Modern Sail Furling Systems

[cbob]

Sailors, Yesterday AM posted a query re: Ready Jack/Easy Jack on Product, Resource site and so far no response. So without repeating details, any thoughts on these things, please take a look at this one and give me a piece of your experience, so I can pass on to the interested party. Thanks, cbob Tue PM.

[Ian McColgin]

I've not seen the rig you described, though I have seen some promotional stuff on it a while back. I never experimented with it as it seems a lot of clutter for an indifferent result. Just getting all those rings on the leach to be pulled on evenly seems hard and a handful of attachments will not contain the sail the way proper lazy jacks do.

Most lazy jacks made are just plain bad - too much money on ballbearing blocks and the leverage is backwards anyway.

I have a very particular way of making lazy jacks that have the advantage of working correctly as a topping lift as well - there's other threads on this - which I like better than all other systems.

It is lovely to get the leach pulled back. I have permanently rigged reefing clew outhauls. These lead under the boom to the mast. Thus it is convenient to trim them as the sail comes down. Gets the bight of those two lines out of the way and pulls the leack back where it most matters. The rest of the sail pretty much stacks up without effort.

So the idea of pulling the leach is nice, but the actuality of doing so can mre readily be combined with proper use of the reefing clew outhauls, which you would want anyway.

G'luck

[cbob]

Ian, Thanks for geetting back to me on this. The usual method of lowering sails around here is more like dumping than lowering. Most of these modern condo cutters, designed from the inside out, with odd shaped deadlights and a canvas enclosed operating station need to have some sort of control as the stiff sailcloth colapses, as it would take a basketball player standing on a box to get an effective furl. A sailing buddy has a classic sloop with a cockpit overhanging doghouse with a fold down metal gallows/crutch atop, thus this query. Previously this boat had softer sails that could be handed fairly easily but the new stiffer main is nowhere as easy. To be able to lower sail slow enough to work your system in a reasonable breeze tensioning the reef clews while lowering, seems like an exercise for a crew of three, steer, lower, and tension. My boat has no doghouse, so I have reasonable access to the full lenght of the 17 foot boom, head up, dump and give it a quickie with a couple of gaskets, and refurl after all else is secure. Thanks again for your response and thoughts. cbob