Reefing Systems

[Theis]

I'll have to think about that for a couple months. Although the winds are about right now for a test, it is pretty cold at the lake shore. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Dan Maliszewski]

Anybody use, or know of, the small winches on the boom to assist hauling the reefing lines along the boom when shortening sail? Or some other system? Tough to yank those lines home with any wind at all while luffing!

[mrgnstrn]

the boat I crew on for beer can wednesday's has a reefing line for the leech and one for the luff. the both lead to the base of the mast, and then to the cabintop winches.
as far as a winch on the boom, it might be better (given the circumstances) to install a jiffy reef system (harken one-line reefing or equivalent function) and lead that to the cabintop winch.
that way you can reef from the safety of the cockpit, and still have the muscle of a winch when the main is floppin' and twitchin'.

just do a dry run at the dock, and mark the main halyard with the reefed position with a majic marker. that way, if you need to reef in earnest, just drop the halyard to just below the reefed-point, cinch the reef line, and then tighten up the halyard again. 3 easy steps.

this is just my plan. I am sure there are others out there.

[Bill]

Dan, to see what km is talking about, look at some of the photos of cabin top organization. (use the search button) For example, the reefing system on Ariel #76 uses two lines that are lead to the cockpit through clutches and past a winch. Older setup and I would go with the Harken single line system if I were doing it today. BTW-you can use a double block arrangement on the reefing lines to increase purchase and do away with the winch. Same for the main halyard.

[marymandara]

A friend of ours has an absolutely beautiful Alberg 37 which is fitted with a reefing winch on the boom.

All the same, you need to bear in mind the sheer size of the A37 boom! Fitting even a small winch on the Ariel/Commander(/Triton/Wanderer-Coaster/Renegade/P26/Etc.) boom would be ungainly at best.

Basic slab reefing will work very well for you especially if you lead the reefing lines forward along the boom so they terminate near the mast, and lead the topping lift up the other side so it terminates in similar proximity...this involves doing away with the original running topping lift and replacing it with a wire line that termintaes in a 3-purchase tackle at the lower end. Have a look at a P26 or a P30 for example.

This way, everyting is at the base of the mast more or less, and it is a fairly simple (and fast) matter to reef down...take up on the topping lift, open the gate, ease the main halyard (I am a dinosaur who likes my halyards on the mast, too...), make the tack hook, harden the reef outhaul, harden the halyard, ease the topping lift. My pal has his Renegade set up just like this and can put in a reef in under 2 minutes repeatably.

Best,
Dave

[mbd]

Hey Pete, you don't by any chance have pictures handy of your reefing setup, do you?

[commanderpete]

I've gone through several configurations over the years. The latest is a variation of a single line reefing system.

Only the second reef is set up in these pictures.

I have a small track on the boom with a car and cheeckblock to reef the leech of the sail.

[commanderpete]

The line then goes to a block shackled to the gooseneck car and then up to the reef cringle on the sail

[commanderpete]

There is a block at the cringle which is held there with a large stainless ring on the other side so it doesn't pull through.

Then the line goes to a block shackled to the mast, then down to the deck and back to the cockpit

[commanderpete]

I was going to install cheekblocks on the boom and mast, but first I wanted to make sure it worked.

Does it work? Sort of.

In order to get a tight reef I need to slack the mainsheet, but cranking on the reefing line pulls the end of the boom up. So, it takes some fiddling and I'm not entirely happy.

I'll play with it some more next year

If I had winches on the mast I might do all the reefing there.

[mbd]

Thanks Pete! My current "set up" is a manual affair that basically needs to be done at the mooring before going out. I've been pondering a more user friendly set up.

PS. Thanks for the pics - too many words make it difficult to digest.

[bill@ariel231]

Pete

the block at the cringle is an interesting, is reefing on C-200 a single line solution? do you tie off the clew with a separate line? maybe this is worthy of a technical thread....

cheers,
bill@ariel231

[mbd]

From CPete's Gallery thread...

Pete
the block at the cringle is an interesting, is reefing on C-200 a single line solution? do you tie off the clew with a separate line? maybe this is worthy of a technical thread....
cheers,
bill@ariel231

Great idea Bill. I've been thinking the same thing myself. This one seemed like a good thread to bump for the discussion that was starting here in Grace's Gallery thread ...and to add more pics of reefing setups - like YOURS and Admin Bill's perhaps...

Good stuff!

[commanderpete]

Thanks Mike. Hopefully Bill will come along and transfer replies 130+ over there.

A diagram might be helpful. This shows a typical single line reefing system.

I used a block at the cringle to cut down on the friction a little, and also to keep the line on one side of the mast so I could keep an eye on everything while reefing.

The boom also has to slide up on its mast track during reefing, which is why I put a block on the gooseneck. It doesn't work too well so I push the boom up by hand.

Still a work in progress. So far it's not an improvement over the usual leech line + reef hook.

[Lucky Dawg]

My single-line reefing looks largely like the above. Reefing on Lucky Dawg is complicated slightly by my main's attachment to the mast via (I am going to wow you now with my vast sailing venacular knowledge) "metal thingies"/cars attached to a mast track. Such that I can flake my main under normal circumstances, I have a stopper at the bottom of the main track - which ends about 15 inches above the top of the boom. When I drop it, the cars stop there - otherwise, the whole main falls off the track when dropped. When I reef, I remove the stopper, ease the main, and then use my jiffy reefing lines to secure everything. Removing the stopper can be slightly hairy when the wind is high, but we have previously discussed the value of heaving to... If the wind drops, I need to re-thread the cars onto the track as I raise the main. I don't have cheek blocks on the mast, so I make my cunningham block and cleat on the mast below the boom do double duty to hold the reefing line down.
I have seen folks with permanently attached lines knotted through the reefing grommets. They're unsightly flopping around on a low wind day, but they seem helpful under reefing conditions.

p.s. the stopper car idea was my step-fathers - after I mentioned the annoyance of threading all of the cars onto the track at each raising of the main. I'm really not that bright. I am grateful for the suggestion. He and my mom sail a pristine Cheoy Lee Bermuda "Orient Star" from Sedgwick, Maine (previous owners pictured).