Rigging tension on a trailer sailer - how on earth do I judge it?

[VicS]

Right, it seems clear now that I've utterly misunderstood what slab reefing is. I thought it was just a row of grommets with ties through them. That's what a friend has on his (old) boat, and another friend had on his Cornish Shrimper.

Hmm Plan B, then...

I have a row of smaller cringles , grommets or whatever the correct name is , which have minimal reinforcing, across the sail but they are only there to tidy it up. They are not designed to take any load.

Sorry sail not at home or I'd photograph that. ....Correction photo to follow

 

[VicS]

Note the size of the reinforcing patches ( 3 layers of cloth) at the luff and leech

 

[macwester_kelpie]

On my FOXCUB 18 sailboat I want to buy a reefing claw for the boom; the inner diameter? Advantages and disadvantages of the system?Thank you.

 

[VicS]

On my FOXCUB 18 sailboat I want to buy a reefing claw for the boom; the inner diameter? Advantages and disadvantages of the system?Thank you.

This is the claw ring I used for the kicking strap on my Sea Wych. One of the advantages of converting to slab reefing was that I was then able to fit a kicking strap directly to the boom

I assume you want it for the mainsheet. Same size would be suitable

 

[William_H]

Talk about resurrecting an old thread. But info still stands valid. Good luck with Vic in finding a good home for his boom claw. I would however strongly recommend slab reefing. I think one decent sized reef should be adequate for this size of boat especially being fractional rig the main will be fairly small anyway compared to jib.
The Barton reefing kit IMHO is horrible. The tracks on the side of the boom do allow adjustment of pull point for clew reefing line however this is not so critical and can be estimated with the sail on the boom and the tack properly attached. If anything err on the side of further aft to give more outhaul. If the sail rises off the boom this does not matter much and a additional loop of rope around the boom can eleviate load on the reef line and adjust the set perfectly.
My biggest beef with the cheek blocks on track is that they would be deadly if you hit someone,s head with the boom. The raised parts going into a skull more than a smooth round boom side. I used an internal sheave box as used for jib or spin halyard. This is set into the top of the boom slightly off centre at the appropriate place with a saddle attached on one side so that reefing line comes out of the boom through the eyelet and back to the saddle giving a 2 purchase. You then need another sheave box for the bottom front of the boom to bring out the clew reefing line downwards to a turning block on the deck then back to the cockpit. I would advocate a tack reefing line rather than the rams horns.
On a small sail like this the points in the sail for tieing a string to tidy up the bunt of the spare sail are not so critical. Indeed you can do without. However I find the front one about 15 to 20cms aft of the tack eyelet is the most critical tidying up the bunt so it is not catching the wind when beating. Another perhaps midway is all you need as you can tie up the aft end through the clew eyelet.
Re head friendly boom I also fitted webbing strap around the boom for main sheet attachment rather than stainless steel saddle. Indeed the boom was replaced with a carbon fibre tube (a broken mast) taking about 3kg out of the boom weight so again less risk of head damage.
boom1.jpg (22.6 KB) Here is a picture of the front bottom exit box actually a twin to carry full sail outhaul line.
I hope these ideas might help someone olewill