I have a small sailboat (a Ross Lillestone First Mate) and am considering adding either lazy jacks or a topping lift. The boat has a Bermuda rig. Can someone explain the advantages and disadvantages of each. I don’t want to do both at least initially. My primary objective is to keep the boom from dropping into the cockpit when the sail is lowered. It would seem that lazy jacks do that as well as helping keep the sail under control as it is being lowered and/or reefed. Any help would be appreciated.
For large sailing vessels lazy jacks keep the sail centered while furling or reefing and topping lifts support the boom when the sail is lowered. Technically, lazy jacks are never supposed to be weight bearing; that’s what topping lifts are for.
However, in this age of modern synthetic ropes and high-quality metal fittings, for small boats it’s actually absolutely fine to have lazy jacks bearing the full weight of the boom and sail. That’s what I use on my Lighthouse Tender Peapod which is about the same size (foot and a half shorter) than the First Mate.
So I’d say just go with the lazy jacks to get the sail control and they’ll also be able to easily support your boom.
Laszlo
Thanks. How high up would you place the cheek blocks? Would half way between where the shrouds are connected to the mast and the top of the mast be a good spot?
