Submitted on October 11, 2005 by Bob Skene

Question: Hello, I recently bought a Pearson 35. The mainsail was originally equipped with a LazyMate System. Unfortunately, the previous owner fremoved all the control lines and rings although the sail is still equipped with the original grommets etc. Can I purchase the missing parts to make the sustem work again?

Thanks
Bob Skene

Answer: Dear Bob,

Lazy Mate was actually a pretty good and fairly simple system if installed and adjusted correctly. I can't really understand why it lost out to Dutchman in the marketplace. It's been a while since I used one and there may be some refinements I'll miss, but the following should get him pretty far along.

Since he already has the grommets in the sail, all he is really missing is some S.S. round rings and some string. The rings need to slide up and down the topping lift and only need to be big enough to get over the end of it. Our GR25 ring would work fine if it fits the end of the topping lift. You will need the same number of rings as there are grommets in the leech of the sail. Something like 1/8" polyester leech cord is all the string needs to be.

Slide all the rings on the topping lift and set it at the normal height for dropping the sail. Flake the sail with the grommets in the leech approximately on the top of the boom. Tie a piece of the cord to the bottom ring with a short bowline and pass the other end through the lowest grommet in the sail. Tension the cord just enough so the grommet can't slide off the top of the boom by more than a couple of inches, and tie it off. Continue doing the same with each corresponding ring and grommet. When the sail is hoisted and the topping lift is eased, the rings will slide down and hang on the string. When you tension the topper and ease the halyard, the rings will slide down the topper pulling aft on the leech. As they do so, the grommets are pulled in line with the boom and the sail virtually flakes itself.

There were some more exotic configurations using blocks on the topper and plastic balls with set screws to adjust the line lengths. But in essence this was the scheme and it probably doesn't need to be any more complicated than this.

Regards,
Mark Baxter
North Sails Design & Manufacturing
Long Beach, CA

Email North Sails with your question today!

Go BACK to Solutions for Sailors Main Page.