Allen,
Is the cover open along the bottom ? Are the two sides connected just where
the slides are attached ? It must at least be open where the reef lines
attach to the boom I'd think.

"bushman" wrote in message
m...
Why I like my MackPack.
I feel the same way about the lines and cover messing up my air flow
across
the sail, but we aint racing here, we're cruising and enjoying ouselves.
I think the MackPack is good for the sail. The sail stays in the lines and
does not hang on other objects or fall to the deck to be snagged or
stepped
on. Being tightly furled and sinched down is not good for the sail cloth,
being loosely flaked on the boom keeps the cloth and stiching from being
creased. Also the sail can breath and dry out in the sail cover.
Interesting thing I learned at the Sail show this weekend. Travis Blain of
Mack Sails told me to box up my old MackPack and send $53 to have any
repairs done. I will report back when it returns.
- Allen
P.S. maybe I am just a lazy sailor.

"Garland Gray II" wrote in message
news:GN3df.237$0h5.168@dukeread10...
Allen,
Is the cover open along the bottom ? Are the two sides connected just
where
the slides are attached ? It must at least be open where the reef lines
attach to the boom I'd think.

Mine has three , two inch webbing straps that slip between the sail and the
boom , attaching to the other side with little half turn buckle. The two
halves are only sewn together at the aft end of the 16' zipper. The webbing
holds the bottom together under the foot , the zipper closes the top , and
the front hangs on hooks screwed into the mast.
The reefing lines can go under or over the cover and around the boom or
under the foot to take some of the belly out of the sail.
- Allen

Thanks !

"bushman" wrote in message
...

"Garland Gray II" wrote in message
news:GN3df.237$0h5.168@dukeread10...
Allen,
Is the cover open along the bottom ? Are the two sides connected just
where
the slides are attached ? It must at least be open where the reef lines
attach to the boom I'd think.

Mine has three , two inch webbing straps that slip between the sail and
the
boom , attaching to the other side with little half turn buckle. The two
halves are only sewn together at the aft end of the 16' zipper. The
webbing
holds the bottom together under the foot , the zipper closes the top , and
the front hangs on hooks screwed into the mast.
The reefing lines can go under or over the cover and around the boom or
under the foot to take some of the belly out of the sail.
- Allen

This thread has had several responses which I'll not repeat here, but I
wanted to ask about some issues I have with mine.

First, in the case of the grommets, I've put knots in the inner
section, the better to hold up the sides, or otherwise, it's not over
the sail when it's dropped. So, for mine, it's not held up by
friction. Something akin to a slab is needed, at least in my
application, to make it happen.

Second, if I don't have the jacks pretty well tensioned, the sail will
fall off to one side or the other when it's in the bag, so to speak -
so, I keep it tensioned, having an already-somewhat-abraded bimini over
the bows, just from the time it's spent in the yard/on the hard.

However, third, I'm about to build our awning/sunshade setup, which
will, of course, require the slacking/run-forward of the jacks for
installation. Aside from cinching down (recommended against by another
poster) of the total bag, how do you keep your sail from falling off?

Other than those items, we like ours very much. Ours is currently
attached to the mast, so when I'm up there doing other stuff related to
the electrical bits, I'll move them to the spreaders, a huge
improvement, I'm sure, in dropping. FWIW, when we bought the boat, it
had sail-tie tape on the main, just as you'd do with a
put-over-the-sail covering system - perhaps because the mackpack itself
was pretty well shot, it appeared. However, off it came, and some
mending later, it's fine. I see no reason to believe that, if one had
the concept, building your own couldn't be an easy project for someone
with the appropriate sewing machine (which we've just bought from
Sailrite, in our case, so ours will be a replacement at some point, but
the awnings are current project material!). I highly recommend it.

