A project I am planning for next spring is the installation of a lazy jack system on my Tanzer 22.
I am wondering if there are other, similar boat owners, who have experience with lazy jacks out there? I would love to get/listen to/hear advice- errors to avoid, and general opinions in advance.
IMO they are worthwhile to have if: you have lexan or other dodger windows that you want to prevent scratches/damage to, and if you can arrange a system or method such that they are unlikely to interfere with the hoist. We stow ours off the rig between douses, they are half line/half shock cord and the system works well for us.
Others terminate the upper ends some distance outboard on the spreaders to widen the distance between sides to make the hoist a little easier.
As you'll see in the thread linked above there are combination sail cover/lazyjack arrangements available.. on of the reason we stow ours off the rig is to enable a plain, simple sail cover to still be used - rather than the segmented zipper/velcro cover needed to cleanly go over/around lazyjacks permanently fixed to the boom.
There are other commercial systems that contrive to stow the jacks out of the way as well.
__________________ ".. there is much you could do at sea with common sense.. and very little you could do without it.."
Capt G E Ericson (from "The Cruel Sea" by Nicholas Monsarrat)
My boat came rigged from the factory with lazy jacks. They get stowed by loosening them and pulling them around a couple of hooks on the mast near the boom attachment, so they lay alongside the boom and the mast, and the regular sail cover works just fine. They don't work as well as I would like because there are only two lines on either side, and the sail falls out between them easily. I have the mast down and intend to redo them using lighter weight line and a third leg. Instead of the pulleys on the end of the lines that go up to the mast I am going to try just nylon thimbles spliced into the ends of the lines. I think they'll slide easily enough to pull the lines up. You don't actually deploy them under load. I think low stretch line is a good idea so they don't bulge too much when the sail drops.
i am also interest in adding the required parts to my mast while it is down, so i can also add lazyjack system at some point. i have been reading different posts and different opinions for sure. Can anyone post pics of how you have them set up? thanks. i hope this does not hyjack op idea of thread
I have them and I don't really like them. I would not install them on a boat if you plant to sail solo - they make it too difficult to hoist the main, interfering with the battens, and offer very little in the way of benefits.
We have e-z-jax with three legs. To help solve the problem of batten interference when raising the sail, shock-cord with carabiners clipped to the top e-z-jax ring and the shroud on each side has been quite effective. The only problem is that down-wind in light air, the shock cord tends to hold back the boom.
Lazy jacks are not that lazy. ıf you want to raise the sail, you should collect them to the mast and raise the sail. They are only good for lowerng the main.
Several manufactures exist that make a lazy jack type system, many make them up themselves, no matter which you choose, be sure they can be retracted and pulled to the mast so they don't interfere with raising the main. I went with EZ Jack; Lazy Jack System - EZ-JAX
We had an EZ-Jax system on our (former) Cal 2-29 for several years and found it a very good and very inexpensive system. See Lazy Jack System - EZ-JAX
__________________ "It is not so much for its beauty that the sea makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from the waves, that so wonderfully renews a weary spirit."
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EZ Jax System
