Missus and I are planning to make our lazy jack stack pack. I was wondering what size
the lazy jack cord would be and also what it's made of, polyester for instance?.
My boat is a 28 footer and the boom is 9 foot long.
How many cords should I have for that length boom, 3 or 4?.
Any help appreciated. Thanks

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samsturdy said..
Missus and I are planning to make our lazy jack stack pack. I was wondering what size
the lazy jack cord would be and also what it's made of, polyester for instance?.
My boat is a 28 footer and the boom is 9 foot long.
How many cords should I have for that length boom, 3 or 4?.
Any help appreciated. Thanks

3 cords will do the trick, and as light as practical but strong because there will be times when they will take the weight of the boom and sail if you forget to use the topping lift when reefing - happens to the best of us. Think 3mm Dyneema with polyester sheath, $1-90 at Road Tech Marine. Give some thought to taking them out to a point on the spreaders, that will open them up a bit and make it easier to dodge the nodes with the battens when you hoist the main.

Thanks PS. I had planned to put the blocks on the spreaders, about 300mm out from the mast. And yes you would be right about
dropping the main without using the topping lift. I'll see what cord they have at Whitworths.

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samsturdy said..
Thanks PS. I had planned to put the blocks on the spreaders, about 300mm out from the mast. And yes you would be right about
dropping the main without using the topping lift. I'll see what cord they have at Whitworths.

In for another penny worth, don't bother to put the outboard lazy jack too far out along the boom, it's the bunched up luff that you are trying to catch, there is not as much stray cloth in the leech. And tie a bowline in the rope from the spreader to let the aft rope self center.
Good luck.

Thanks for the advice PS, much appreciated.

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samsturdy said..
Thanks PS. I had planned to put the blocks on the spreaders, about 300mm out from the mast. And yes you would be right about
dropping the main without using the topping lift. I'll see what cord they have at Whitworths.

Just check out my video.

Good one Ramona......Yes I think that's exactly the distance from the mast that I'll
put my blocks.
I'm assuming the lazy jacks are slack so that the sail will form its proper shape??.
Thanks mate.

I replicated this system on my RL28 using 4mm VB cord and 25mm s/s rings from the local h/ware store. I put two pulleys 150mm out from the mast on the spreaders and ran the top line through them to create a wider opening for the sail to drop into. The upper line is continuous up through the blocks with an eye in the middle with one line going down the front of the mast round a turning block and back to the cockpit.
If you head directly into the wind with the L/Jacks loose while raising the sail the battens will mostly not get snagged . When sailing I pull the L/Jacks up but not tight to get them out of the way.
When dropping the sail tighten the L/Jacks and head into the wing and the sail will drop down and sit on top of the boom until you can get a tie on it.
I sail single handed a lot and find this system works really well, especially when I forget to reattach the topping lift to the end of the boom which I hook onto the backstay to get it out of the way.

The whole lot cost about $20
Hope this helps
Sail Safe But Have Fun
Cheers John
RL28 Series 100 Landcruiser Black Goldwing

I replicated this system on my RL28 using 4mm VB cord and 25mm s/s rings from the local h/ware store. I put two pulleys 150mm out from the mast on the spreaders and ran the top line through them to create a wider opening for the sail to drop into. The upper line is continuous up through the blocks with an eye in the middle with one line going down the front of the mast round a turning block and back to the cockpit.
If you head directly into the wind with the L/Jacks loose while raising the sail the battens will mostly not get snagged . When sailing I pull the L/Jacks up but not tight to get them out of the way.
When dropping the sail tighten the L/Jacks and head into the wing and the sail will drop down and sit on top of the boom until you can get a tie on it.
I sail single handed a lot and find this system works really well, especially when I forget to reattach the topping lift to the end of the boom which I hook onto the backstay to get it out of the way.

The whole lot cost about $20
Hope this helps
Sail Safe But Have Fun
Cheers John
RL28 Series 100 Landcruiser Black Goldwing

OOP'S

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lloydyboy53 said..
I replicated this system on my RL28 using 4mm VB cord and 25mm s/s rings from the local h/ware store. I put two pulleys 150mm out from the mast on the spreaders and ran the top line through them to create a wider opening for the sail to drop into. The upper line is continuous up through the blocks with an eye in the middle with one line going down the front of the mast round a turning block and back to the cockpit.
If you head directly into the wind with the L/Jacks loose while raising the sail the battens will mostly not get snagged . When sailing I pull the L/Jacks up but not tight to get them out of the way.
When dropping the sail tighten the L/Jacks and head into the wing and the sail will drop down and sit on top of the boom until you can get a tie on it.
I sail single handed a lot and find this system works really well, especially when I forget to reattach the topping lift to the end of the boom which I hook onto the backstay to get it out of the way.

