Making a stack / packaway mainsail cover

[fastjedi]

I have a particularly annoying Hunter mainsail cover with hundereds of bits of string to tie (as apposed to a rapid fix bungie and hook system).
Anyone had a go at making a packaway mainsail cover. If so, any advice on supply of materials, design etc. I am particularly interested in knowing
1. What kind of poles I might use
2. How the cover might fix to the boom slot

 

[Abigail]

I have a book called Practical Boat Canvas Work by Lisa Carr which has lazy jacks, a simple stow system and a sail cover, which might do the job for you.

Our stak cover is basically two ppieces of canvas with a piece of thinner acrylic along the middle. This slides into the boom, and the base of the sail slides in over it. The lazy jacks run through grommets at regular intervals and then up to the mast. (it came with the boat, we didn't make it!)

 

[cameronke]

Hi Ian

Check out with TOME on Scuttlebutt. He has just gotten himself a sail, sewing machine and has made himself (Herself at weekends /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif ) some pretty neat sail covers and could hopefully be able to offer some ideas.

Regards
Cameron

 

[smb]

We made one a couple of years back for our Voyager. As with Abigail it is fitted in the foot groove of the boom and held in place by the footrope. This is a bit tight hence the need for the thinner acrylic panel. Version 1 did not have this and would not feed in. We also made a seperate boot for the luff/mast

All canvas and zips were bought online from pointnorth.co.uk

For poles we currently use electricians plastic conduit slotted into a channel sewn into each side, but it is not really stiff enough and bends about looking limp and generally detracting from the job. I am looking to beef it up with something this year but not sure what yet.

For lazy jacks we used mostly rolling hitches to fix verticals to the diagonal from webbing loops sewn to the pole channels. Some verticals have shock cord in tandem to automatically pull the bag up when the sail is raised and stop it sagging around.

All in all it works well and makes bagging the main much easier. Also the slab reefing lines just get thrown in as well instead of pulled through and coiled at the mast so raising the sail is easier too, even though the lazyjacks mean a head to wind (ish) course is more neccessary.

As ever, measure twice cut once is a good motto as with hindsight a bit more material at the front of the boom would have made packing the sail away a tad easier still without being loose, and a bit less at the tail end would neaten the appearance.


Steve

 

[LadyInBed]

You could make the cover in one piece (put in a centre stitch line as a guide) then, wrapped around the foot of the sail, feed it into the boom along with the sail.

 

[maxi]

Yes, have done this very effectively for my boat. Attachment to the boom was as others have suggested whilst for "poles ?" I used a broken/rejected very long batten from the local marina's skip, cut down the middle (mind the splinters) to make two 3/4" wide battens almost the length of the boom. Very easy to make, cheap, and very effective whilst also being simple.

Have a look at Kayospruce on the web, who can provide fabrics and battens etc. Good luck

 

[tome]

I'm just learning myself so no expert, even at week ends!

The pack-a-main on my previous boat was made in 3 sections. The 2 sides were joined at the bottom by a thin strip of sailcloth running along the boom and the top edges were stiffened with sail battens. The sailcloth was fed into the boom slot under the sail bolt rope together with the sail.

The top edges had a zipper inside, and the top panel was zipped up to cover or removed when sailing. Very simple construction, in fact far simpler than the one I made for our boat.

Agree about Kayospruce for materials, see their site

 

[WALTERJOHN]

My packaway sounds very similar to those described above. Two additional points that might be of interest: 1) I have sail-type battens ("poles") to provide support, with straps to adjust the tension, which is handy and gives the bag the shape you need 2) I also have "holes" with many zips in the cover to accomodate reefing lines.

 

[frilaens]

Drying

If it fits in the groove under the footrope what happen when the sail is wet? Does it tend to stay damp or is there enough "breathing" in the canvas to let it dry?

 

[fastjedi]

Re: Drying

Thank you for all the advice... I'm quite excited now ... It was a winter project ... but I feel compelled to go to Kayospruce at the earliest opportunity now