Kaimusailing

Sailcloth to make patches for the jib reef points and clew and luff patches arrived. Sail hardware that was ordered at the same time as the cloth wasn't in the package although it was listed on the packing list and only one tracking number was provided. I called sailmakerssupply.com and they will reship the hardware. I suspect they had sent the order in two packages with one tracking number and the second package is in the boatyard's mailbox. Larger packages get delivered to the office, smaller packages get put in the mailbox which is locked and only one person has the key. Those deliveries can take one or two days more.
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I used a couple of wine boxes that were carefully taken apart and spread out to enable drawing patterns that were roughly 30" X 15". I calculated how much area I actually needed and it looks like we will have plenty of cloth. The cloth is very strong carbon reinforced laminate. I also obtained 6' of Dura Flex nylon web tubing, 1 1/4" diameter, from the boatyard. It is normally used as sheathing for wiring and hydraulic hoses. It will work fine as web straps for the reef clew cringle and tack cringle. Doc of Doc's Chop Shop gave me a roll of double sided tape to hold the patches together while sewing.
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The hems at the forward and aft ends of the stack pack were attached to the mast and the strut at the end of the boom using Common Sense twist lock studs. Each stud has two fasteners and I chose stainless blind rivets to attach them. I was hoping to avoid the tedious drilling and tapping holes for machine screws. Surely the pop rivets would be easier and faster. It was not to be. The clearance between the fastener holes and the stud itself was too narrow to allow the rivet tool to snug up against the head of the rivet. The tool would pull the shank of the pop rivet and thus the rivet itself out of the hole. The solution to this problem is to take a rivet apart, take the shank out of the rivet, then cut the rivet so that it can be used as a spacer, placed over another rivet's shank, and then the rivet can be popped with the tool and not be lifted out of its hole. This worked but the spacer was small and disappeared after the rivet was popped. I made another spacer and attached a strip of tape so that I could find it after popping rivets. It worked but it took 4 hours to attach the 4 studs on the strut at the boom.
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The next day I hoisted an 8 foot step ladder aboard so that I could attach the studs on the mast for the stack pack. The boom is about 6 1/2 feet above deck and the stack pack goes up another couple of feet at the mast, so I needed the larger ladder. It was also unsteady. It was difficult to keep steady, drill the holes where they needed to be, and operate the pop rivet tool. The stainless rivets require a fair amount of strength to pop them and I was imagining losing my balance. Eventually the studs were attached and the stack pack attached to the studs. It fit well. I added a stainless strap eye to the aft surface of the mast just above the stack pack zipper. A small block will be attached to the strap and another will be attached to the strut on the boom. A line will be run to the zipper and through the blocks so that the zipper can be zipped without climbing up 8 feet above deck.
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I tested out the sewing machine on the sail cloth for the patches. It is carbon fiber reinforced mylar. It sewed fine up to about 4 layers of cloth. I changed my plans on the sewing pattern to offset the edges of the 5 layers of patches that will be sewn to create the reef cringles at the tack and leech of the sail. Normally the patches are sewn on starting with the second largest, then the next smaller and so on, then the largest is sewn over all the rest to finish the patches. I offset the patches so that the smallest went on with space for the rest of the patches to overlap each other. This way the sewing machine would be going through just one layer of mylar and the cloth of the sail. The double sided tape was also offset so that the needle wouldn't have to sew through it.
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At first the sewing machine had a great deal of trouble due to the thread getting stuck between the needle and the mylar, as a result the top thread couldn't pull the bottom thread snug to make a satisfactory zig zag stitch. I sprayed the thread with silicone spray and that did the trick, the stitches started looking better. I had to rip out a lot of the first stitching. There were also problems guiding the cloth through the machine in reverse because I needed an extra hand to hold the reverse lever down and guide the cloth. It was better to just sew in the forward direction and not try to use the reverse function. The resultant wiggly sewing was explained as "decorative".
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The image is of the stack pack. The lazy jacks are tied to it temporarily and the mainsail is inside. Photo from Galaxy smart phone.