Hello,
I am looking for a stack pack with lazy jacks for Bob, looking around our local marina there are various types and I wondered if any of my fellow Twister owners had a good version from a good maker that they would be happy to recommend?
Work is progressing on Bob, but after so much work I have fallen a little out of love with her, so we are pushing ahead with the crucial jobs to get her back in the water so we can set sail and get back to enjoying her.
Best wishes,
Katie
I'm afraid we have a bit of a love-hate relationship with lazy jacks and stackpacks. We don't have such things ourselves but grapple with them regularly on other peoples boats! I think that I'd go to someone local. Then you can talk it through with the maker and he can also sort out any glitches on installation.
Cabrach has a Sanders stack pack that works well. It might help that the main was made at the same time. I'm sure it helps that the main has full length battens so that dropping the sail is simple. The hoist does require you to check you're head to wind, plus or minus 15 degrees, otherwise the batten ends can catch on the lazy jacks. The other plus is that the main is loose footed so that the stack pack can slot into the boom. The Sanders arrangement is to have a separate mast end sail cover which protects the sail from uv. Other makers do incorporate this in to the stack pack. All in all it's great not having to flake the main and then sort out a sail cover at the end of a sail, especially if you are short handed and then it's just unzip the pack attach the halyard and hoist. Good luck. Martin
Thank you for your advice, the reason we are going down the stack pack route is for ease. We recently chartered a boat and experienced how quick and simple they are to use but also it felt safer not to be up on the coachroof with sail ties when it's blowing.
I will take a look at Sanders, the local sail makers don't seem all that interested in making covers, which I can appreciate.
Hi,
We fitted one on Brigand when we changed the main a couple of years ago. We bought a new main and the stack pack from Jeckells (they call it a Mainmate). It seems to work well, and saves dumping a lot of sail over the helmsman. It is a neat fit around the mainsail, so is a bit smaller than some that I have seen. There is probably an advantage in getting the mainsail and the stack pack from the same people if you want it to be a close fit.
The zip on ours starts at the mast, which is where our halyard is, so that one person can just zip up part way if you are in a hurry and the sail is under control (if the zip is at the end of the boom when open, then you have to go there from the mast, and that end of the boom can be flapping about and harder to get to safely (unless you have a boom crutch)). You can just tie the whole lot up with sail ties if you are in a hurry, but that rather defeats the purpose.
We also have a fully battened main, so it falls in easily. Our main has a bolt rope on the foot ( ie not loose footed), and the stack pack just slides under the bolt rope.
I prefer the cleaner look of a sail cover, but the stack pack does make life easier. There is an option to have straps to gather up the stack pack when you are sailing, and this does clean away much of the canvas of the stack pack when sailing.
We also have a boot which goes around the mast and clips to the stack pack to finish off the coverage of the mainsail when it is stacked. Ours has elastic and eyes at the front. If I were doing it again I would see if a zip can be fitted to this bit, and get it fitted on the side, rather than at the front as we have a spinnaker pole up the front of the mast, and it is a bit of a fiddle to lace it up between the mast and the pole.
I do not have any direct experience of any others, but I would recommend the Jeckells one, so it is probably worth contacting them to see what they could do for you.
Good luck with your refurbishment,
Nick
PS We are also happy with the new mainsail - first Twister home in the RTI last year
We bought ours from Arun sails Chichester. Excellent in all respects,their service,quality of product, and all round knowledge. They have Twister measurements.
Its operation has made life much easier aboard. We later led lines back to cockpit which makes dropping the sail even easier while short handed entering a port in strong wind.
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