Do we still use boom roller reefing?

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mikeinkwazi

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I have a new (old) Twister 28 with boom roller reefing and am seriously thinking of having the sail altered for slab reefing. I have sailed since the '70's and Never used a boom roller!!:eek: So, what do think, should I change things or give it a go?
 
I've sailed many boats which had been converted so always thought that boom rolling was no good. A couple of years ago I started crewing on a Trapper 500 which had not been converted. We did very well in the races, especially when we were reefing for upwind legs and shaking them out for downwind.
I am now converted and would say give it a try, you may get a pleasant surprise. The key to getting a neat roll is to have the boom at the right height when rolling.
A friend of mine has just spent a load of money on in mast furling to replace slab reefing on a Hunter.
Allan
 
mikeinkwazi said:
I have a new (old) Twister 28 with boom roller reefing and am seriously thinking of having the sail altered for slab reefing. I have sailed since the '70's and Never used a boom roller!!:eek: So, what do think, should I change things or give it a go?
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Mine's got boom roller reefing and it's a bit pants, to be honest. It's not something I'd recommend, although I can't justify the expense of getting it changed.
 
Why not give it a try?
I used to have a Folkboat, and fitted it with boom roller reefing. The key seemed to be to have the boom shaped so that it's size was reduced where the bolt-rope wound round it. Fine and easy with a wooden boom. It worked very well, and the main set very well reefed, without the boom drooping.
 
A Twister is a good seaworthy cruiser capable of making decent headway to windward. It deserves to have a proper reefed main and changing to slab could be the best upgrade to start with. If you can make it single-line, so much the better. Most of us used roller reefing in the '70s only because we didn't know any better.
 
Many years ago I converted a roller boom on a nic 32 to slab reefing using a kit from Barton, had the sail modded by Arun.

Main benefit was better efficiency of kicking strap.
 
My Hurley24 has had roller reefing 1973 `til now,and, after a season with me, it is presently being converted to slab. The roller reefing was ludricously awkward,or impossible single -handed when the wind got up.
The conversion shouldn`t be too expensive,you could do most of it yourself,cheaper than the kits available.
As written above,a Twister deserves better than a collaboration between Heath Robinson and Mickey Mouse,cheers Jerry.
 
jerrytug said:
My Hurley24 has had roller reefing 1973 `til now,and, after a season with me, it is presently being converted to slab. The roller reefing was ludricously awkward,or impossible single -handed when the wind got up.
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And when the wind gets up is when you need to use it.

I had a Trapper 500, which another poster references, with roller boom reefing and sailed it single-handed extensively. Some of my worst horror scenarios were trying to reef in the instant storms that can occur in the Adriatic with a flogging mainsail, a ship that would not keep head to wind and a boom that could not rotate because the gooseneck angle to the through-the-mast reefing handle was too much for the articulated joint to turn.

Now I have an in-boom reefing system - no comparison.
 
jerrytug said:
My Hurley24 has had roller reefing 1973 `til now,and, after a season with me, it is presently being converted to slab. The roller reefing was ludricously awkward,or impossible single -handed when the wind got up.
The conversion shouldn`t be too expensive,you could do most of it yourself,cheaper than the kits available.
As written above,a Twister deserves better than a collaboration between Heath Robinson and Mickey Mouse,cheers Jerry.
Click to expand...

Well most votes agree with my previous leaning in favour of slab. I converted three of my boats over the years, so no worries there. I used a kit once on a wood boom, but could have just got the bits. Not sure about single line though as it seems to have a lot of friction and /or may need a new boom (too much money!) Thanks for the input:)
 
I've used roller reefing on my last boat for fifteen years & never had a problem with it.Simple strait forward & a minimum of fuss,why change what ai'nt broke!

My current boat has through the mast roller reefing & provision for slab but the first line of reefing has one eye pulled out because obviously someone did'nt get the tension right.
I think there is a lot of fashion snobbery involved with this kind of stuff & this is how manufactures/yachting magazines make their money.They won't be pulling the wool down over my eyes I am perfectly happy with what I have got!
 
Do we still use boom roller reefing?

Last boat had roller this boat has slab...

Would prefare slab, but if its working and your not racing is there really the need or cost of change unless you are replacing the sail?

There are tricks to getting it to reef properly and some systems are really not user friendly...

Depends on your budget and how big your need for speed is IMHO..
 
Some roller reefing does seem to work reasonably well.

No serious problems with the through mast system fitted by Westerly to the Berwick.

BUT

There is a tendency for the luff rope and slides to bunch up at the goose neck end.
With a deep reef the boom end starts to droop

There is no way to tension the new foot

The kicker cannot be used.

The roller reefing on my own boat is "pants" ... I have converted to slab reefing.
 
Roller reeling

I have through the mast roller reefing on my Boomaroo 25 (Aussie version of a Catalina 25). I find reefing is fairly simple - main halyard and winch at the mast - head to wind with the autohelm, hold main halyard with one hand and wind down with the other. Have to remember to unclip the kicker first. I also have slab reefing points but haven't used them.
The main problem for me is that when I get ready to go out, I have to get all the slides in the track and a pin through to stop them dropping out. This means I have all of the main flapping about on deck. I deal with this by slab folding it on the boom and hold it on with bungy sail ties until I'm ready to hoist. Not ideal!
Sailorbaz
Edit: forgot to add that I met a guy in Queensland with the same system but he had replaced the handle with the wheel off a golf trolley without the tyre. He had some turns of rope round it led back to the cockpit and the main halyard also. He reckoned it was simple to reef without going forward.
 
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Allan said:
I've sailed many boats which had been converted so always thought that boom rolling was no good. A couple of years ago I started crewing on a Trapper 500 which had not been converted. We did very well in the races, especially when we were reefing for upwind legs and shaking them out for downwind.
I am now converted and would say give it a try, you may get a pleasant surprise. The key to getting a neat roll is to have the boom at the right height when rolling.
A friend of mine has just spent a load of money on in mast furling to replace slab reefing on a Hunter.
Allan
Click to expand...

My 19'er has it and I like it too... simple to use.... slab reefing systems I've used all seem to suffer from stiff/stuck rope syndrome....
 
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