PatrickS wrote:
The construction overall is pretty simple ... That said, I can fully appreciate ordering the commercial product. For me, it was as much about having the time and being keen on the project as it was wanting to save some scratch.
Well, I went ahead and got the "SailCaddy 8", and installed it on Bossa Nova. I didn't manage a perfect installation, but it worked quite decently when I put the mainsail back on the boom.
You are absolutely right about "measure twice ... actually ten times." I did that, but even so I had some slightly-out-of-line mounts, which I attribute to not having bothered to center-punch before I drilled the boom. Another problem was that SailCaddy recommended a drill too large for mounting the blocks - so I had to drill another set of holes, and mount the SailCaddy about 3/8 inch farther aft of my original installation.
Went sailing with it Saturday, into some "interesting" Chesapeake Bay winds ... it doesn't hamper either deploying or dowsing the main, at all. It gives me a nice "tray" to get the sail flaked down decently, and then it fits right under the sail cover.
Anyone want an old Harken "Lazy Jacks" kit, cheap?
Thanks, Patrick, for pointing out the SailCaddy!