Per previous, Pegathy has a Chesapeake Sailmakers stack pack - not attached to the sail. I can drop the sail quickly, with the pack fully up - and - if I'm into the wind - it will mainly flake itself. That said, when I have crew, I will go to the mast and flake it as someone else lets the sail down slowly. Seems neater, that's about it. I have the lazy jacks marked to that the pack is always at the same tension when I let down the sail. It was installed at that tension, and I don't adjust it after the stack pack is zipped. I expect that over or under tension might interfere with the process, but I don't know.
I usually have a bit of "arranging" to do before zipping, nothing substantial. I'm 6'; I can reach the top of the stack pack to zip it. My main is quite heavy cloth, so it is stiff. I have 3/16th line attached to the car, I think. Knot in the end. 8 - 10 inches. When cruising, I leave the pack up. It does interfere with the flow over the foot of the main, obviously, but when I'm cruising, I don't care. I have raced with the pack up. I don't win. There has been some wear where the detachable front flap hits the mast. Had some non-chafing patches sewn on this year - 3rd season. When racing I lash the pack to the cover and run the jack lines so they lie tight against the boom and mast. I do this by running them under their cleat, which is boom high on the mast. Quick and easy to do. I had some chafe where the pack rubbed on the jib sheet on an extended broad reach (Cape May to Montauk Pt. Had a non-chafing patch installed - not expensive. Hope that helps. Dan Sheer Pegathy - LF38 Rock Creek off the Patapsco I am new to the stack pack family - just installed this week. Ours is a Doyle Cradle Cover (Doyle Stack Pack not attached to the sail). Mast had a Tides track. The sail is also new a North 3Di and very stiff. I could use any tips on handling this system because I'm having trouble getting the sail into the cover enough to zip it up. Zipper and top of cover is approx. 8' above the deck at the mast. Very hard to reach especially over the cockpit. Have 1 step at the mast but still feel like Tarzan swinging from a vine when putting the sail in. It would probably help if I were 7' tall! Questions: (1) should the cover be fully up when dropping the sail or eased? (2) what kind of extension or line do people use on the zipper car? There's a you tube video of a continuous line zipper trolley that looks good but no info on how it's rigged. (3) is it typical to have to "stuff" the sail into the cover before zipping? Or is my problem just a new stiff sail? (4) can the mast cover be left in place when sailing, dropping the sail? (5) is it better to let the sail drop quickly - letting go of the halyard - or easing it down? (6) any other helpful hints would be appreciated. thanks Tony C&C 41 C/B #96 Triumph
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