Fully battened main? Lazy jacks? Stack pack?

[DoT 31]

I would like to make mail sail handling easier and more convenient on my Farr 1020. I'm thinking lazy jacks and a stack pack or similar.

Can you use a "stack pack" setup without full battens?

I have a spare main that still has reasonable shape. Is it possible to have it converted to full battens? What would be a good Auckland loft to do this sort of work?

[Young Entertainer 62]

go the lazy jacks and normal main,  that is what i did on my 1020,  that way you can pull the lazy jacks forward to the mast when sailing and fully remove if you want to rave.

To Drop just let the halyard go andtidy up alter,  hide any imperfections under a main cover

 

[ballystick 79]

If the stack pack is made with parallel sides they can be rolled and clipped neatly away under the sail, with the lazy jacks secured under the boom fitting horns

[wild violet 38]

One advantage of the stacpac is when you reef there is no tying off your sail it all sits nicely away.

[Black Panther 1,771]

I havee two. One of the best things I have done for the boat.

[2flit 52]

We have full battens on a square top main with Lazy Jacks, it's great when you drop the mainsail!  We got rid of our rigid Selden boom vang (used to hold the boom up; it actually tore itself free of the mast on our last 2,000 mile passage) and allow the lazy jacks to hold the boom up when dropping the main. It would be nice if there were a way to more easily keep the full length batten ends from catching the lazy jacks when raising the main,  esp.  when it's gusty/variable.

I sometimes think that a diaper or stack-pack would be nice when reefing in higher winds. The gaskets tied thru the cringles is quite an eventful process after 30 knots is passed. We have so much roach that it's not possible to just stuff the sail away into the last reef fold an leaving it in crazy huge open folds seems way too much windage.

[idlerboat 116]

Yep...stackpac and Lazy jacks. (regardless of your batten choice) Makes life so much easier. Full cars will allow you to drop the main even with the wind on...but they are very expensive..

A two piece stackpac with solid fiberglass rods that connect to your lazy jacks is great for cruising. You can let the stackpac sides drop below the boom and pull the lazy jacks forward to the mast and tie them there. I cut the pieces out for mine and supplied them and a roll of 50 mm seatbelt webbing to the local horse blanket and tarp maker to stitch it up. Fantastic and cheap end product.

[2flit 52]

6 hours ago, idlerboat said:

Yep...stackpac and Lazy jacks. (regardless of your batten choice) Makes life so much easier. Full cars will allow you to drop the main even with the wind on...but they are very expensive..

A two piece stackpac with solid fiberglass rods that connect to your lazy jacks is great for cruising. You can let the stackpac sides drop below the boom and pull the lazy jacks forward to the mast and tie them there. I cut the pieces out for mine and supplied them and a roll of 50 mm seatbelt webbing to the local horse blanket and tarp maker to stitch it up. Fantastic and cheap end product.

Thanks for posting and I am trying to understand what you have done a bit batter... You cut what pieces out of what parts? Is the whole affair home made or did you modify a loft made stack-pack and from what vendor?  A picture of the arrangement with the mainsail raised and the stack-pack battens 'fallen' below with the lazy jacks pulled forward would be very nice to see?

[idlerboat 116]

Sorry, I should have been a bit more complete in my description. Completely home made except for the sewing. The pieces are two mirror image sides, and top cover flaps.The material is a "sunbrella" type cloth. The edges are folded and seamed and then backed up with seat belt webbing.  Along the bottom is a series of eyelets. These eyelets allow short lengths of cord to attach the sides to sail slugs in the boom top groove. This works with both a slugged or loose footed main, but obviously not with a bolt roped main. (This last usually requires some kind of extra hardware to be riveted onto the boom sides) .  If you chose to make the stackpac (or boom bag on this side of the ditch) from a single piece , then make sure you have very good drainage in the bottom. The top of the sides have a continuous pocket sewed in, (like a sail baton pocket) with full length fiberglass batons in them. These make a huge difference to how easily the sail drops into the bag. The batons I used are electrical high voltage power line spreaders ! They do need to be strong and flexible. (dont use timber , it will break) 

The lazy jacks are attached to the baton through small cutouts in the bag top sides.  The lazy jacks travel up to a pair of small blocks on the lower spreader undersides. Doing this allows you to have a wider opening of the lazy jacks . Much better than attaching to the mast sides. I use small blocks at all the lazy jack junctions but in practice the cheap stainless rings work just as well. 

On my current boom bag I have velcro along the cover flaps , but time and movement has reduced its ability to stay closed. I would recommend the biggest chunkiest plastic zip... to this you attach "tow strings" to TWO zipper shoes . (one each end) this way you can draw the zipper closed towards the centre of the boom.  So the bag can fall down the zippers need to extend on extension tapes. 

Finally if you have a reasonably large head board on your sail, dont cut your boom bag high enough to cover this. Make a simple skirt to go over the top and around the mast. A heap of damage is done to sails and sail heads by forcing them flat down into the boom bag. 

I would love to send you some pics but corona virus restrictions have created a circumstance that makes it not possible at the moment.......so here is a " I have just anchored...and jumped off the boat without tiding up" pic. It shows the general idea  : )

 

[Kestrahl 10]

We sailed out Davidson 35 from NZ to SE Asia, had a stack pack with lazy jacks which was great. Easier to reef and less effort to close up when your tired after a long passage, so less UV on the sail. Only hassle is the the battens going under the lazy jacks when hoisting, but that is the price you pay. After being based here and only racing twice a year, I removed the lazy jacks and went back to the normal cover. With the lazy bag the sail traps water and you need to hoist it often to dry it out, with the regular cover and open bottom its not an issue.