Continuous line reefing

[Impaler]

I have a Hunter Ranger with continuous line reefing, i.e. one reefing line pulls down both luff and leech. However it’s a bit of a nightmare as there is so much friction in the system. Taking out and to a lesser extent putting in a reef requires a lot of faffing about trying to free up lines passing through double blocks at the foot of the mast.
I am thinking of going back to a reef hook on the goose neck and leaving the reefing lines attached at the leech only. Anyone had any experience? I have heard of blocks fitted to the sail where the reefing cringles are but that seems like overkill.

 

[jimi]

I've got the same system and have experience of two mains, one without a block on the reefing cringle and one with blocks. The one with blocks is a pleasure to handle (well almost!!) as the blocks take out a lot of the friction. WOrth trying here's a piccie someone posted on the cruiser forum site

 

[Impaler]

That looks smart which of course means expensive!!

 

[William_H]

i suggest you go to 2 line reefing. ie one line for the clew as is usual plus another for the clew.
Many use the hook or ramshorn method of attaching the tack. I like to be able to do all reefing and unreefing from the cockpit.

One tip is to use the tack eyelet as a pulley So one side of the line is fixed at the mast and the other side goes down to the deck to a turning block hence back to the cockpit.

However for a well reefed sail you need to pull the tack forward against the mast and against the aft pull of the line at the clew.

This requires that the line at the tack where it is attached to the mast be attached below and well forward and likewise you fit a little block to the mast below and well forward of the gooseneck to provide pull forwad as well as down.

Or put another way the luff of the mainsail should stay in a straight line with plenty of outhaul on the reef. A fixed ramshorn will do that but a pulley on a tackle will not and you can't rely on the bolot rope or slugs in the mast track to resist the aft pull of the clew reef line.

good luck olewill

 

[EdWingfield]

I had a system such as yours and suffered the same friction losses and poor sail shape when reefed. As you suggest, I routed the reefing line to clew only. My sail has a block so I rigged up a dinghy type mainsheet to pull the foot tight.

Reefing now means a trip to the mast but at least I have a flat ish sail.

 

[jakeroyd]

Davellis
I also have a Ranger 245 and have struggled with the same problem. Sometimes getting the last few feet of main up is a real bu**er. I do it with the boom raised to about 30 degrees upwards so that you only have the friction from the front reefing lines to cope with when raising the main.
This helps. Then once the main is up and the luff has been set up I pull the boom down by hand from the cockpit.
Having said all that most times it works OK , but some times it still gives me problems.
I aslo try to avoid pulling all the reefing lines back when stowing the sails , you only have to pull it all out again when the sails next go up. I know's they then dangle about all over the cockpit which is not seamanlike but it also helps.
It's about the only thing I do not like about my Ranger.
apart from having to shine a torch on top of the fuel tank to see the level , took me a while to work that one out (thanks to a forumite)
Once up I find reefing in and out not so much of a problem.
The solution of fitting blocks looks like a really good idea.
I am considering this

 

[Impaler]

Thanks everyone, I think I'll try the hook with maybe a separate luff line. Time for experimentation. The hook is only £8 from Z Spars.

 

[blackbeard]

I've improved the system on my 245 by:
small ball-bearing blocks attached to luff cringle (also on leach cringle but that's less important);
use of a much lighter line (5 or 6 mm).
Now, with some tweaking, works reasonably well.
Original, where you sometimes had to stand up to pull lines through, was dangerous.