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Old 10-10-2012, 04:12   #1
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Do you stow your lazy jacks?

My last boat had an excellent lazy jack system fitted by a local sailmaker. It had a line for each side of the bag and the whole lot could be stowed at the mast when sailing. The bag stayed upright on the boom when sailing and if I needed to drop the sail it was a simple thing to uncleat the lazy jacks off the mast and re-tension them for use. The system on my new boat is not so user friendly and I can't easily stow them at the mast. My question is: How many of you just leave the lazy jacks up and has the chafe damaged the sail at all?
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Old 10-10-2012, 04:39   #2
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

I leave the jacks up. No discernible chafe on my sails yet (6 years)
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Old 10-10-2012, 04:39   #3
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

Mine lead thru cheek blocks 2/3 of the way up the mast, and down to cleats on the aft lowers. Easy to slacken off, or take-up as necessary.
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Old 10-10-2012, 05:18   #4
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

My lazy jacks are too far up the mast to remove, But my main sail cover has recesses where the lazy jack ropes fit with out touching the main, so it doesnt get wear, The jack ropes go out side the cover,
I dont remove main or cover or lazy jacks, The Genoa is self furling, so I leave that on too.

Very good system, Main and Genoa have been on the boat 8 years,
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Old 10-10-2012, 05:20   #5
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

Stow them when i am probably going to be on the same tack for a few hours or more. Stow them in light breezes.
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Old 10-10-2012, 06:46   #6
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

for day sails of short duration I slacken them and leave them. For long duration sails I pull them to the mast to keep them off the main..
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Old 10-10-2012, 06:50   #7
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

We leave ours out, but:

Lazy Jack Trick
Many folks complain about full battens getting caught up when raising the mainsail. They then spend a lot of time moving BOTH sides of the lazy jacks to the mast.

We developed an easier way with our lazy jacks.

We have a small cleat on the forward starboard side of the boom. When we put the halyard on the headboard, we move ONLY the starboard side of the lazy jacks forward and snug them under the forward side of the horn of this cleat.

Then, when we raise the mainsail, instead of going exactly head to wind, we bear off a tad to starboard so the wind is coming from the port side of the bow.

We then raise the mainsail and it doesn't get hooked on the lazy jacks even though the port side jacks are still there.

Been working for 13 years.

Yes, we have to go forward again to unhook the starboard lazy jack for dousing the sail, but there's never any hurry.

So, for those of you with lazy jacks, consider doing only one side.

Your boat, your choice.
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Old 10-10-2012, 06:55   #8
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

as lazy jacks are made for the dousing of main sail without having it trail in seas, also to keep from blinding the helmsman, why remove them while sailing--kinda defeats the purpose of having them. why not save the dough and not install em in first place. lazy jacks are to keep sail on boom, not all over topsides of boat.

having jax on one side only kinda defeats their purpose, also. why bother. some day you will need to use them in a hurry and be in trouble because of not keeping them in place. unless they are just for show on a tiny boat--they were intended for large booms and tall masts, whereon it is important to keep them in place.
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Old 10-10-2012, 07:01   #9
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

I have had mine for 4 years and made them myself. Originally had it designed to stow when under sail. Got lazy and did it only one time. Now chafe and no problems in doing this. One nice thing I find is I sometimes am in a hurry to drop the sail and if I had to set them up, it would take a few moments to do. Now just dorp and go. Aloisius
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Old 10-10-2012, 07:06   #10
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

see pic for use of jax on a long boom. note they are in use as we sailed out the creek into the river. they remain up at all times, and are a part of the running rigging. if you can zoom into the pic to see installation points high on the mast, so gaff and mast hoops dont become fouled....
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Old 10-10-2012, 07:13   #11
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

Quote:
Originally Posted by zeehag View Post

having jax on one side only kinda defeats their purpose, also. why bother. some day you will need to use them in a hurry...
zee - please read it again, only one side when raising the main...
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Old 10-10-2012, 08:09   #12
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

We usually slack one side like Stu, then I quickly raise main, pausing briefly when done while I catch my breath and the chest pain subsides. Once recovered I then set up the lazy jack again. We have a line running from the aft-most lazy jack forward to the front of the boom, connected to the other lazy jacks by a small stainless ring so that I can pull them forward without leaving the cockpit. No chafe as yet.
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Old 10-10-2012, 08:50   #13
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

Mine are stowable, but for day sails or short runs I just leave them up. I do have full battens but if I head into the wind w/the main-halyard loose then it's EZ to get the sail up w/o snagging. I started out with 3 legs and eventually went to 4 legs. The sail is offshore material, a bit stiff. Also I used rings rather then blocks (except on mast), which helps the avoid chafing/discoloring on sail, much like this guys. >>>

Pacific Northwest Boating News: Brion Toss | Why make lazyjacks difficult? | Three Sheets Northwest



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Old 10-10-2012, 09:34   #14
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

I stow mime at the mast until I'm ready to drop the sail. After flaking the main at the end of a sail, loosen the lazy jacks at the cleat on the mast, pull them forward, hook them under the cleat then retention the line. They live on the mast till the nezt time we drop the main. The lazy jacks do nothing while underway so no reason to deploy till they are needed. That and the fact they hook the lower batten on raising the main unless we are almost dead upwind makes stowing them a no brainer.
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Old 10-10-2012, 09:49   #15
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Re: Do you stow your lazy jacks?

using lazy jax on only one side when raising main is still useless. when wind blows during a dousing of sails, only one side will be of no use whatsoever. the job of lazy jax is to guuide sail onto boom without the sailor having to go into ocean to capture it. you are not able to control flukey winds when dousing sails. lazy jacks are both sides of sail. these are decades old--see pic of my posting of the gaff rigged sloop--see the jax in use while boat is sailing, as they should be.
if ye dont agree, is no big deal--but you are wasting money if you dont use em as they were designed. guiding the main sail into a groove is more safe than letting it flop all over the place. saves wear and tear on the huge sail also. [proper lazy jax are simple and not easily befouled. they are asafety measure.
quick jax are different--more complex, an dyou remove em --they were invented to be used on smaller boats with lazy jax envy.
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