person. So... Does anyone have a "stack-pack"? What do you think of it? Any other suggestions?

 

[Harry]

Furling the Main

Gimicks are gimicks. They require maintenance, fail often, and are costly. Just add two or three 1-1.5" velcro tapes attached permanatly to the boom. Drop the main, bundle and secure with the velcro straps. Once in the slip or at anchor, you can flake the main and re-secure with the velcro. Never have to hunt for sail ties, simple, inexpensive.

 

[Neil]

Lazy Jacks

I sailed an older Pearson for 9 years with full-battened mains and a simple lazy jack system put together by the previous owner. (4 little stainless bails as attachment points on the boom, 2 light lines from the mast with little dinghy blocks as the upper elements, 1 small cleat for adjustment, probably $25 of hardware total ) The only problem I ever had was if I tried to raise the main without keeping the bow into the wind; in that case, the sail would spill off to the leeward and the aft end of the top batten could hang up on the lazyjacks as I tried to raise the sail through them. It was very easy to drop the main and flake afterward. I'd do the same or something much like it on another boat before I went for some more costly solution.

 

[gulfsailorp323]

Lazy Jacks works for me

I agree with Neil. I had a simple lazy jacks system on my Pearson 30, and had no problems other than the occasional top batten getting caught when raising the main. Easily corrected. I found I could maintain good sail shape with this system as well. I now have the dutchman system on a Catalina, and it seems much more complicated to me, and I really don't like all the lines and holes poked through my main. It can also easily distort sail shape. My 2 cents: keep it simple and inexpensive to maintain, and put your dollars into something else for the boat.

 

[Cathy,]

Thanks All!

Thanks. We've decided to go with just a new fully battened main & the existing lazy jacks. I'll let you know how it works out.