I set up this system, with a boom bag, on my previous boat & it worked very well. I copied it off this video!!

I am in the process of setting up a similar system at the moment using 8mm line & blocks instead of rings (bigger sail). Spliced 6 blocks on today.

In my video the Lazyjacks lines are 4mm and they run through 4mm SS thimbles. I made the video to demonstrate to listers here how the metal bits don't actually touch the sail when sailing when we covered this subject previously.

Very interesting to me. Lloydyboy, I have the same topping lift idea as you. I wondered why it
wasn't a 'normal' one from the top of the mast, until I raised the mainsail and found it wasn't
triangular in shape. The leach has a very pronounced curve that obviously would foul a
'normal' topping lift. I thought I was the only one with such an arrangement....obviously not.

I set up temporary lazy jacks using cord from Bunnings and plastic rings from whitworths just to play around to get an idea of lengths and how many cords etc . I just threw it over the spreaders and around the mast . Found I only needed two lines so to speak as I have a short boom . Took a few hours to get it right , now I can buy the real stuff and do it properly . The cost for my prototype was about $15 .

Must admit I 'lofted' mine on the garage floor, so I've got a good idea of how much material
and cord I need. What I will need is a rigger to go aloft and rivet the saddles and blocks on to
the spreaders.

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samsturdy said..

Must admit I 'lofted' mine on the garage floor, so I've got a good idea of how much material
and cord I need. What I will need is a rigger to go aloft and rivet the saddles and blocks on to
the spreaders.

It's a good idea to keep the lines small, dyneema is plenty strong enough at 4 mm. even without the help of the topping lift - Less interference with airflow over the main.

Liros actually make a rpe designed just for Lazy jacks.

Here it is here
http://www.deckhardware.com.au/-products/liros_lazy_jack_01531_04_05mm

And it is very easy to splice using a brummel locking splice as it's the same construction as Dyneema.

Splicing means no knots to chafe the sail, especially if you splice in friction rings you will get even less chafe, like these
crowleysyachtyard.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/antal-low-friction-rings.html

Splicing this stuff is very easy but unlike dyneema it will knot OK too.

PM me if you want some pricing on this stuff, cheaper than dyneema!!!

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rumblefish said..
Liros actually make a rpe designed just for Lazy jacks.

Here it is here
http://www.deckhardware.com.au/-products/liros_lazy_jack_01531_04_05mm

And it is very easy to splice using a brummel locking splice as it's the same construction as Dyneema.

Splicing means no knots to chafe the sail, especially if you splice in friction rings you will get even less chafe, like these
crowleysyachtyard.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/antal-low-friction-rings.html

Splicing this stuff is very easy but unlike dyneema it will knot OK too.

PM me if you want some pricing on this stuff, cheaper than dyneema!!!

Hey those friction rings look like a good way to reduce friction in reefing lines - pass the line through the ring instead of the cringle. And the soft construction of the lazyjack line looks good for fender lined. I wonder if it is slippery stuff.

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PhoenixStar said..

rumblefish said..
Liros actually make a rpe designed just for Lazy jacks.

Here it is here
http://www.deckhardware.com.au/-products/liros_lazy_jack_01531_04_05mm

And it is very easy to splice using a brummel locking splice as it's the same construction as Dyneema.

Splicing means no knots to chafe the sail, especially if you splice in friction rings you will get even less chafe, like these
crowleysyachtyard.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/antal-low-friction-rings.html

Splicing this stuff is very easy but unlike dyneema it will knot OK too.

PM me if you want some pricing on this stuff, cheaper than dyneema!!!

Hey those friction rings look like a good way to reduce friction in reefing lines - pass the line through the ring instead of the cringle. And the soft construction of the lazyjack line looks good for fender lined. I wonder if it is slippery stuff.

yeah they sew them into sails with webbing for reefing lines or you can splice up a dyneema endless loop with a friction ring in one side of it and cow hitch the endless loop through the cringle (or get me to splice some up for you!)

I have some of the lazy jack line here and it is very slippery but quite small for fender ropes. Personally I have 6 or 8mm double braid on my fenders and it works just fine.