Spreaders and lazy jack

[bobflshmn]

I recently made a lazy jack with sail pack and installed on my 88 D. Originally I attached it to a couple of pulleys at 1/4 the distance from the top. It worked fine if pointed directly in the wind but interfered with the battens it not. I relocated the to the spreader about 1/2 way out and they work great. I am concerned though that they cause the spreaders to be pulled back at a 45 which causes the main sail to rest on them quite often. Has anyone else experienced this? Am I right to be concerned?

I am not a racer so lack of perfect sail shape is not my biggest concern, but I don't want to damage my main due to rubbing om the spreaders.

[FlyboyTR]

I had built a quick lazy jack system for our 91-S. It was poorly adjusted and would trap the battens from time to time. But it was temporary and was attached to the spreaders next to the mast.

With our new sail, I built a sail pack and lazy jack system for it. Each bridle runs to a padeye located about 5' above the spreaders. It took several hours of adjusting the lazy jack lines to finally get to a point where the batten ends (aft) did not get trapped as they moved upwards. So, it is possible, but it does take some time adjusting LJ lines until you get it right.

[bobflshmn]

Thanks that is helpful.

The last time out I loosened the tension on the sail pac which greatly helped the spreaders return to their proper location. What I noticed what that the sail pack was holding the boom up, creating a baggy sail. When I added tension to the down haul of the main I was transferring the tension to the spreaders causing them to pull back! That could have been really bad! Thanks to Judy's post and pictures of proper sail shape I was able to find my mistake.

I can now raise them without being dead into the wind, and if by chance they do catch a simple steering adjustment and they pop free.