I've never heard the term "stackpack" with regards to a mainsail.
Are you referring to a standard sail that is flaked on the boom,
a Dutchman type system, an EasyJack or LazyJack system?
We have in-mast furling system and are pretty happy with it. It came
on our boat. But if I had it to do myself, I'd go for an in-boom
furler. If it jams in the deployed position, it least you can get your
sail down. If the in-mast system fails and the sail is stuck deployed,
you are kind of stuck. Ours got stuck halfway deployed once but
it was not the fault of the furling. A spare halyard got caught up while
reefing and jammed. Took a while to figure out the problem but a
mighty yank on the foot cleared the problem. Real down side of both
is $$$. Previous owner said that the in-mast furling cost him around
$25K. A friend is looking into in-boom systems and says it is quite
expensive as well although I don't recall the price. Personally, I like the
in-mast system but you can't point quite as well. My previous
boat had a standard setup with EasyJacks that I built myself. Inexpensive,
versatile and worked well.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Ed Thomas" wrote in message
news:fNacd.355$UX3.155@trndny03...
We've started the process of buying a newer and larger boat. One of the
major choices is the method of handling the mainsail. I have no experience
with either furling, lazyjack or "dutchman" systems. I'd appreciate any
comments or experiences with any or all these options. I'm leaning right
now
to a "stackpack" type system.

Thanks.

Ed