Best mainsail for single handed sailing

[Kukri]

How strong should lazyjacks be?

A friend with the same boat as mine (500sq.ft heavy Terylene mainsail) plans to use 6mm Spectra; my local sailmaker says 4mm Terylene is more than adequate.

 

[Poignard]

How strong should lazyjacks be?

A friend with the same boat as mine (500sq.ft heavy Terylene mainsail) plans to use 6mm Spectra; my local sailmaker says 4mm Terylene is more than adequate.

My mainsail is much smaller (>200 sq/ft) and I find my 4mm lazy jacks to be too thin so I have bought 6mm Liros Lazy Jack line to replace them with. This is described as being ideal for lazy jacks but apart from being easy to splice, I don't see why it is better than any other 6mm polyester rope.

https://www.force4.co.uk/liros-lazy-jack-rope-6mm-silver.html

 

[westhinder]

How strong should lazyjacks be?

A friend with the same boat as mine (500sq.ft heavy Terylene mainsail) plans to use 6mm Spectra; my local sailmaker says 4mm Terylene is more than adequate.

My main is 36 sq.m, so significantly smaller than yours, and my lazyjacks are 6 mm braided, nothing fancy, and as far as I know they are original, so in their 20th season.

 

[westhinder]

I see constant comments about " string in the cockpit".
What difference does it make if there is a few metres more or less. It just means a couple more coils. Surely most owners coil the reef lines & hang them up once the reef is in. Just dumping the lot on the cockpit floor is just careless.
I coil the ropes & finish off so the ropes hang on the back of the cabin, neat & tidy.
It takes seconds. What is the difference if it is, say, 10 metres or 15. I can never see the problem.
Certainly much easier to do in the cockpit than at the mast where it can foul the jib sheets in a tack as well.

We are not disagreeing.
Having separate reefing lines for leech and luff means I have 6 reefing lines compared to 3 longer ones in the case of single line reefing. It is simply a matter of organising good stowage for the tails and keeping the discipline to tidy them up.
Being able to do it all from the shelter and safety of the cockpit is a major advantage. No more excuses for leaving up too much sail or indeed continuing with too little sail up.

 

[Daydream believer]

because I sail single handed i do not always have time to pack & zip up the mainsail in the stackpack when approaching a port. Single handed deckwork can be dangerous in any swell & I try to avoid it as much as possible.
To keep the sail in the stack pack & avoid the zip problems I made 2 alterations to it.
1) the zip starts at the mast so if I do zip up I can start there & work my way back to the cockpit. that way I do not have to go back to try to catch a swinging boom end,( swings even with the mainsheet in & topping lift tight) try to engage the zip then return to the mast. Also I do not have to stand on the cockpit seats to engage it.
2) I have had 3 sets of loop & balls sewn into the front third of the cover. the picture shows it although I have altered it since. On one flap I have a large loop. On the other a short line a ball, adjusted for length with a knot. In rough weather I just lay over the boom & with one hand pass the ball through the loop to hold the sail in place. the length is such that when i do zip up there is no weight on the zip so it is easy to do up.
When leaving port I unzip before departure then I only have to flip the 3 fastenings & the sail is ready to hoist

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I am intrigued at people whose fully battened mains do not flake down into a stack pack. I can only assume that the stack pack is not suspended with lazy jacks but simply left hanging. In all my years of using a fully battened main with a stack pack and lazy jacks I never had a problem of the main either falling over the boom or not flaking at worst all that was required was to pull the odd flake straight from the leach prior to zipping up and putting on the mast collar a task always completed when moored or in harbour. A useful addition was to replace the lower legs of the lazy jacks with strong bungie cord.

 

[boatmike]

Well phew! Quite a response there chaps. Thanks for all that. As I said before I have sailed with conventional sails and reefing and in mast reefing but never fully battened main with stackpack. From all posts I am getting the impression that it's a good system and I get the point about reefing lines back to the cockpit. Great. I have not bought the boat yet and am viewing her for the first time tomorrow. On paper she looks great and I have just learnt that she has FBM and stackpack. I know the previous owner (sadly deceased) rigged her for short handed sailing so perhaps we have reefing lines back to cockpit already. We will see! I have been motoring around in a stinkboat for 6 years and REALLY looking forward to getting the wind in my sails again. Lets hope she is going to live up to expectations....... Wish me luck!

