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Sailpack or mainsail cover

907Juice

Continuously learning
So I’m about to start my next sewing project. I ordered the sailpack from sailrite, but I’m not sure I want it anymore. A traditional cover would be easier to make, but I think a sailpack would be easier when our at sail. While the admiral likes to be out with me, she isn’t as passionate as me. She helps some but it is a lot of single handeling per se. I have lazy jacks, but it would be nice to just drop the sail and zip it up. Does anyone have an opinion either way? If you could choose, which one would you rather have?

juice
 

HerbertFriedman

Member III
I made the Sailrite sailpack for my 87 E34, best decision I ever made. The instructions were pretty clear and nothing more than straight stitches. The only problem is that you need to be straight into the wind to hoist the sail but that is the same problem with lazy jacks (unless you pull them toward the mast beforehand). But dropping the sail is a breeze, a few minutes straightening out the folds if you are meticulous, zip it closed and you are done.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Your sig line sez you sail an E-25, but I seem to recall that you might have bought a larger boat. If so, then dealing with the main sail does get more important.
We accepted the hassle of corralling our main for decades -- crudely tying up the folds when dropping it in any sort of breeze at all and then sorting it out back in the slip. Quite a bit of sail to sort. :rolleyes:

Also, the traditional cover hung down quite a ways and often chafed on the dodger.

In 2014 we changed to a new "stack pack" style cover from UKSails. It really is easier to set sail and furl the sail. The built-in lazy jacks are nice. You could have those without the split cover scheme, admittedly.

About the only added bit of work is rolling in the sides and storing the "jacks" forward at the mast when being out for a while, but it's pretty easy once you get used to it.
Nowadays hoisting sail is a lot easier because of the lazy jacks, just remember to point straight into the wind to keep the battens from catching on the lazy jacks. When furling, it drops right into place with a minimum of straightening up.

We sail short-handed, as a couple or with a friend or two.... if I was still racing and had 4 other helpers aboard I would not need this added bit of kit.

Like a lot of things in life, you do have to decide what compromises you are happy with. :0

Post up some pix when you can.

Oh, and about the dodger cleaarance question... now the whole main sail, inside the cover, is above (!) the boom. Nice change.
 

woolamaloo

Member III
I love my "stackpack" (the Doyle Sail version). I bought mine because it seemed like a three person job to get my main flaked nicely. I didn't realize at the time that besides the autohelm, it is the most important upgrade I've made to allow singlehanding - which I do the vast majority of the time now. Another thing I didn't expect is how much more headroom it makes below the boom. By keeping the main securely on top of the boom - instead of hanging over the sides and below - there's an extra foot of clearance below the boom. This is particularly important for me because the boom on my 30+ seems awful low. The only thing I don't like is the way it looks when I'm under sail. If I were a racer, it would matter more to me. It's essential kit to me now.

When I bought mine, I had no idea that I was going down the sewing rabbit hole. It looks like a fun project.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
I am satisfied with Spectra lazyjacks.

And I just love putting on and taking off the sail cover, with slots for the lazyjacks, and the 36 snaps required, and the pushing pulling and tugging and pounding necessary to shape the cover so it doesn't look like last night's dishrag. And nobody can help--the process is too complicated to explain.
 

907Juice

Continuously learning
Uh yeah, spectra is dead and shut down! Well until we find out he really isn’t dead, just in a secret hospital in the alps planning his revenge.

But yeah, I did upgrade to a 30ft boat (so now we have a door between us and the kids!!!!!). A lot of the canvas needed replacing. So I’m going through updating stuff and making sure I get the stuff I actually want. I like the concept of the stackpack but I wanted to make sure it was gonna work for me. I’m thinking my plan is to see the stackpack and rig the lazy jacks so I can loosen them and bring back to the mast. I’m having a lot of fun planning and making stuff.
 

JSM

Member III
Once you have a pack you'll neaver go back!

We installed a Mack Sails Mack Pack on our 34-2 along with a down haul on the main that's led back to the cockpit. Head up into the wind, free the main halyard and haul in on the down haul. Sail flakes up nicely in the lazy jacks and and takes zero effort to stuff the main into the pack and zip it up once at we're back at the dock. Really nice on rough days, no one has to leave the cockpit to douse the main.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJryJX0U4ng
 
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Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Update on my personal quest for sanity: I have gone back to slots on the traditional sail cover.

I tried lowering and securing the lazyjacks, so as not to have to connect 36 snaps on the cover. I sewed on strips partially covering the slots.

But rigging and derigging the lazyjacks each time turned out to be more time consuming that all the snaps--and the sail needed lots of gaskets so as not to fall off the boom.

So now I have reduced the slots to partial, to solve the rain invasion issue, and the lazy jacks are full-time again.

