Reefing set-up

[KAL]

I've got 4 reefs, the 1st two are single-line, the last 2 slab reefs with conventional rams-horn and leech line. I use 8mm dyneema for all of them.
I've single-handed for the last 24 years.

I would treat with considerable suspicion the horror stories about single-line reefing - invariably due to botched designs. I would also treat with derision the "expert advice" that you'd need a new boom.
If you look on the Harken US site you'll see how you can put 2 single-line reefs on your current boom.

There are disadvantages, 1. you need a number of blocks, all of which need to be high-quality ball-race design - each line will need 1 on the leech of the sail, 2 cheek blocks on the boom, one on the mast and, being sensible, one at the mast-foot and tidies back to the cockpit. 2. you are limited, by the immense length of string which arrives in the cockpit, x8 as much as the depth of the reef. 3. you have to use some craft to get the correct tension on leech, luff and vang.
The benefits are immense - 1. it takes about 28" for me to put in the first reef, and that is with a fully battened main. 2. You retain the facility to use mast-bend to flatten your sail, 3. Weight aloft is minimised. 4. You are able to have considerably more leech than with in-mast furling 5. you can have far greater drive with a fully-battened sail. 6. it costs 5-10% of the outlay required for the two other solutions you're considering.
The only one, IMHO, to have any benefits is in-mast reefing - it avoids having to lift and drop the main.

PS Before we get onto boom roller reefing, just think about why it's been shelved since its heyday in the late 60s/early 70s.

Thanks Charles - that's a really useful post. It was the rigger who said I'd need a new boom (Z-spars as it happens). I'll have a good look at the links Comrade and Vyv have posted as well. :encouragement:

Would I be right in saying that a double-line system might be even simpler, if I were to replace the existing pennants with smaller diameter dyneema, and add extra lines for the cringles, all fed back to the cockpit? I guess I'm a bit chairy of doing the single-line thing myself in case I get it all wrong and end up not being able to sail due to duffing up my boom, so to speak...

 

[prv]

I replaced all my single reefing lines with thinner dyneema and it made a huge difference.

Our third reef (essential) is two line reefing. For some reason I can 't quite figure, the boom is too short to allow for a sinle line third reef.

In Selden single-line reefing, the tack pendant is a single strop going from the tack, round a sheeve at the gooseneck, then spliced onto a moving block in the boom. So it cannot be any longer than the length of the boom, or the block would run out of travel. On most sails, a worthwhile third reef is deeper than the length of the foot, so it has to have separate tack and clew pendants.

On Kindred Spirit we had two two-line reefs, which was simple and worked very well. In conditions where a sloop might need a third reef, we stowed the main completely and re-set the mizzen, sailing under that plus jib and staysail (or even just staysail and reefed mizzen, though it never came to that). That was a very snug and safe-feeling rig, with the boom secured in the crutch and acting as a handhold in the cockpit, both running backstays made up and the mainmast under relatively little load.

I was distrusting of single-line reefs, having had some snarl-ups on poorly-maintained charter boats. I've been partly converted by experience with Ariam, which came with single-line and can't really use two-line due to the fixed number of channels under the windscreen. The system works ok, but there is still some friction and I do plan to switch to thinner dyneema to help with that.

Pete

 

[vyv_cox]

"Later"? What happened to prior art?

Something I could never understand. I installed my first system after reading an article in a magazine that showed the layout. It seemed that there was little practical experience with it but it looked workable with little to lose if it proved unsuccessful. I made my first one, tying single blocks together for balance blocks. It must have been four or five years later that I read of Z-Spars' patent of it. Owning a couple of patents of my own I was most surprised that they got away with it.

 

[vyv_cox]

Genuine question: What's the advantage of the balance block over a simple line? I can only see that two extra blocks is more friction that a simple line would avoid.

Considerably less line to pull through. Not sure about the reduced friction though, looking at the route a single line has to take it goes through as many turns as the balance block method. One reason I think the balance block is so good is that the tack is on a 1:1 ratio, whereas the clew is 2:1. The tack therefore pulls down at the same rate as the halyard is released, it can be cleated and the clew then pulled in, using a winch if necessary (it usually is with mine). The whole job is simple and straightforward.

 

[KAL]

Considerably less line to pull through. Not sure about the reduced friction though, looking at the route a single line has to take it goes through as many turns as the balance block method. One reason I think the balance block is so good is that the tack is on a 1:1 ratio, whereas the clew is 2:1. The tack therefore pulls down at the same rate as the halyard is released, it can be cleated and the clew then pulled in, using a winch if necessary (it usually is with mine). The whole job is simple and straightforward.

Pardon my ignorance Vyv, but you must have had to take one end of the boom off to insert the balance blocks. Was that a case of breaking the rivets?

Also, how do you know how/where to position the balance block in the boom, as getting it wrong would mean having to break into it again to make adjustments?

Sorry to be a pain, but not having done it I suppose I can't picture it in my head...

 

[oldvarnish]

How do you rig a double-line setup?

Is the small dyneema line harder to handle?

My two line reefing is dead simple: one line from the cringle on the luff, down to a block at the foot of the mast, then aft to the cockpit. Second line made off to the boom, up through the cringle on the leech, down to a block, along the boom (inside or out), down to foot of mast via a block, then back to the cockpit.

My last boat had all the reefing lines outside the boom, which I liked because you can see everything. My current single line reefing has pulleys in the boom which I can't get at, and they make me nervous. Having said that, I've done 18,000 miles rigged like that with no problems.

Dyneema is no problem to handle - it's not all that thin, just thinner than the usual stuff.

 

[oldvarnish]

The system works ok, but there is still some friction and I do plan to switch to thinner dyneema to help with that.

Pete

My new mainsail has blocks on the leech and that gets rid of a lot of friction.

 

[vyv_cox]

Pardon my ignorance Vyv, but you must have had to take one end of the boom off to insert the balance blocks. Was that a case of breaking the rivets?

Also, how do you know how/where to position the balance block in the boom, as getting it wrong would mean having to break into it again to make adjustments?

Sorry to be a pain, but not having done it I suppose I can't picture it in my head...

I drilled out the rivets and replaced them with Rivnuts and bolts.

With the mainsail hoisted unreefed the balance blocks are fully aft. However, since all knots are outside the boom it is a simple matter to adjust as necessary. As said earlier in the thread, this arrangement can only be used for reefs 1 and 2 because the maximum length of line that can be accommodated inside the boom (2 x its length, less a bit) is not enough to haul a third reef clew fully down.

 

[LadyInBed]

Before changing your reefing system, if you haven't already, change your sail battens to full length.
I have found that it makes slab reefing a lot easier and improves the sail shape, giving the sail a whole new lease of life.

 

[Javelin]

Before changing your reefing system, if you haven't already, change your sail battens to full length.
I have found that it makes slab reefing a lot easier and improves the sail shape, giving the sail a whole new lease of life.

Hmm, if you have a rig where you can induce bend with a adjustable backstay I'd steer clear of fully battened.
The idea being that as the wind builds you flatten the sail by bending the mast, applying cunninham tension and only when you are subsequently over powered again do you reef.

Fully battened mains are not as easy to detune with the power being either on or off.
Soft sails are a lot easier to reduce power incrementally.

 

[LadyInBed]

Hmm, if you have a rig where you can induce bend with a adjustable backstay I'd steer clear of fully battened.
The idea being that as the wind builds you flatten the sail by bending the mast, applying cunninham tension and only when you are subsequently over powered again do you reef.

Fully battened mains are not as easy to detune with the power being either on or off.
Soft sails are a lot easier to reduce power incrementally.

On my tub, when I need to depower I need to reef!