For those of you with lazy jacks or stack pack systems can you tell me where you've attached the top?

I'm about to order a stackpack and the sailmaker has suggested the lazyjacks should attach to a point on the mast above the spreaders. My current lazyjack only system attaches to eyes on the under side of the spreaders so I'd rather not drill new holes in the mast. Do the different locations affect ease of hoisting or dropping?

For stack packs, do any of you have a block up the mast to adjust tension of the lazyjacks, or do you just fit and forget?

Thanks
James

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Hi James

My stack pack is attached to the underside of the spreaders about 12 inches from the mast, this means that when hoisting the main ,you don't have to be dead head to wind.
If attached to mast it leaves very little gap for hoisting if you are not directly into wind
I have a small block attached and both lines go to a single line in the front of the mast allowing it to be loosened through one cleat in the cockpit should it need to be eased off.
hope this helps
i will be at the boat at the weekend and will take some photos

cheers
Peter lowry
Sophia 275 # 53

James
My 26 has the same set up as Sophia, for the same reason, ease of raising the main.
My only difference is a jammer in the cockpit to adjust.
Some say the load should not be taken on the spreaders, I don't agree!
Philip
Superseal rascal

When we had a stackpack fitted to Delphine, the rigger recommended attachment to the mast rather than the spreaders, on the grounds that the loads could be quite high and the mast was stronger. We accepted his advice - but there is undoubtedly a penalty when raising the main that the main sail battens can easily get caught on the lazy jacks. In daylight, when you can see what to do, it's manageable, but trying to get the main up before dawn last year took ages!

We run the tension line for each lazy jack through a turning block tied in to a cleat on the mast, then along the boom, and back to a jam cleat with 2 to 1 purchase on the aft end of the boom. This makes it very easy to take the tension off the lazy jacks to sail, and to put it on again so that the sail is contained as it's dropped, all this being done from the cockpit. It really is necessary to be able to adjust the lazy jacks as the two situations of containing the sail with the boom high and the topping lift on and not interfering with the set of the sail when sailing require completely different tensions. We also had a system last year with another line that could be used to pull the lazy jack on one side forward so that the battens didn't get caught, but we haven't reinstated that this year - we may do so.

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Ooh what an interesting debate! Mine go onto the mast just below the spreaders so head to wind hoists are advisable. But at the boom end I have a piece of shockcord leading from the middle of the three stackpack attachment loops through the aft one and up to a bobble which hooks into the eye splice on the aft tail of the lazy jack. This keeps the lazyjacks tight enough to catch the sail on the drop, but not so tight as to interfere with sail shape significantly unless in a drift. The idea is that you can unhook the bobble and take all the lines forward but I seem to have lucked into the right tension to make this unnecessary unless racing. It does also mean that if you do snag a batten end when hoisting, you can flick the lazyjack free with the slack provided by the shockcord (OK I'll own up to a 50% success rate on average).

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James,
Just to confuse the issue even further Mymo has her lazy jacks attached to the mast between the spreaders and the forestay attachment on pulleys (see photo attached). They are then spliced together to a single line that is led aft for controlling the tension. Personally I set the tension at the beginning of the season and do not adjust them, but I do have them fairly slack so that I can tension the mainsheet without having to adjust them. I have not had any problems raising or lowering the main so long as I am dead to wind. It does help that I have a rod kicker with a gas strut. Best of luck, take your pick.
P.S. My main is fully battened which may make a difference when raising and lowering.

Thanks all. I was almost convincecd that the under spreader location was the only option until Mark posted his picture :)

I think I'll try them on the blocks under the spreaders and make them adjustable as the fixtures are in place already and see how we go. I like the idea of shock cord that Peter mentioned so I'll experiment a bit with that.

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I have an eye-nut on the outboard spreader bolt to attach the lazy jacks. The lazy jacks support the stack-pack, and I just have a lanyard adjustment on the lazy-jack end closest to the gooseneck. The lanyard is set up so that I just let it run out to the stopper knot when I make sail. I don't have to get much sail up before the battens are clear of the jacks. The jacks are 2mm dyneema with little Ronstan "Shocks" for them to run through, I use soft shackles for attachment.

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