Another reefing question

[Norman_E]

I have fitted twin line reefing to the deep reef, and it works well. There are not enough deck organisers or clutches to do the same for the first reef, so I propose to put in a single line system using a pair of blocks back to back inside the boom, and blocks fitted at the sail cringles. My main question is this. The existing reefing lines are 14mm braid (el cheapo brand made in Turkey) The mainsail is about 40 square metres (my guess as total sail area is quoted at 93 sq.m and the genoa is the larger sail). What size reefing lines can I use bearing in mind that the loads will be taken by a double length due to the use of blocks at the cringles?

It is possible that because of the difficulty of getting a vertical pull down from the inner end of the boom to the luff cringle, I might have to take the line down from the boom end to the mast foot then back up to the cringle, and down again. This is to avoid the reefing line trying to pull the sail slides out of the mast. Has anyone done this?

 

[MarkyR]

Hi, I too am looking for some help and guidence. I have been told to keep everything simple and stick with a two line system but I have problems with the luff cringle popping of the horn. I have thought about having a separate line for the luff and one for the leach. My concern is how to pull down the luff and lock it off without using the horn. I thought about using a standing block on the tabernacle and running a line up through the cringle and back down to the mast base, would you know if this would work or would I the pull be to verticle?
Sorry to jump into your post but it saves me asking the same sort of questions.

 

[Norman_E]

What you have to avoid (and the reason for my second paragraph) is the reefing line at the luff pulling the sail away from the mast. At the same time the leach line must exert a backwards pull to achieve some tension in the foot of the sail

For twin line reefing on my deep reef I tied off a line at the mast foot, took it up and through the cringle, back down to a block at the mast foot thence via the deck organisers to a clutch. A separate leach line goes from a fixing under the boom, via the leach cringle, a pulley inside the boom end, then through the boom to the mast end, down to a mast foot block and back to the clutch next to the luff line. You can grab both together and haul them in after releasing the halyard, the adjust them individually after tightening the halyard.

 

[jb2006]

Can you not just re use the first reef? I havent tried it yet (I should have done it when we tried the storm sail in a F7 in the autumn). The plan is to larksfoot a climbers sling onto the boom to pass through the leech cringle with a shackle onto the single line first reef and a similar arrangement at the luff, using a much shorter sling.

 

[roly_voya]

I have a similar two line setup and found that it works well if you tie the luff line onto the horn on one side, up through the cringle then simply run it through a shackle attached to the mast close below the goosneck. In fact I have also tried it with the line tied straight into the cringle which actually gave a bit less friction but tended to pull the cringle below the boom when reefed. One piont against single line reefing (apart from the abviouse problems of blocks jamming in the boom etc) is that you cannot adjust the foot and luff cringles seperatly which make it impossible to set the sail correctly. Whether this matters depends on the boat and how fussy you are. I find in most winds I want about half the tesion in the foot compared to the luff otherwise the sail foot looses shape and power but on the third reef it gets crancked up to gat the sail as flat as possible.

As an alterbnative to having to go for single line or change the boom ends have you though about fitting an external turning bock. you probably want a conduit or some arrangment to sot the line looping down below the boom and snagging but it will give a better lead.

As to line size I would use 8mm or 10 at the most for that size main, you could probably get away with 6mm with low stretch line. I would think that the 14mm is generation a lot of exess friction particularly through the deck organisers and was probably only used because it was bough as a cheap batch to do both halyards and control lines.

 

[charles_reed]

Have a look at this site

http://www.harken.com/rigtips/reefing.php

I'm using single line on a 32m2 fully battened main, with the addition of Airlite blocks instead of the line going through the reefing cringles on the sail.

The additional blocks dramatically reduce the frictional resistance.

It has been in use for 4 years, doing about 25K miles of single-handing in the Med, without any problems.

Only challenge is where to put the excess line when reefed, especially as I've just done it as well on my 2nd reef (you might consider changing both existing).

 

[William_H]

Regarding the reef line at the luff. Yes this must be pulled forward to react against the out haul to enable the sail to be flat along the foot.
While reefing horns will fix the tack reefing eye very well they can fall off and must be fitted with a trip to the mast.
I use a separate line from the mast up through the tack reefing eye and back to a turning block hence to a halyard winch.
The trick is that I have mounted 2 small saddles (a cheek block would be better) below the gooseneck and as far forward on the side of the mast as possible. One saddle to tie the rope onto the other to guide the rope forward after leaving the eyelet at about 45 degree angle. ie the rope pulls down and forward. This pulls the luff of the sail into line and relieves any stress on the sliders. (I use bolt rope)
Of course this must be duplicated for multiple reefs. I tend only to use one.

Certainly 2 line reefing is the way to go with 2 lines back to halyard winches. I can reef in seconds from the cockpit. good luck olewill