Sailpack for singlehanding/Reefing

[sully75]

I need a new sailcover and my lazyjack system is awful. I'm also getting a new (used) mast and a lot of re-rigging this year on my Triton. I saw some sailpacks this summer and thought they looked pretty pedestrian, but in pondering a new sailcover I confess I'm pretty lazy about covering the mainsail, and when reefing I never tie in the reef points, leaving a lot of sail flopping around.

Anyway, the idea of a sailpack is interesting to me. It would be nice not to have to deal with putting the sailcover on and off all the time. It would be nice to have the reefed sail collected on the boom.

Obvious cons though are increased windage and it might make furling more difficult and/or foul the furling lines when access was crucial.

I'm generally singlehanding, for the record. I'm doing everything I can to make this boat a "bluewater" boat...something that can handle most anything within reason. I reef a lot, motor as little as possible (just have an outboard). So I don't want to do anything that negatively affects sailing ability. And I don't want to increase windage enough to negatively affect my anchoring ability...I'm generally at anchor and rarely at a mooring.

What do you think?

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by sully75

I need a new sailcover and my lazyjack system is awful. I'm also getting a new (used) mast and a lot of re-rigging this year on my Triton. I saw some sailpacks this summer and thought they looked pretty pedestrian, but in pondering a new sailcover I confess I'm pretty lazy about covering the mainsail, and when reefing I never tie in the reef points, leaving a lot of sail flopping around.

Anyway, the idea of a sailpack is interesting to me. It would be nice not to have to deal with putting the sailcover on and off all the time. It would be nice to have the reefed sail collected on the boom.

Obvious cons though are increased windage and it might make furling more difficult and/or foul the furling lines when access was crucial.

I'm generally singlehanding, for the record. I'm doing everything I can to make this boat a "bluewater" boat...something that can handle most anything within reason. I reef a lot, motor as little as possible (just have an outboard). So I don't want to do anything that negatively affects sailing ability. And I don't want to increase windage enough to negatively affect my anchoring ability...I'm generally at anchor and rarely at a mooring.

What do you think?

FYI, I notice Sailrite has a kit for a sailpack. We have a "boom bag," and the lazy jacks are attached to it, though you can drop them if you want--we leave them up, and chafe has not been a problem. I love the reefed main falling into it, no more bunt obscuring vision. We have had ours for 13 yrs., now, and the dark red acrylic canvas is slightly faded. There have been some chafed spots that we repaired, but all in all, we like it. You do have to zip it up at the end of sailing, though, and unzip the next time you go out. FWIW, ours was made cut back from the mast for ease of access to the horns when reefing, and a cowl provided added that one puts on to protect the unprotected area while at anchor. The cowl attaches via 8 "buckle clips" and a zip backed up by velcro. No problems with it. Our boom is ~19 ft.

[sully75]

Ann...I have seen that Sailrite kit, that is what I would be doing if I ended up getting one. Either that or a sailcover depending...

Just got my sewing machine up and running. Pretty fun.

[JPA Cate]

Hey, good on ya, Sully,

Yes, it's fun to have stuff you made yourself on your boat. By the way, I screwed up: the cowl on the boom bag does not have a zip (previous mainsail cover made by me did), but it has more "bucle clips" and velcro.

Ann

[gulfstar37]

Sully75,

We purchased a sailpac from Doyle (no connection) this past year for our full batten main. Object for us was to generate enough room below the boom to raise the dodger. Previously we had to flake the sail over boom then convential main sail cover. This took about 12 inches of space under boom that would drag across dodger when not sailing.

System works well and we like it quite a bit. This one does not need modification to the main, some sew the cover to the sail. If you get on any of the major sail lofts websites each will have their own design but am sure they all work pretty much alike.

Basically like stated above, these systems use a lazyjack system that collects the sail. Best part is you just tuck the sail in as it comes down and zip up. Thats it. I even rigged up a pull cord for the zipper I seen on another boat. Works slick can do everything from the mast.

One drawback as the same with any lazyjack system is when raising the sail you have to really pay attention to being directly into the wind and I mean directly. Your battens will catch on the lines.

One satisfied sailer.

[Kestrahl]

I made one similar to the Ullman ones. Single zip down the front and the flaps clip back into the cover. Turns out you don't need to bother as when you undo the top zip the front part will fall down enough to allow easy access to the reefing horns. So its a one zip operation which is much better than the covers which have removable parts etc. If you make it a nice fit windage isn't much different. We were racing with it and without it with no noticeable effect. It is harder getting the main up with the lazy jacks.

[sully75]

I hate to say it because it looks like it would be great, but looking at the sailrite site, it looks like the zippered sailpack is 1/2 the size of a trysail. Kind of freaks me out to have that much windage all the time. Are you able to remove it if need be or is it permanently mounted?

