Stack Pack or Not,,,,?

[ctva]

We are looking at getting a new main for a Jeanneau SO342. Hopefully a loose footed, fully battened cruising sail. At the moment we use a lazy jack with a separate one piece sail cover but I am wondering about a stack pack. There are as far as i can see pros and cons which include ease of storing (only pro I can think of) and then a flappy bag at the boom or the effort of rolling it away (but what about the lazy jacks?)

We have no issues in using our current system two up but wonder if there are other pros or cons that I have not considered as to their use.

Cheers

Chris

 

[jaminb]

I am not sure I would choose to go sailing on my SO 37 if I didn't have a stack pack.

 

[ashtead]

We have had a stack pack on a Bav 34 and current Moody 41AC and really would not have anything else unless we could upgrade to a yacht with a boom furler like an XC45 . The only downside apart from cost might be zipping the bag up but to be honest you can do this when berthed. You don’t say where you are sourcing your new main (Pete S of Lymington would be my choice) but speak to your sailmaker . You should be able to drop the main head to wind into stack pack and then turn back into Chanel entrance and then half zip the end of stack pack if you wish motoring up channel. I see no downside really if you have non in mast or in boom reefing. I guess that you might ask on jeaneau owners website though other owners of your model?

 

[scozzy]

For me at least it's a total no brainer,1st sail on my 1st boat I dropped main before heading into harbour in triumph and all of a sudden I had sail everywhere and couldn't see a thing,less triumph more panic as I struggled to deal with it in a bouncy swell..All my pals just dropped theirs into their stack packs,guided effortlessly by the lazy Jack's attached and we laughed over a beer once i made it in! ..that was the 1st and last time I've not had both,so many situs it's just...well...far easier and the ,get the position of lazy jacks right and barring the odd snag raising the main in a blow it's all good and easily zipped up on the mooring

 

[Bobc]

Get a stack pack. You'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

 

[dunedin]

Get a stack pack. You'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

Yes, first thing we did when we bought our boat. All pros, and (unless racing) no cons.

 

[thinwater]

Make sure you cover the clew; I've seen them rotted off by UV.

I like lazyjacks, but I had a stack pack and didn't like the mess or that I could not pull the lazyjacks forward.

To each his own. Typically people that have a thing like it, which is why they have it. Same for the converse. I think most people don't like them, but you would have to ask people who don't have them.

 

[Skylark]

Aesthetically a mainsail neatly flaked over the boom is very pleasing to my eye. Plus, it’s called “lazy” for good reason. Another skill lost.

That said, the advantages are many, especially when short handed.

 

[Babylon]

Transformed things for me, sailing mostly single-handed. The lazy-jacks element a major safety and convenience improvement when dropping sail (slight nuisance when hoisting if/when battens snag). The stack-pack an optional extra, but going for the combo made complete sense eight years ago and has proved itself time and again.

 

[Boathook]

I do a lot of single and short handed saiing and the stack pack is worth it. If I don't tidy it up before entering harbour I have the reefing lines hanging down, but I can see through them !

 

[Daydream believer]

I do a lot of single and short handed saiing and the stack pack is worth it. If I don't tidy it up before entering harbour I have the reefing lines hanging down, but I can see through them !

But as a comment--You would still have reefing lines hanging down if you did not have a stack pack, so one cannot blame the stack pack can one. Plus, on some boats where one can reach the end of the boom, one can flick the lines up into the pack out of the way. Even though the pack may not be zipped up. But it depends on the individual boat.

 

[Stemar]

Doing everything at the mast and flaking the main on the boom is fine for a fully crewed racing boat, where the loss of a bit of sail area is deemed more important than convenience, but for me, lazyjacks are essential kit on a cruising boat. Bring the lines aft, and you can drop the sails from the cockpit, which I see as a vital safety feature as we gradually transform from fit and agile to old and doddery. The stack pack is optional, but it does help to hold everything in place until you can tidy everything up. I wouldn't be without mine.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

I’ll buck the trend. I removed mine 15 years ago for aesthetic reasons. Down side to them, they are ugly looking, in my opinion.

I get the convenience aspect and appreciate that is the main reason for having one.

 

[Dellquay13]

I love my stackpack. But as previously said, stackpack owners will be a biased sample, stackpack haters will avoid or remove them.

I like the ease of sail handling at the start and end of the day when S/H, no clambering around fighting sail ties. I just unzip the stackpack before leaving the berth, adjust my lazyjacks and set off. Coming back in head to wind I drop the semi battened main into the pack, and when back on my berth I tug the leech a bit to straighten and zip up.

It’s also nice when reefed to have the bottom bit snug inside a well adjusted stackpack instead of fighting sail ties again or having it bulge between the lazyjacks.

It is important to adjust the lazyjacks to get the open stackpack in the optimum position alongside the boom though, otherwise you do get the stackpack flapping awry. I’d like to get my lazyjacks brought back to the cockpit, but there are more pressing demands on my modest funds than more deck organisers.

Maybe the people who think they look bad when open would prefer a white one to match the sails? If they accept a reefed main tied to the boom, a white stackpack would look little different?

 

[Daydream believer]

It is important to adjust the lazyjacks to get the open stackpack in the optimum position alongside the boom though, I’d like to get my lazyjacks brought back to the cockpit, but there are more pressing demands on my modest funds than more deck organisers.

May I suggest that lazy jacks should only need setting up at the start of the season, then left alone. If one has to constantly adjust then one has them wrong in the first place.

 

[ctva]

To all those that are positive to the stack pack, what do you do with it once tha main is up? Leave it in place, roll it away, or something else?

 

[Daydream believer]

It stays in place because the lazy lines are attached to it & hold it up
This picture shows it on my old stack pack

 

[dunedin]

…

To each his own. Typically people that have a thing like it, which is why they have it. Same for the converse. I think most people don't like them, but you would have to ask people who don't have them.

Actually in this case many of us have sailed the same boat with and without a stack pack - in my case on three separate boats we have owned. So have direct back to back experience with and without.

For crossing the Atlantic or racing with a full crew then remove the stack pack.

But for sailing any boat above about 35 feet short handed then a stack pack is an absolute god send. Trying to flake a shiny new and/or laminate sail on a high up boom solo or with just two people is a nightmare. Whereas with a stackpack it is easy to hoist and stow solo or with a couple.

And aesthetically I think the neatly zipped up cover, which takes less than 60 seconds if designed properly, is massively prettier than the roughly flaked sails with no cover on that one so often sees, and protects the sail from UV (or rain, depending on where sail!)

 

[Dellquay13]

May I suggest that lazy jacks should only need setting up at the start of the season, then left alone. If one has to constantly adjust then one has them wrong in the first place.

I adjust my lazy jacks to match the boom angle, as I do my kicker (but with a bit more range of acceptable tension).
I also berth with my boom raised out of the way, so the lazyjacks need shortening at the end of the day to match the berth angle and lengthening again to sail.
Thats pulling on the lazyjacks a fair few times, but before the stackpack dislikers pile in, the OP likes his lazyjacks but questions having a stackpack as well.

 

[dunedin]

To all those that are positive to the stack pack, what do you do with it once tha main is up? Leave it in place, roll it away, or something else?

Leave in place. Our stackpack has long battens along the length. And the lazy jacks are fixed at the start of the season and never adjusted.
As the mainsail reaches its full hoist the boom goes up 5-10 cm and the stack pack drops below the sail, alongside the boom. When lowering the boom drops again slightly and the lazyjacks tighten.