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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

Homemade Lazy Jacks?

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TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Initially Posted - 03/04/2013 : 08:42:19

Have any of you installed Lazy Jacks or other flaking system on your boats? I don't want to pay too much for a custom system, because flaking the mainsail is relatively easy on a 25' boat, but since I may do some singlehanding this season I was thinking about rigging a homemade system to assist in dousing the sail.

Basically I was thinking of dropping two thin wire shrouds from the masthead down each side of the sail about halfway, with small blocks at the bottom (I happen to have a couple of spares lying around that would be perfect), and then lines on each side running up from the boom (near the aft reefing cringle) through the blocks and back down to a point further forward on the boom.

Do any of you have experience to offer on this? Suggestions for what size of wire/line to use? Should I drop jacklines from the topping lift instead of wire from the masthead?

Rick S., Swarthmore, PA
PO of Take Five, 1998 Catalina 250WK #348 (relocated to Baltimore's Inner Harbor)
New owner of 2001 Catalina 34MkII #1535 Breakin' Away (at Rock Hall Landing Marina)

Edited by - TakeFive on 03/04/2013 09:08:43

Steve Milby
Past Commodore

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USA
5908 Posts

Response Posted - 03/04/2013 : 09:26:27

Rick, here's a Good Old Boat article on how to make your own lazy jacks. Notice in the drawing that they don't go all the way to the masthead. As I recall, mine are attached to the mast 2-3 feet above the spreaders. http://www.goodoldboat.com/reader_services/articles/tamers.php

IMO, when conditions are rough, they're good to have. In calm conditions, they are less helpful. In some respects they are a nuisance. I still haven't figured out how to keep mine from slapping the mast in a severe storm. When you have that many lines running up the mast, it's hard to keep them all quiet. The bigger the boat, and the fewer the crew, the more helpful they are. A big, heavy mainsail is hard for a singlehander to furl and flake when the deck is rolling badly underfoot.

Edited by - Steve Milby on 03/04/2013 09:28:57

TakeFive
Master Marine Consultant

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2272 Posts

Response Posted - 03/04/2013 : 10:23:32

Thanks. Please post the link - I can' find it in your post.

You've mentioned some of my main concerns. Adding complexity to the rig always has some minuses. I think I'll hold off another year before rigging this.

Edited by - on

Kim Luckner
Navigator

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USA
101 Posts

Response Posted - 03/04/2013 : 10:24:08

This link goes to the technical tips section.
http://www.catalina-capri- br / 25s.org/tech/allboats/FrankFamer_LazyJacks.asp

Good info for a low cost and functional system.

Edited by - on

Davy J
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1511 Posts

Response Posted - 03/04/2013 : 11:02:54

Here is a working link to that capri tip:
http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/tech/allboats/FrankFamer_LazyJacks.asp

And here is another low tech set up from the C25 tips:
http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/tech/tech25/nthdegre.asp

Edited by - on

sfsmith
Navigator

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USA
123 Posts

Response Posted - 03/04/2013 : 13:02:08

Rick, I don't have any photos, but I'll try to attach a rough diagram of my rig. I tried to pare it down to the simplest possible system. The description sounds complicated, but it's really not. I used all 1/8" line to keep it light and unobtrusive. I don't remember how long the lines are, but I started with 100 feet and had plenty left over. Instead of blocks I used four 1" stainless rings. The only other hardware is five small padeyes.

Line A is attached to the mast with padeyes just under the spreaders, and ends with at the first ring. Line B slips through a padeye under the mast (more on that later), passes through the line A ring and ends at the second ring. Line C is attached at both ends with padeyes under the mast, and passes through the line B ring.

Line B is one continuous length, ending at rings on both sides of the sail. At the aft-most padeye, there's a loop about 18" long, created by crossing through the padeye in both directions. The loop is used to tension the rig. I put a spring clip on it, and just clip it to the mainsheet bale at the end of the mast. When it's unclipped there's enough slack to put the sail cover on , with all the lazy jack lines hanging out the bottom.

Hope this helps. Good luck! Sol

Edited by - on

islander
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4025 Posts

Response Posted - 03/04/2013 : 14:27:08

Rick, When I bought my boat it had lazyjacks and I thought that they were a good addition until I started sailing and putting them to use. The problem was that the headboard of the mainsail would get caught in the V that is formed where the lazyjacks attach to the mast above the spreaders even when dead into the wind. There was enough flutter in the headboard that this would happen more often than not even if I tried to time out getting the sail up past this point. This also meant a trip to the mast to pull down on the sail to free it and then try again. I got so frustrated with the jacks that I ended up taking them off. The Mainsail just isn't that big and my sail falls on top of my Bimini and not in the cockpit so its easy enough to put a quick tie on it to hold it until docked. Just my experience with them.

Edited by - on

crystal_blue
1st Mate

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USA
72 Posts

Response Posted - 03/04/2013 : 15:13:36

How about a bungee-based system along the lines of the SailCare product mentioned in the thread below?

http://www.catalina-capri-25s.org/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=17413&SearchTerms=lazy,jacks,bungee

--Jim

Edited by - on

redviking
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts

Response Posted - 03/05/2013 : 17:44:48

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by TakeFive
 Thanks. Please post the link - I can' find it in your post.

You've mentioned some of my main concerns. Adding complexity to the rig always has some minuses. I think I'll hold off another year before rigging this.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Nah, once you have them you'll wonder why everyone doesn't...

Sten

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redviking
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1771 Posts

Response Posted - 03/05/2013 : 17:54:42

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.