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by sully75

I hate to say it because it looks like it would be great, but looking at the sailrite site, it looks like the zippered sailpack is 1/2 the size of a trysail. Kind of freaks me out to have that much windage all the time. Are you able to remove it if need be or is it permanently mounted?

Most stack packs are not easily removed. Something to consider tho depending on the type of sailing you plan to do. For the near coastal crusing most cruisers actually do I don't think its likely to be a practical issue. I've been in just under 60 knots sustained with a stack pack...no issues.

Although, depending upon the main sail, a large mail with a cover still presents significant surface area.

[sy_gilana]

We designed and made our own. Big improvement, and can't understand why we did not do it earlier. No drawbacks at all. Sailing downwind we drop the windward Lazyjacks and the cover drops to the deck increasing sail area. Ours ends just behind the mast, so all sliders can be watched and reefs can be hooked, there is a 2" "Velcro" strip down both sides with a loose front cover that wraps around the mast. Used 1" plastic conduit for battens. Lazyjacks go to the spreaders not the mast, this allows more margin of error for bagging. Have overlaps to keep the zipper out of the sun. Make the distance from the batten to the zipper 30% bigger than you think, this will ease closing. We have no pulley system on the zipper, just a 6' lanyard that is clipped on and off to help closing. The zipper must extend way behind the reefing lines etc, to allow the bag to open wide. The zipper "tail" must be tucked in out of the sun. We have a bungie-held cover for the boom end covering the reefing lines etc.

[islandplanet]

We sell a pack system with integrated lazy jacks but as a sailmaker who used to own a Triton himself, my thinking is why bother? It only took a few minutes to get my cover off and on. I had simple retractable lazy jacks. It's a small simple boat. Why complicate things? But hey, if you want to go that route, drop me a line. I usually only offer the systems when someone is buying a new main but I have a soft spot in my heart for Tritons. One of my buddies I met while cruising is singlehanding an engineless Triton and having great adventures. I live vicariously through his videos. It's rare that I'm on anything smaller than 40'+ these days. Tritons are great old boats.

[islandplanet]

Originally Posted by gulfstar37

Sully75,


One drawback as the same with any lazyjack system is when raising the sail you have to really pay attention to being directly into the wind and I mean directly. Your battens will catch on the lines.

You've outlined the precise reason why every lazyjack system I install is retractable. Slack the leeward lazy jacks and hoist. No fussing with having to keep the boat exactly into the wind.

[sully75]

Originally Posted by islandplanet

We sell a pack system with integrated lazy jacks but as a sailmaker who used to own a Triton himself, my thinking is why bother? It only took a few minutes to get my cover off and on. I had simple retractable lazy jacks. It's a small simple boat. Why complicate things? But hey, if you want to go that route, drop me a line. I usually only offer the systems when someone is buying a new main but I have a soft spot in my heart for Tritons. One of my buddies I met while cruising is singlehanding an engineless Triton and having great adventures. I live vicariously through his videos. It's rare that I'm on anything smaller than 40'+ these days. Tritons are great old boats.

Why bother: because I'm lazy and if I'm sailing consecutive days I'm inclined not to put the cover on. Obviously the sail is soaking up the rays at that time.

I'd not be a good customer for you...trying to do everything myself. But the difference in price between a simple cover and a pack system for a sailrite kit is not all that much.

But I'm still put off by the size of the thing relative to a good fitting sail cover.

Who's your friend? My Triton is engineless too, mostly. I have an outboard. But the prop aperture is all faired in. I'd love to dump the outboard but it definitely comes in handy at times.

Anyway, I'd like to see his videos.

[islandplanet]

Originally Posted by sully75

Why bother: because I'm lazy and if I'm sailing consecutive days I'm inclined not to put the cover on. Obviously the sail is soaking up the rays at that time.

I'd not be a good customer for you...trying to do everything myself. But the difference in price between a simple cover and a pack system for a sailrite kit is not all that much.

But I'm still put off by the size of the thing relative to a good fitting sail cover.

Who's your friend? My Triton is engineless too, mostly. I have an outboard. But the prop aperture is all faired in. I'd love to dump the outboard but it definitely comes in handy at times.

Anyway, I'd like to see his videos.

No worries on whether you're a customer or not. If you're sailing in sunny places, you could always throw a shade awning over the sail to give you some shade and protect the sail. I agree with you in that I'd rather not have the cover hanging on the boom when I'm sailing. The only boats I strongly recommend a pack system for are boats with booms that are difficult to reach. If it takes me 2 minutes to deal with the pack cover and 4 minutes to retrieve and install a conventional sail cover, those extra two minutes aren't that big a deal. Having owned a Triton, I can't imagine bothering with a pack system.

You can check out some very cool videos here - http://www.youtube.com/user/spr47spr47