Barton slab reefing

[Burnham_Bob]

Anyone ever fitted one of these? I've been given one but I'm not even sure which way round it goes. Do the reefing lines go for'ard to the mast (that's what I've been used to). Do they line simply tie off on cleats?

 

[bedouin]

The usual way of fitting these is to mount the cleats on the boom near the mast. The blocks are of course mounted at near the aft end of the boom, the reefing lines go forward along the outside of the boom to the cleats.

 

[Burnham_Bob]

thanks bedouin......the thing that is confusing me is that the blocks have a fairlead built in and I was wondering whether the reefing line went in our out through it, but working it out it's probably in as the sail will be flapping about and the only way to ensure that the line stays correctly poitioned pulling through the block is to lead the line in that way......i think!

 

[Avocet]

I tied the reefing line to the metal "U" shape and passed it from there, under the boom, up to the reefing point, through the eyelet in the sail and back down to the pulley on the slab reefing extrusion then on to a cleat on the boom. I don't know if this is how you do it but it gives a lot more purchase on the sail and pulls it down centrally on the boom. Also, I thought I'd be clever and save myself a walk up to the mast by putting the cleats halfway along the boom. I've nearly lost a couple of teeth as a result of this because, of course, the boom flaps about like a mad thing when you're taking in a reef!

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Avocet on 09/02/2003 21:39 (server time).</FONT></P>