Retract / Deploy Lazyjacks From Cockpit

[CapnHand]

I thought I would move this to a new thread so as not to hijack.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdw
Also, cos I don't like the lines beating against the sail I bring my topping lift and lazy jack lines forward to the mast once the main is up. Ergo there is not much point in having topping lift brought back to cockpit either.

All my lines come back to the cockpit, much as GaryM described. It makes sailing short / single handed easier.

I don't have lazyjack lines rigged, but I'm considering this for when the boat is back in the water. I would like to be able to be able to retract the lazyjack lines to the mast for the same reason as tdw. Is there a way to run them so I can do this from the cockpit?

Originally Posted by PBzeer

CapnHand - since the only time you really need to mess with the lazy jacks underway is to tighten them for dropping the sail, I don't lead mine aft. Loosening them and tying them out of the way you can do while not underway.

Originally Posted by tdw

PB is right. (very right in fact but that's another thread, hee hee)

I doubt that its feasible, at least without an awful lot of trouble.

The way we do it is .......Raise the main. Then slacken off the topping lift and lazy jacks. Bring topping lift forward and hook under the horn, tighten. Then do the same for the lazy jacks. When you get back, release jacks and topping lift , re tension and drop the sail. Works for us.

I guess for the lazy jacks you could have a couple of lines rigged to the furthest aft jack, through a deck block and back to the cockpit but I still think it would be more trouble than its worth.

[CapnHand]

I appreciate the answers so far, but they don't provide what I want, or else I don't fully undestand PBzeer's post and tdw's cryptic reference back to it (quite possible).

• Has anyone tried something like this? Skipjacks
• If so, how well do they work?
• Was it 'more trouble than it's worth'? (actually doesn't look like a lot of trouble)
• Do you see any way to improve on this design?
• Do you know of a different / better way?

Thanks

[tdw]

Originally Posted by CapnHand

I appreciate the answers so far, but they don't provide what I want, or else I don't fully undestand PBzeer's post and tdw's cryptic reference back to it (quite possible).

• Has anyone tried something like this? Skipjacks
• If so, how well do they work?
• Was it 'more trouble than it's worth'? (actually doesn't look like a lot of trouble)
• Do you see any way to improve on this design?
• Do you know of a different / better way?

Thanks

Capn,

Should apologise. My dig at PB is based on his political leanings. Nowt to do with your query. Just me being a smart aleck.

The Skipjack idea seems quite feasible. To be honest I hadn't thought of bringing the jacks down to boom rather than forward to the mast but I can see no reason why it wouldn't work. I guess my thought (and PBs too ) was that taking them forward to the mast is such a quick and easy thing to do that I saw no reason to further complicate the situation.

I suppose my main point is that when you drop your main you have to go forward to remove the main halyard from the mainsail anyway so deploying the lazy jacks and the topping lift is just as easy to do from the mast as it would be from the cockpit. I also take a little extra time and flake the main down rather than simply letting it fall willy nilly.

Thinking about it further, I'd guess that there must be a way of leaving your main halyard attached to the sail as long as you have a downhaul that can re tension the halyard after the sail is down. Then all that handling can be done from the cockpit. I also take my main halyard back to the end of the boom when at rest to prevent it slapping against the mast. Alex has a single line furler on G , perhaps it's possible to also rig up a similar idea for the main halyard. I've not thought that idea through.

My main question remains which is, does it all really achieve anything ? I guess again that some of us don't have a problem with going forward where others do. One other issue is that Giulietta has a lot more room under the dodger for all those stoppers and winches. Raven is shorter and less beamy than G and I'd have difficulty getting all that installed in a way that would allow the winch handle to arc through 360 degrees but I'm sure that with a bit of thought something could be worked out.

I'd suspect , by the way, that Alex's method is excellently thought out and that if he either approves of the Skipjack method or has an alternative then listen to him.

Cheers

TD

ps - Saturday, weather permitting is going to be a work day (boat work that is) so I'll sit and ponder all this when on board and report back next week.

[PBzeer]

The thing is Capn, is that once you loosen the lazy jacks, you still have to tie them out of the way, or perhaps secure them would make more sense. I don't see where the extra line and hardware is worth the price or effort.

[Giulietta]

Thru out the years and the multiple boats I owned, I was able to perfect the lazy bag / Lazy Jack system on my boats, to what I have now.

I don't need to touch the lazy jack lines ever on my boat, either with the sails up or down. And my boom comes down a lot when the sail is up.

My lazy bag /jack lines are tied at the mast, and I never need to touch them.

Bellow are a few drawings I made that show the different set up systems I have used and the one I use now.

This is the arrangment I have now in Giulietta when we go in crusing mode..




And bellow are two different arrangments I had in previous boats.

The one on the right was on my X yacht, the one on the left was on my DC740





Bellow is another system I had in Giulietta initially and worked fine. But then I realized I didn't need to change it that much and modofied it to the set up in the first drawing.

Hope this helps. If you have questions just ask. I'm busy today, but will gladly help.

[sailingdog]

But Giu's got a stack-pack type sail cover, rather than a more traditional cover. The Stack-pack covers are actually part of the sail IIRC—as they're sewn to the foot of the sail.

[TrueBlue]

Giu also doesn't have full battens - which exacerbates the snagging problem typically associated with lazyjacks.

[CapnHand]

Originally Posted by tdw

My dig at PB is based on his political leanings.

I should have suspected that.

Originally Posted by tdw

Just me being a smart aleck.

I should have expected that!

[Giulietta]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

But Giu's got a stack-pack type sail cover, rather than a more traditional cover. The Stack-pack covers are actually part of the sail IIRC—as they're sewn to the foot of the sail.

SD not exactly.

The bag is separated from the sail. The sail is lose footed. The bag has a small cord swen into it on the bottom, and at the top of the boom I have an aluminium track that holds the bag by runing the cord along it.
I can remove the bag and leave the sail alone. The bag comes off for racing and the sail is different too.

Bellow is a photo that shows the track on top of the boom, and the bag that runs in the track.





The bag attaches to the boom via that cord/track arrangment and the sail just falls inside the bag. The lazy jack is attached to the bag AND not to the boom.

Here you can see the bag runing along the small aluminium white track.



Its the bag that takes the slack when the sail is up, and by making the bag full with the sail it also tightens in when the sail is down. Pretty simple.



So when sailing the bag stretches up (without forcing), wich also reduces windage, when not sailing it holds the boom together with toping lift.

EDIT: added the drawing bellow

[Giulietta]

Originally Posted by TrueBlue

Giu also doesn't have full battens - which exacerbates the snagging problem typically associated with lazyjacks.

TB, my system would work even with full battened sails...I don't see the snag problem you mean, can you please explain where it snags? Is it when you hoist and the wind blows the batten part under the lazy jack line? If it is, I solved the problem by making sure the main sheet is loose and the boat is pointing perfectly into the wind. But even then sometimes it snags..I just lower it a little and hoist when clear...a small price to pay for being able to tame a 65 foot tall main sail alone...don't you agree?

Besides...I don't know any other system that I like more than this.