Daily Archives: April 8, 2014

Running Rigging and Lazy Jacks

Running Rigging–After 10 years, the running rigging on Apropos was looking tired. I replaced the main halyard, mizzen halyard, drifter halyard, main and mizzen topping lifts, and jib halyard. I also added halyard clutches on both masts for line control.
Still to go are the jib sheets, stays’l sheets, and main sheet.

Lazy Jacks–Lazy Jacks help with lowering sails and are invaluable for short-handed crew. The lazy jacks keep the stack from falling all over the deck when flaking is not possible due to emergency situations or when sails need to be lowered quickly. I made my own lazy jacks after reading several articles from sailing magazines. I first made them for the mainsail, then copied the design with minor changes for the mizzen. Both designs use spreader mounted blocks, mast-mounted Spinlock cam cleats, 3/16″ AmSteel-grey line, stainless steel rings and eyestraps. The main was fitted with a 4-leg system and the mizzen a 3-leg system. They are easily deployed and stow against the mast when not in use. The AmSteel line and splicing to the ss rings minimize sail chafe.

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