Slieve McGalliard wrote:

Jeff

Just a thought, but do you really need adjustable lazy jacks? If I want to lift my sail bundle I use the multi purchase halyard. All I need to do is pass at strong tie round the bundle in line with the halyard, and haul away. I believe some do adjust their lazyjacks when they are sailing, and particularly if they have fanned battens or a boom crutch in the way. I would rather collapse the crutch than adjust the lazyjacks as I don’t want many adjustable lines running around.

 

My sail catcher goes around under the bottom batten (which you might call a boom but is only a batten) and along the centre of it on the inside I have sewn two or three short lengths of webbing so that the catcher can be tied to the bottom batten with 3mm line. The ends of the catcher are tensioned out to the end of the batten. The lazy jacks tie to webbing that goes round under the catcher, but sewn to it, and sewn back on itself to form small loops to tie to. These tie points are at the level of a flat sail batten along the top, and the catcher continues across to the zip which closes it off as a sail cover. When unzipped and in use, I tuck the closing flaps down inside and have little patches of Velcro sewn on in strategic places to keep them tidy and prevent them flying around.

 

My sail catcher is symmetrical along the centre line, and I have ‘bonnets’ to cover the aft end and a long one to cover the front back to and including the mast, a bit like an extended Doyle Stackpak mast cover. I should improve it but it is easy to use and I’m lazy.

 

Cheers, Slieve.

   Having finished my mix of Poppy and Ping Pong I sailed here 2 times in light winds and had problems with the adjustable lazy jacks. When tightened they spoil the flow over the leeward part of the split rig. When reefed the sail hangs under the lowest batten and spoils my forward view.In an effort to  avoid the use of lazy jacks I am working on the following construction.

One function of the lazy jacks is to hold up the bottom battens when reefing but this can also be done by a collar wich is clipped on the mast just under the lowest batten in combination with a topping lift as on BM rigged boats fixed to the end of the lowest batten . An other function of the lazy jacks is to keep the battens and the sailcloth together, this can simply be done by making a piece of shockcord along the whole length of the lowest batten and fix that every 2 feet and put a little tension on it . On the batten pockets of the higher battens i sew plastic hooks with their open ends up to the  sky; their position just between the fixing point of the shockcord below .When reefing you let go the halyard till the  battens rest on the collar and then lift the shockcord over the hooks .

I have my proa on a trailer and want to sail within half an hour after arriving on the waterside and avoid as much ropes as possible to reach this goal.

May be you can do something with the idea.

Jef.

Jeff

Just a thought, but do you really need adjustable lazy jacks? If I want to lift my sail bundle I use the multi purchase halyard. All I need to do is pass at strong tie round the bundle in line with the halyard, and haul away. I believe some do adjust their lazyjacks when they are sailing, and particularly if they have fanned battens or a boom crutch in the way. I would rather collapse the crutch than adjust the lazyjacks as I don’t want many adjustable lines running around.

My sail catcher goes around under the bottom batten (which you might call a boom but is only a batten) and along the centre of it on the inside I have sewn two or three short lengths of webbing so that the catcher can be tied to the bottom batten with 3mm line. The ends of the catcher are tensioned out to the end of the batten. The lazy jacks tie to webbing that goes round under the catcher, but sewn to it, and sewn back on itself to form small loops to tie to. These tie points are at the level of a flat sail batten along the top, and the catcher continues across to the zip which closes it off as a sail cover. When unzipped and in use, I tuck the closing flaps down inside and have little patches of Velcro sewn on in strategic places to keep them tidy and prevent them flying around.

My sail catcher is symmetrical along the centre line, and I have ‘bonnets’ to cover the aft end and a long one to cover the front back to and including the mast, a bit like an extended Doyle Stackpak mast cover. I should improve it but it is easy to use and I’m lazy.

Cheers, Slieve.

Thanks for answering the sail catcher question before I got back to it David.

Jeff, like all sailing fittings, it has its pros and cons. Mine is not actually full length in that the front if it stops just aft of the mast, and with the split rig there is still 30% of the battens and sail in front of the mast, which does not have a catcher. When you drop a couple of panels the aft part of the sail, or 'main sail' fall into the catcher and all is quiet, but the fore part, 'Jib' is unsupported and flaps around if it is windy, which is not really acceptable. If you are sailing in light winds in confinded quarters the 'jibs' will hang down and obstruct your view a bit.

This is something I have to change and extend the catcher further forward, and is really part of the design of my rig. So far I haven't corrected it as I tend to only do short passages, but also because I am rather slow to reef as the rig lets the boats stands up well to a strong wind (and I like overtaking bermudan boats). Some claim that a catcher will chafe a sail, but my experience is that it protects my sail and the pressure on the material is spread more evenly so that there are no hard chafe points. A good catcher is great to have but a bad one could be a pain, so I believe this is one area of design the needs further developement and exchange of information. Too much material in it and it will flap around, but too little will also be a pain and not give UV protection as a cover.

I suppose they could make it difficult to swing the rig forward for down wind balance, but with my high balance rig I don't have to have that extra complication, and bits of string. Yes, I like my simple to sail rig. I must finish the write up soon.

Cheers, Slieve

I agree with David about seperate halyard blocks at the mast head. I was persuaded to fit a double and becket for a four part halyard and have regretted it every time I go sailing. I now feel that two separate mast head blocks and two separate yard blocks are the way to go.

I also agree with the idea of a sail catcher/ lazy jacks. I have yet to decide on the best overall design of the catcher and I believe that this is an area that we could all be pulling information on to get a better 'wheel'. There are those who don't like catchers and it would be interesting to hear from them as well, as we all have much to learn from each other.

Do read the Macavity article. There is a lot to be learned from it.

Cheers, Slieve