Makes you understand why stack packs became so popular. But you have to enjoy the way they look under sail.

This sequence will eventually be part of some YouTube video.

 

Nick J

Sustaining Member
Moderator
Blogs Author
How did you lower and secure the lazy jacks? The Lazy jacks on my 25+ had cheek blocks on the mast with control lines run back down to cleats. I would lower the jacks, and hook them on the reefing horns and tension the system back up to keep them secured. I really liked the system because it got the jacks out of the way when hoisting the sail. I was eventually planning on using this system on my current boat, but your review gives me pause. The sail falling off the boom was a problem, but could be somewhat mitigated by securing the sail ties before stowing the jacks. The sail and boom were much more accessible in the 25 than the 35. does the difficulty come from the size of the sail and height of the boom?
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
That's the way I lowered the lazyjacks, too. But first had to put on sail ties.

Lazyjacks are for the lazy. If I had a racing crew, they would just jump up there and furl and gasket the mainsail in two minutes, as historically the way it always was. But, well, my crews are guests, and....
 

Nick J

Sustaining Member
Moderator
Blogs Author
That's the way I lowered the lazyjack, too. But first had to put on sail ties.

Lazyjacks are for the lazy. If I had a racing crew, they would just jump up there are furl and gasket the mainsail in two minutes, as historically the way it always was. But, well, my crews are guests, and....
Sounds like I should give it try before cutting the Doyle Stack off the main.

I now fully embrace the lazy and have long since given up expectations of my crew/family to function as a race crew. Life on board as been much better since. Might be a good topic for the seamanship sub forum...
 

Dave G.

1984 E30+ Ludington, MI
Sounds like I should give it try before cutting the Doyle Stack off the main
Nick, is your sail sewn to the pack/bag? Mine is and seems like a bad idea. My pack is showing age and UV damage but the sail still has some life. I've thought about doing a bag-ectomy but there is a lot going on at the foot of the sail material and stitches wise. I have another main so going to try and adapt the current lazy jacks by connecting directly to the boom. Hopefully I can make them retract as the old cover is not cut for lines to go through.
 

Pete the Cat

Member III
I have both a lazy jack system and a Dutchman system on my two boats. Each has advantages and disadvantages. But I did not like the look of the stack pack and the Dutchman on a new sail makes if fall just as nicely as a window shade. I generally support the folded sail and boom with the main halyard, then detach and coil the fish line and Dutchman topping lift into the sail: this prevents UV damage to the fish lines and obviates the need for any special snaps or slots in the main sail cover. I am able to relax the lazy jecks at anchor and put the cover on there with no special effort. Some of these options are easier than they might appear. I would not have a boat without some option for handling the main as an old guy single hander. I just did not want to stare at that bag all the time I was sailing.
 

Nick J

Sustaining Member
Moderator
Blogs Author
Nick, is your sail sewn to the pack/bag? Mine is and seems like a bad idea. My pack is showing age and UV damage but the sail still has some life. I've thought about doing a bag-ectomy but there is a lot going on at the foot of the sail material and stitches wise. I have another main so going to try and adapt the current lazy jacks by connecting directly to the boom. Hopefully I can make them retract as the old cover is not cut for lines to go through.
Yes, the bottom of the pack is stitched to the foot of the sail and the top is connected to the sail with a separate piece of sail cloth. This allows the pack to be pulled somewhat flat against the sail when it is fully hoisted. when it's reefed or dropped, the piece of sail cloth is loose and the bag is allowed to open up. As far as stack packs go, it's a pretty cool design and is probably a little more aerodynamic since it's flat against the sail... but it still looks like a stack pack. There's some good pictures of the design on Doyle's web page:

 

Dave G.

1984 E30+ Ludington, MI
There's some good pictures of the design on Doyle's web page:
Oh, I know what it looks like & how it works, I have the exact same stack pack. It came with the boat when I purchased it. Never really liked it except of course for the convenience and no idea why anyone would sew a sail to a stack pack. Also known by my dock mates as "the lazy bag". The sail is in ok shape but the pack is starting to come apart from UV damage. Today I put eye straps on the boom, rerigged the "Doyle" lazy jacks down to the boom and made them retractable. I also have a conventional sail and I'm going to try it for a while. I know one thing I will not miss looking at that stack pack. :)
 

Neil Gallagher

1984 E381
I also have a Doyle Stack Pack, it was added by the pervious owner. Its a great system, also has a Tides Sail Track which makes raising and lowerig the mail much easier. The system is great for short handed sailing. Drop the sail and it falls into the cover, zip it up and your done, (with a little stuffing). My racing crew complains about the cover perhpas costing us a little perfomance, but for ease of use I'm very happy with it.
 

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