How to improve my slab reefing on an old wooden yacht!

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MarkyR

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I have a 1930's wooden masted/boomed sloop which has been converted from roller to slab reefing on the sail. The problem is that no blocks or lines have been fitted to the boom for the reefing lines. I was thinking about a 2 line reefing system using 2 cheek blocks secured to the boom like the barton system but without the slider track. I am not sure how to do it as I would need to secure one end of the line to the boom or block before passing under the boom and up to the cringle. The Barton system has a becket on the blocks to allow the line to be attached. Any help or advice on fitting a simple reefing system to a wooden boom would be appreciated.
 
A lot of old books show the system clearly, e.g. "Cruising Under Sail" by Eric Hiscock. This has photos of the set up. I think this book is still in print but you should have no problem finding a second-hand copy on eBay, Amazon, Abe Books etc.

It's a good book to have, quite apart from the reefing section.

As a matter of fact, Hiscock preferred roller reefing to ordinary reefing but he describes both.
 
I fitted a plate to the side of a roller boom (alloy), which has the cheek blocks bolted to it. The ends of the reefing lines pass under the boom and are tied to sliding rings on the underside track. The whole affair is throughbolted with fairing blocks.

I daresay you could attach rings or eyebolts to the underside of your boom to take the end of the reefing lines.
 
Thanks all, my main concern is that I will be fixing it wood and am concerned about the ammount of strain on the fixing. Is you eye fitted directly under the boom as I thought about fitting something next to the block. Also, how far forward do your lines run? I want to keep the lines accessable from the cockpit.
 
This might give you some ideas - I used it when fitting my system. The cheekblock and padeye was screwed and glued, the winch was through bolted.
If you want to take the lines back to the cockpit then you need to add lines and fairleads to do that. I prefer to reef at the mast and save the complication.
reefingsystem502x600.jpg


Apologies to Bruce Bingham for nicking his sketch from Dan Spurr's Boat Book!
 
The eyes on mine are in the track below the boom, but in case that didn't work, I drilled shackle holes in the plate. If you intend to have fixed cheek blocks, then you could put them on wooden fairing blocks. You could then drill a hole vertically through the block and thread the end of the reefing line through, with a stopper knot, from below.

My lines run forward to rope clutches on the boom by the mast.
 
A picture or a thousand words!

Chute6c.jpg


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Sorry the second one is a merged photo hence the fluzzy bits and the break. I have two Barton cheek blocks with becket. The slab reefing line is tied to the becket, goes under the boom to the other side, up to the reefing pennant and down the other side of the sail to the block (I got the roller bearing type for better movement), round the block and then through some eyes to keep the reefing line in order to a jam cleat near the gooseneck. Issues - position of the cheek block is important; there needs to be a nice combination between downhaul and outhaul so the said is pulled down and out at the same time. Too much outhaul and the sail is hard to pull down in any decent wind and too much downhaul and the foot is too slack. Worth a bit of trial on a still day with a chum. Another point is droopy reef lines; they do tend to sag between the eyes when under full sail. This is probably because the jam cleats only really work well when there is some tension on the line. And of course under full sail I want the reefing line slack - just. But they work well as a reefing system.

Ignore the double loop of cord near the end of the boom; thats the excessive end of the outhaul.
 
My old (1946) 21ft bermudian classic (Harkaway) has a wooden boom with three slab reefing points on the boom. I will try to take some photos in the next week or so.

There is a wooden block on each side of the (flat sided) boom at each reefing point. From memory, the block is about 1 1/2 inches deep by 9 inches long and about 1 inch thick, but tapers in thickness to nothing over 3 inches at either end. On one side of the boom the block is relieved against the boom and a sheave is housed in it and on the opposite side, there is a hole drilled up through the block for the end of the reefing pennant.

The blocks are fixed to the boom by three bronze rivets which pass right through blocks and boom; one forms the spindle of the sheave. The three pairs of blocks are spaced out down the aft part of the boom, so that the pennants can exert a downwards and aftwards force on the reefing cringles. On mine, they are also staggered on opposite sides of the boom, so that two lines run forward along the port side of the boom whilst the other runs forward along the starbord side.

Each reefing pennant is run along the boom, up round the sheave, through the reefing cringle in the leech of the sail and down through the hole in the opposite block, to be made off with a stopper knot.

On mine, the free end of each pennant is terminated on a cleat near the gooseneck, but it could be turned around another block there and led down, around another at deck level by the mast and back to a cleat in the cockpit. Alternatively, it could be made into single-line reefing and could be turned up at the gooseneck to pass through a sheave fixed through the reefing cringle in the luff before being led down through the sheave to a cleat.
 
Just a few comments. You might consider fitting the cheek block and the saddle rope attachment as high as possible on the boom to minimise injury should the boom hit someones head. A flat sided boom will give you a headache but a protrusion will go deep into the skull.
If it is a loose footed main then the tail of the reefing line can be tied around the boom but it is better to tie it to a saddle or deadeye as you need power in pulling the clew aft as well as down. Good luck olewill.
 
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