Alternative to stack pack ?

Fitting lazy jacks will hardly bust the bank, they are essentially two long bits of string.

But I assume I would need to pop rivet fittings to boom and mast, and possibly use crane to lower mast to do it? I also don't have a rivetting tool nor any experience using one?
 
I'd look for existing fitting that could also be used to attach the lazy jacks.
Eg top of inner shrouds on mast. Kicker , reefing points etc (as long as fixed not moveable) on boom.

Just go up mast to tie, no need for crane, assuming suitable points , cost should just be the cost of the string required.
 
But I assume I would need to pop rivet fittings to boom and mast, and possibly use crane to lower mast to do it? I also don't have a rivetting tool nor any experience using one?

Why not climb the mast and seize them to the spreaders, a few inches out from the mast? No need to drill or rivet.

Then, if you find you don't like them, you can easily remove them.

If you do like them you can make a permanent job next time you have the mast down.
 
I have just set up my newly acquired jaguar 24, and have run out of cash. It doesn't have lazy jacks or a stack pack for the main. It does have slab reefing, with two reef points. Any tips on the best way to secure / release main singlehanded? Currently i am lashing it with rope, which is slow and i need to be out of the cockpit too long.

I sail all year round single handed and experimented for some time reefing without Lazy Jacks as I also have to go on deck to reef the main.

I added the cleats as shown in the pictures to the boom and the halyard from them is in one piece which goes through the reefing points on the main sail and back down the other side to a fixed point, they are loose enough under normal full sail.

With this set up I can stand at the mast looking aft and with one hand on the main sheet lowering the sail but at the same time I can pull on the other line and pull the sail down to the first reef and then lock it quick, generally it takes me less than 2 minutes to reef.

Hope this might be food for thought but it's simple, but works!

Mike

Unreefed
]View attachment 35335
Reefed
View attachment 35336
 
The easy way is to drop the sail and do a quick and dirty rough stow when dropping the sail, then do a neat and tidy harbour stow once back at the mooring or pontoon. It's easy enough to get a couple of sail-ties round a sail and bundle it up roughly when you drop it. That's how I managed when I was sailing single-handed on a 31 footer. Make sure your sail ties are long, so you can easily get them round a bulky parcel!

+1 I keep a couple of bungee loops with a plastic ball at one end - just flick them over the sail and slip the ball through the loop - jobs good until I get to the mooring....
 
+1 I keep a couple of bungee loops with a plastic ball at one end - just flick them over the sail and slip the ball through the loop - jobs good until I get to the mooring....

Just so beginners know: there are plenty of boat owners who won't let those bungy with loop and ball things on their boat. I tend to agree having read accounts of people nearly losing an eye when they fly undone. Not only that but they are no quicker than a sail tie with a loop in one end.
 
Just so beginners know: there are plenty of boat owners who won't let those bungy with loop and ball things on their boat. I tend to agree having read accounts of people nearly losing an eye when they fly undone. Not only that but they are no quicker than a sail tie with a loop in one end.

Agree - I just have conventional webbing ties with an eye on one end. Very easy to tie - thread the end through the loop, tighten it (if you pull away from the loop, it gives a 2-1 purchase), then take the end behind the loop, round the front and under the bit that came through the loop - effectively, make a sheet bend. Extremely quick to tie, secure, strong, and easy to undo. My sail ties came FOC from a sail-maker, so it doesn't even cost anything!
 
better than balls.

1. Lots of people don't like the bungy with balls and eyes. Too many people have nearly taken their real eyes out with them when they fly free. Sail ties with loops are just as quick and a lot safer.

2. How do you manage to get it to be 'above' the sail if the sail is hanging off one side of the boom and waiting to be flaked? A quick and dirty roll of the sail is ok for a few minutes, but most people try to flake their sail onto the boom. I can't see how that will work with the bungys on a line from above.

With sail ties clove hitched onto a line underneath I can flake a mainsail neatly and secure it single handed. (Tip - start from the aft end.)
The type of bungy clip on the attached is much safer than the twin ball loop type because at the moment you are threading the bungy there is no tension on the elastic. The tension is simply applied with a quick pull to suit the size of the rolled sail. Used for years with no problems.http://www.force4.co.uk/3929/Force-4-Camcleat-Shock-Cords---5mmx50cm.html
Actually the ones I have are slightly different, but the principal is the same.
 
To give time to bung a quick few ties on the sail, a ' Tiller Tamer ' to keep her on course would be very handy, assuming you don't have an autopilot ?

An even cheaper but less effective version is a line across the aft end of the cockpit between the aft mooring cleats, with a turn around the tiller inbetween, this should keep the boat on course for short periods.

I think lazyjacks the most over-rated PITA on the planet, tried them on my boat ( which I've owned for 35 years ) as an experiment and very quickly ditched them,it's no trouble stowing a main at this size of boat when one is used to it, a friend just bought a boat with lazyjacks and we find them a right pain.

I would use simple lengths of line as sail ties, a couple should do until you're in the berth and can do a ' harbour stow '.
 
made a set for £20, they chaffed though at the spreaders as I didn't use a block and was straight over a sharpe edge on a clip.

Wasn't going to pay the £250 for a set !!!

Cheers

stu
 
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