Lazyjack Placement

[FrankZ]

After looking at several photos and boats it seems lazyjacks are usually on the mast about half way between the spreaders and the top. Is this really necessary? Would placing them below the spreaders cause any real mischief in the system?

I am going to be redoing mine in the very near future and was just wondering what people's thoughts on the placement were.

Thanks

[MarkJ]

Ours are 5/8ths up the mast. It does seem wierdly high.

If they were just 1/2 way up the angle to the aft lazyjack would still be the same as it is now because it goes through a ring shared with the middle jack.

[Minggat]

My thought process on this is, take a look at what the lazy jacks are trying to do when you position them. If placed too low they can be somewhat defeated. Going over your post, it sounds like the ones you're talking about are higher than the ones I see a lot on the west coast. Placing them high would keep the main contained more, but I don't know why you'd want to.

My rigger mounted mine on the bottom set of spreaders about halfway out from the mast. So with my double spreaders, that puts them way lower than what you're talking about. I'm thinking that above the spreaders would just put them in a position to foul or be fouled where it's harder to clear them. And stowing them would be messy.

By spreading them away from the mast and mounting them on the underside of the spreaders, they can better funnel the main down with less chance of snagging the battens.

The bulk of the Lazy Jacks job is to contain the main on the top of the boom when it's not deployed. Mounting them too low defeats that and going to high does... pretty much nothing... but maybe set them up to foul. The work to install them high is made harder. And when ever you have to go up your mast, they'd just be that much more in your way.

[FrankZ]

Thanks for the responses. Still have some thinking to do on this.

[Southern Star]

I'm with Mingat on this one - my top lazyjacks blocks are installed on the mast and I am relocating them to the spreaders, about 8-10 inches out from the mast. Especialy with a new and rather stiff offshore main, I have found that the additional width would be helpful in funnelling the sail into the slot.

Brad

[Abaco]

On my last boat, attached mine to pad eye's to the mid-point of the spreaders. Opening up the slot by and extra 3 or 4 feet makes it much easier to get the sail up the mast.

[sandy daugherty]

There is a down-side to mounting lazy jacks on the spreaders. If the sail doesn't flake evenly over the boom, the largest part of the weight of the sail will be pulling a spreader down. Not all spreaders can resist that load. If it goes too far, the force on that spreaders's shroud will deflect it further, and serious troubles will erupt.

But opening up the space between the jacks helps dropping AND raising the sail, by reducing the chance for battens to get stuck in a lazyjack line on the way up.

The height of the lazy jacks has an optimum, but all I know is that a 45 deg angle from the end of the boom is not enough; limber battens will crawl out and over the jacks just to keep you honest.

Perhaps on a tall enough mast you could rig a short stay from the top of the spreader back to the mast to resist the downward load. It has to be strong enough to support the weight of the sail, full of water and birds nests!

[ggray]

Originally Posted by sandy daugherty

There is a down-side to mounting lazy jacks on the spreaders. If the sail doesn't flake evenly over the boom, the largest part of the weight of the sail will be pulling a spreader down. Not all spreaders can resist that load. If it goes too far, the force on that spreaders's shroud will deflect it further, and serious troubles will erupt.

And another thing to think about:
My lazy jacks pass through eyes in the spreaders that are spaced perhaps 25% of the length of the spreader. I haven't changed this, but I was cautioned by Mack sails when I bought a Mack Pack (which has worked quite well, btw)that there is some risk from a lateral load on the spreader from the lazy jack when off the wind. May be a combination of this and what Sandy describes. Of course, if the 'jacks are retracted, there would be no risk.

[Firehoser75]

My lazy jacks are mounted on my lower spreader like Minggat describes. Just prior to hoisting the main, or when I put the halyard on, I move the lazy jacks forward to the mast and "fasten" them there out of the way. In this way, they are not an issue no matter the point of sail or wind load. I put them back into position just prior to lowering the main, and they do a good job of catching the main, as you head to wind at this point, there is very little load on them.
This works very well, and seems dirt simple. Am I missing something?

Tom

[sailstoo]

Here's Harken's install instructions for their lazyjack kit:
http://www.harken.com/pdf/4060.pdf

[44'cruisingcat]

I mounted mine out near the ends of the lower spreaders. This makes them easy to clear with the battens. The load on the lower spreaders isn't an issue with my rig, the wires terminate at them, so they are extremely well supported.

Anyway, the mainsail and boom are really not that heavy, the heaviest part of the sail is close to the mast, and in reality the topping lift supports the bit of load there is most of the time.

[Minggat]

Rethinking my post, mine are probably spaced about the same as Southern Star (my boat is half a world away from me-wah- so I'm working from my bad memory). As far as load goes, easy to overcome by doing as Firehose75 says.

The weight of the boom and mainsail should not come into play. The topping lift or spring/ridgid/whatever -vang does the bulk of that work. If the Lazy jacks relieve any of that load, it should be miniscule.

[Raven RawsonPH]

In a recent Good Old Boat I saw a whole new take on lazyjacks which looks worthy of a try. Instead of lazyjacks, gromets on the leach are used to attach lines to rings which slide up the topping lift. Apparently the sail will drop right down into place without the hassle of battens getting hung up on jacklines. Hmmm........

[Blue Stocking]

Originally Posted by Raven RawsonPH

In a recent Good Old Boat I saw a whole new take on lazyjacks which looks worthy of a try. Instead of lazyjacks, gromets on the leach are used to attach lines to rings which slide up the topping lift. Apparently the sail will drop right down into place without the hassle of battens getting hung up on jacklines. Hmmm........

I have seen this idea used successfully on a few high aspect mains. I tried it temporarily on Bluestocking with a 46ft hoist and 16ft foot, and the roach in the main caused a problem tacking. If the topping lift was on the back side after a tack, it tended to foul the set of the battens. This was on a Doyle 2+2. Other sails might work better. Good idea though.