 

[doug748]

How strong should lazyjacks be?

A friend with the same boat as mine (500sq.ft heavy Terylene mainsail) plans to use 6mm Spectra; my local sailmaker says 4mm Terylene is more than adequate.

The thicker stuff will be kinder on the sail, with a boat of your size I might consider 8mm ordinary stuff. Washing regularly helps to minimise transfer of dirt to the canvas.

I find it handy that the rope and fittings are plenty strong enough to act as a second topping lift and nice to handle.

 

[Kukri]

The thicker stuff will be kinder on the sail, with a boat of your size I might consider 8mm ordinary stuff. Washing regularly helps to minimise transfer of dirt to the canvas.

I find it handy that the rope and fittings are plenty strong enough to act as a second topping lift and nice to handle.

Thank you Doug. I will follow your advice.

 

[Daydream believer]

I might consider 8mm ordinary stuff.

Ridiculously oversized

 

[Poignard]

I suppose a good guide to lazy jack diameter is whatever riggers use when they install stackpacks.

 

[Kukri]

When I asked the rather eminent Solent sailmaker who made her current mainsail about the Dutchman flaking system, as an alternative to lazyjacks, his advice was, "Don't even think about it; the sail is far too heavy." Have just been for a sail on a sister ship which has a stackpack and lazyjacks on her non-fully battened mainsail by AN Other well known maker and they were indeed around 8mm.

 

[Poignard]

When I asked the rather eminent Solent sailmaker who made her current mainsail about the Dutchman flaking system, as an alternative to lazyjacks, his advice was, "Don't even think about it; the sail is far too heavy." .....

That's interesting, and surprising, I would have thought a heavy sail would do better since the weight would help overcome friction through the eyelets.

 

[doug748]

...... Have just been for a sail on a sister ship which has a stackpack and lazyjacks on her non-fully battened mainsail by AN Other well known maker and they were indeed around 8mm.

Indeed.

Even more important with lazy jacks on their own, which put quite high point loadings on a reefed or stowed fully battened sail - at least until the cover goes on.

 

[Kukri]

That's interesting, and surprising, I would have thought a heavy sail would do better since the weight would help overcome friction through the eyelets.

His point was that the weight of the sail would distort the topping lift on which the system depends, so the sail would be more on one side than the other, and that would stretch the fishing line.

 

[TQA]

8mm is too heavy. My 44 ft uses 5 mm and that is fine.

A point that is neglected is the need to slacken the lazy jacks and lead them forward to the mast. This avoids the sail chafing on the lazy jacks

 

[Kukri]

8mm is too heavy. My 44 ft uses 5 mm and that is fine.

A point that is neglected is the need to slacken the lazy jacks and lead them forward to the mast. This avoids the sail chafing on the lazy jacks

Thanks. Have gone for 6mm "lazyjack rope" (grey single braid) for my 55ft.

Since I will be using a "traditional" sail cover, I plan to lead them forward to the mast, trap them under something (cleat? reefing horns?) and leave them there until I want to lower the mainsail, at which point I will set them up, and once the sail is down, I propose to put the usual tyers on and then trap the lazyjacks at the mast again, and then put the cover on. I won't need them for reefing.

Does that make sense?

 

[Daydream believer]

I have never seen any evidence of lazy jacks causing wear on the sail.
Once set they can be left alone & need not be adjusted ever again, provided that they are properly set up in the first place

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I have never seen any evidence of lazy jacks causing wear on the sail.
Once set they can be left alone & need not be adjusted ever again, provided that they are properly set up in the first place

I tend to agree.

 

[doug748]

I tend to agree.

It's not a question of wear when the sail is working but supporting the sail when it is dropped.

Minn is planning a simple lazy jack set up. I think he is very wise to avoid thin cordage for this use; his fully battened sail is hugely heavy compared to the average on here.