Best mainsail for single handed sailing

[Kukri]

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.

Exactly.

 

[pyrojames]

I have lazy jacks of about 4mm, but they only support the sail for the drop, and then I use conventional sail ties for the stow. I bring the lazy jacks down and forward too, and make sure that the blocks are down too, so they don’t hammer the timber mast in a blow. The hoist is generally without the lazy jacks up to avoid snagging issues.

 

[Poignard]

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?

It makes sense to me, seeing as how that is what I have done on my 28-footer . The only difference is that I have yet to replace the unsatisfactory 4mm lines with 6mm, as you have.

The falls of my lazy jacks are belayed on a cleat each side of the mast at about the height of the gooseneck. When I bring the lazy jacks forward after the sail is set I hook them under these cleats.

By the way, did you splice eyes in your single-braid rope or seize them?

 

[knuterikt]

Sure that's helpful and it's my last step whether or not I flaked it but the "flake it later" option is not so straight forward with my batton cars: it's not like I can just slide the sliders out the gate at the bottom: the only realistic option that doesn't involve a spanner is re-hoisting which isn't practical with any significant breeze and a marina berth not pointing into it

Do you take the batcars off the track every time?

 

[ashtead]

As a user of stackpack and Full battened main following observations:
1 check if a couple fold out steps on bottom of mast as helps on larger boat fitting cover and zipping up,
2 Quality of cars on mast is important so you might consider replacement if original ;
3 electric winch makes hoisting simple but if not fitted buy an electric winch handle device which might be cheaper.
4 one downside is third reef line which we rarely use is not in boom but marginal point;
5 learn to drop head to wind always for neat stack but far quicker than in mast to lower
6 no risks of in mast jambs - saw an expensive issue with a halberg 42 last summer in Brittany according to the owner as he struggled to remove the main in the marina;
7 those who are less active and or older tend to favour in mast so absence might effect resale?
8 in mast sails seem smaller and boats slower like for like;
9 zipping stack pack from boom end is a pain so good idea re starting from mast as per prior post.
All personal choice but I think real issue for some might be weight of hauling mainsail up but far cheaper to fit an electric winch I suspect than retro fit mast reefing and having sail recut .

 

[Kukri]

It makes sense to me, seeing as how that is what I have done on my 28-footer . The only difference is that I have yet to replace the unsatisfactory 4mm lines with 6mm, as you have.

The falls of my lazy jacks are belayed on a cleat each side of the mast at about the height of the gooseneck. When I bring the lazy jacks forward after the sail is set I hook them under these cleats.

By the way, did you splice eyes in your single-braid rope or seize them?

Thanks. Haven’t done it yet! I will splice, as it’s so easy in single braid, because it means less to stick out and hang up.

 

[Poignard]

Thanks. Haven’t done it yet! I will splice, as it’s so easy in single braid, because it means less to stick out and hang up.

How did you decide where the attachment points on the boom are to be and the lengths of each section of the 'web'.?

There seems to be a lot of variables and I can't find any guidance on the internet. I'm not sure mine are laid out as well as they could be,

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Do you take the batcars off the track every time?

He occasionally lets Robin take it out of the garage and for a track day.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

How did you decide where the attachment points on the boom are to be and the lengths of each section of the 'web'.?

There seems to be a lot of variables and I can't find any guidance on the internet. I'm not sure mine are laid out as well as they could be,

I found that with a 4 leg system if you space the legs roughly equally with the boom end leg roughly parallel to the topping lift but set in a reasonable distance from the boom end it works well. I used strong bungie cord - 6 or 8mm on the last leg to avoid having to adjust them as the boom lifted or lowered. I eventually converted to stack pack where the spacing was virtually identical as dictated by the maker.

 

[Poignard]

Thanks

 

[Kukri]

I found that with a 4 leg system if you space the legs roughly equally with the boom end leg roughly parallel to the topping lift but set in a reasonable distance from the boom end it works well. I used strong bungie cord - 6 or 8mm on the last leg to avoid having to adjust them as the boom lifted or lowered. I eventually converted to stack pack where the spacing was virtually identical as dictated by the maker.

Thanks. I think the outboard leg needs to be inboard of the outer end of the lowest batten.

 

[Daydream believer]

Thanks. Haven’t done it yet! I will splice, as it’s so easy in single braid, because it means less to stick out and hang up.

Have been making a set for one of our club members & as an experiment I whipped the lines (because it was stiff & could not be spliced anyway) Then I covered the whole lot in 2 layers of clear heat shrink tubing. This avoids anything catching in the sail threads, which the ends of the stiff line certainly would do. It also make it look neat & prevents wear on the whipping.
I bought clear shrink tubing 2:1 from Farnell very cheaply
Time will tell if successful. I hope so as client is happy- so far:encouragement:
Where it attaches to the cover I used shackles as this is better than tying as they do not crush the canvas loops so much. They can easily be removed in the winter & will always be the same length for next season.

 

[Kukri]

Have been making a set for one of our club members & as an experiment I whipped the lines (because it was stiff & could not be spliced anyway) Then I covered the whole lot in 2 layers of clear heat shrink tubing. This avoids anything catching in the sail threads, which the ends of the stiff line certainly would do. It also make it look neat & prevents wear on the whipping.
I bought clear shrink tubing 2:1 from Farnell very cheaply
Time will tell if successful. I hope so as client is happy- so far:encouragement:
Where it attaches to the cover I used shackles as this is better than tying as they do not crush the canvas loops so much. They can easily be removed in the winter & will always be the same length for next season.

Nice idea. Thanks!