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.
I had never considered that option. It is probably better, but here are my questions:
Actually I don't see needing to adjust the topping lifts underway, this is all about keeping Seablossom as a trailer transportable boat. I really hope to be able to pull her out of the fresh water once a year at least, and tow her to salt water and learn that part of sailing.
Given that plan, I will need to be able to lay the sail bundle on the deck, unstep the mast, go wherever we go, and put it all back together. I will, of course, have to raise the sail a batten at a time to re-clip or re-tie (or whatever plan I come up with) the batten parrels around the mast. Part of my problem is going to be how to get the sail bundle up and over the sail crutch you can see mounted at the back of the cabin in the Boat of the Month photo, but the other problem will be how to get the topping lifts re-attached once I have the batten parrels and other rigging all in place. I really don't want that many adjustable lines running all over the place either, but... I guess maybe I could lift the entire bundle as you describe above, tie the topping lifts together, drop the bundle into them, and then begin lifting the sail a batten at a time to get the parrels reconnected.
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,
I was keeping up until you got here... top of what?
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 all of this.