L8R

Skip and Lydia


Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig - Callsign Pending!
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely
nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing
about in
boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter,
that's
the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never
get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to
do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

Hi Skip,
Thanks for the comments.
I assume it is the "lazy jacks-thru-the-grommets" that dictate that the
system is sold only with its own lazy jacks rather than trying to fit to
existing lazy jacks. Since I already have lazy jacks I've wondered how the
systemwould work w/o threading the 'jacks thru grommets, but it
sounds like you wouldn't think it'd work.
Keeping the sail from flopping over is a concern of mine also. It was
suggested to me to thread small blocks or even shackles or rings on the
topping lift, one for each batten. A light line is tied between each ring
and the end of each battenso that when the sail is dropped, the line is
tight. This would keep the battens closer to the boom.
I have done this only with the bottom batten, and I guess it helped, so I
should continue with the others.

"Skip Gundlach" wrote in message
oups.com...
This thread has had several responses which I'll not repeat here, but I
wanted to ask about some issues I have with mine.

First, in the case of the grommets, I've put knots in the inner
section, the better to hold up the sides, or otherwise, it's not over
the sail when it's dropped. So, for mine, it's not held up by
friction. Something akin to a slab is needed, at least in my
application, to make it happen.

Second, if I don't have the jacks pretty well tensioned, the sail will
fall off to one side or the other when it's in the bag, so to speak -
so, I keep it tensioned, having an already-somewhat-abraded bimini over
the bows, just from the time it's spent in the yard/on the hard.

However, third, I'm about to build our awning/sunshade setup, which
will, of course, require the slacking/run-forward of the jacks for
installation. Aside from cinching down (recommended against by another
poster) of the total bag, how do you keep your sail from falling off?

Other than those items, we like ours very much. Ours is currently
attached to the mast, so when I'm up there doing other stuff related to
the electrical bits, I'll move them to the spreaders, a huge
improvement, I'm sure, in dropping. FWIW, when we bought the boat, it
had sail-tie tape on the main, just as you'd do with a
put-over-the-sail covering system - perhaps because the mackpack itself
was pretty well shot, it appeared. However, off it came, and some
mending later, it's fine. I see no reason to believe that, if one had
the concept, building your own couldn't be an easy project for someone
with the appropriate sewing machine (which we've just bought from
Sailrite, in our case, so ours will be a replacement at some point, but
the awnings are current project material!). I highly recommend it.

L8R

Skip and Lydia


Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig - Callsign Pending!
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Believe me, my young friend, there is *nothing*-absolutely
nothing-half so
much worth doing as simply messing, messing-about-in-boats; messing
about in
boats-or *with* boats.
In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter,
that's
the charm of it.
Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your
destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never
get
anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in
particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to
do, and
you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

"Garland Gray II" wrote in message
news:7udef.2202$0h5.1602@dukeread10...
Hi Skip,
Thanks for the comments.
I assume it is the "lazy jacks-thru-the-grommets" that dictate that the
system is sold only with its own lazy jacks rather than trying to fit to
existing lazy jacks. Since I already have lazy jacks I've wondered how the
systemwould work w/o threading the 'jacks thru grommets, but
it sounds like you wouldn't think it'd work.
Keeping the sail from flopping over is a concern of mine also. It was
suggested to me to thread small blocks or even shackles or rings on the
topping lift, one for each batten. A light line is tied between each ring
and the end of each battenso that when the sail is dropped, the line is
tight. This would keep the battens closer to the boom.
I have done this only with the bottom batten, and I guess it helped, so I
should continue with the others.

I see no reason not to use your existing jacks. The MP has two grommets in
line with the jackline, near the top of the slab, allowing enough room for
the zipper to work. The line goes through the outside, top, then the
inside, bottom, coming out again. The knot I put in is in between the
grommets.

So, if you were making your own, just cut and sew everything other than the
grommets. Allow enough to have the zipper meet comfortably, and soap-mark
that line. Hold the sunbrella slab in position on a slab-stacked sail, with
the jacks tight, and mark the line the jacks take. Insert grommets, untie
jackline, thread, knot, retie jack, and you've done it.

As to your modus of keeping the sail upright, it's interesting to me -
sounds like a variation on the dutchman system. I'll have to give that a
look, as I'd rather not have to keep the jacks tight, or, conversely, when
the awning is up, try to figure out how to keep it up. Oh, dang. Forgot -
the topping lift would also have to be pulled forward, or the shade won't
fit. That, or I'd have to make two of them, complicating the anticipated
rolled-up storage against the front of the mast...

L8R

Skip

--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain