New Mainsail Cover

[mark_53]

My mainsail cover is starting to look like moths have eaten it.  Probably sun damage but it may be time for a new cover.  Maybe even upgrade to an attached cover where the sail falls into the cover.  I have been looking around and came across this one.  Price looks very reasonable.  Anyone have experience with this or comments?
http://www.mauriprosailing.com/us/1-Mauri-Pro-Canvas-Mainsail-Cover-MZ-Style/MPCMZ40.html
I should add, I have no affiliation with the company.

[Noah]

There are lots of  bag/lazy jack combo setups out there and are quite popular, particularily on charter boats. One to consider is the Doyle Stack Pack. Personally I am old school and don't like the looks of sailing with a bag attached to my boom. But, I also don't like the looks of my dodger (unless cruising) either, however I drew a "comfort/convenience over aesthetics" line there, and have kept the dodger.

[Craig Illman]

Mark - Sailrite also makes a kit. http://www.sailrite.com/How-to-Make-a-Sail-Pack-Video

Not that I've done that yet for our boat.

Craig

[Roc]

might also want to try out Mack Sails

http://macksails.com/

ask for Travis. 

[karista]

Mark
I just had a Mack Pack installed. It is very well made, they came out to the boat and took the measurements, so if you are a standard mast they would have your exact measurements. The major difference between a Doyle Stack Pack and the Mack Pack is the Doyle Pack require a loose footed mainsail (Our vintage is not loose footed). The Doyle Pack also is closed on the bottom allowing water to be trapped there. The Mack Pack will accept any mainsail track configuration and is open on the bottom. The cost was $880 for the Pack and $300 for the installation.
Check out their installation video on YouTube.
Noah, it sure is less hassle handling the main sail, so I can put up with the "new look" 

[tgsail1]

Mark- I bought a Mauri-pro sail MZ cover last year for my C380. The size was larger (16.5') and the cost quite a bit lower (I paid less than $600). My experience has been pretty good. The quality is good and the support from Mauri was reasonable. I believe the cover is made in Asia. The sunbrella colors were limited. They were very careful to get the correct track slugs. They were also careful to provide substantial UV protection as well as sailcloth on the inside of the cover for chafe protection. We did have a few issues. The blocks for the lazy jacks are cast metal fittings without rollers or bearings. While unorthodox, after one year we have had no problem with them. The design of the cover makes it difficult to navigate the plate on the head of our sail. This would have been easier if the sail headplate had only one sail slide and would lay flatter. I do not think this is a problem on the c34 because the head of the sail is easily accessed by even the most vertically challenged. Finally, their design differs from other manufacturers in two other important ways: the cover fully encompasses the front of the mast with a zipper front. This means you have to climb the mast a bit to zip it up (not a problem for the c34). It also means you have to stow the excess cover material  next to the sail when under way. This is accomplished with two plastic clips on either side and works ok. This feature also means that no cover fasteners are required for the mast, so installation is easier.  Finally the MZ cover has a small (12"?) lanyard for the top zipper, which again, is probably just fine for the C34, but causes issues with overhead reaching on the C380. Other manufacturers use a zipper loop, so that the zipper can be pulled from anywhere, however, my experience has been that a crisp sail will still need occasional  manual "taming" to not get jammed in the zipper, so I'm not sure just how effective the loops really are.

I have to say though that overall my experience has been positive. I am a little surprised about the considerably higher cost today (1 year later, almost to the day), and might have shopped around some more if that were the case last year. Hope this helps.
tgsail1

[Ken Juul]

most of the stackpack configurations have a zipper on the top to keep rain and sun off the sail when down.  Make sure you are tall enough to zip it.  Had one on a charter boat that I had to put my son on my shoulders for the first half of the boom and I am 6'.