Roller reefing conversion

[lumphammer]

My Achilles 840 roller reefing system rolls the main sail round the boom witha handle through the mast. The mainsail attaches to the mast with bolt rope not slides.

I guess if I wanted to change to a slab reefing system I am going to have to change the boom. Will I also need to modify the mast track?

Any advice gratefully received.

 

[bobgosling]

I have been looking into doing this for my Seal 28. There are several options that I have found.

1) There are slugs available which have the same profile as a bolt rope.

2) There is a track available which is made out of a flexible plastic of some type which slips into the bolt rope slot and converts to a "standard" mast track.

3) Leave it as it is with a bolt rope. Some people have said that the downhaul of the reefing system would be enough to pull the sail down.

I suggest doing a forum search to retrieve previous threads regarding this subject. ( Unfortunately I don't have time to help with links etc as I'm at work at the moment - will log on tonight and try to add some more info ).

My Father-in-law had a quote of around £500 to convert it for us but I never did find out exactly what that entailed ( adding reefing points to the sail , adding lazyjacks , etc ? ).

 

[mainmarine]

I did this on my Seal 22 by using sail slugs, which I attached to the sail with webbing strips sewn on and just adding cheek blocks to both ends of the boom to pull down the reefing pennants. you need something at the bottom of the track to stop the slides falling out, I used a simple split pin to close it off.
It was some time ago but cost was less than £50 including reefing lines
Malc

 

[Salty John]

I converted from roller to slab reefing without changing the boom. I had a new main made at the same time. If you don't have a new main you will need to add cringles at the tack and clew of each reef - I only had one reef which halved the area of the sail. You will need reefing points along the sail - these are small cringles made through a reinforcing patch at intervals along the sail through which a light line passes to tie up the bunt when the sail is reefed.
If you take a line from a cleat at the gooseneck up and through the tack cringle of the first reef and back down the other side this will act as a downhaul and also will secure the new tack without needing a rams horn or somesuch. Otherwise just have a ring sewn in at the tack of the reef and add a tack hook or short pennant at the gooseneck.
At the other end of the boom you will need a strong point, perhaps a pad eye, from which the reefing line starts. (If you have slides on the boom you can start the line by tying it round the boom with a rolling hitch, if you have a bolt rope you will need the pad eye.) It goes up to the clew cringle of the reef, drops back down to the boom, slightly aft of where it started, through a cheek block secured to the boom and then forward to a convenient point near the mast. If it is a largish main you can add a winch at this point, attached to the boom, and then finish at a cleat.
A refinement would be to put the cheek block at the clew on a short length of track so you can tension the foot of the reefed sail. in my case I positioned the cheek block slightly aft of the starting point for the reefing line and this worked well.
If you want two reefs, duplicate the system. One winch will suffice if you put a jammer before it for the first reef.
I'm sure this as clear as mud, but may be of some help!!

 

[homa]

I have a She 33 which originally had boom roller reefing.
All the bits are still there, i.e. gooseneck with through mast spindle and reefing handle on fwd edge of mast.
The boom is original and has had in boom reefing lines fitted, i.e. slots cut in the side of the boom with blocks fitted inside.
The reef lines are attached to the boom end with a bowline (pass through an eye in the foot of the sail) then up to the reefing eye in the leech, then down through the boom slot to a block, then run along inside the boom and exit at the fwd end of boom to a cleat.
I'm not all that keen about the lines running inside the boom because as the sail is reefed it bunches on top of the boom forcing the reef line outwards and causing the line to rub on the slot causing a lot of friction. Although it does look neat when not in use (with the lines inside the boom).
You could alternatively rivet blocks on the outside of the boom - makes reeving the reef lines a lot simpler.
SS claws have been welded to the gooseneck. The mast track is original, however the main runs on slides in the mast track.
All in all not a very expensive job.
I would recommend it.
If it doesn't work you can still reef using the old roller method.

 

[Avocet]

I did the same on Avocet a few years ago. I kept the original boom and just made an adapter at the gooseneck end. PM me if you like and I can e-mail you a few photos. I have access to some machining facillities so it might not be that practical a solution in your case but not impossible.

 

[Guest]

Mmmmmm ....

My boat was partially converted by prev. owner ...... from similar to yours - the through mast roller handle etc.

He added slugs to the main-sail so that slugs go up the slot in mast. He cut and fitted a stopper plate to allow slugs to be inserted into track but after plate refitted they cannot come out.
Sail had two sets of reefing points - light lines fitted.... plus cringles made into sail at luff and leech in line with points.

He then didn't finish it. So left me with a useless system which I always intended to either get rid of or finish.

My intention was to re-instate the boom roller but with a difference. As prev. guy hadn't sorted the outhauls and tack - I wanted to make the mast plate easily removeable - so that slugs could drop out and sail rolled round boom ... then use the reef pendants to a) tidy up the bunt of sail, b) bring boom up level again.

Last time on boat - due to anothers hassling me about it - I got out the small block and lines I had made up years ago to aid in reefing as is ... that is : A light line about 6mm that is clipped to gooseneck area and then up to cringle in sail - to haul it down, without removing slugs from mast. Second line and small block to attach to leech cringle to haul sail taught ... then I tied up bunt with the pendants .... it worked - but I was not happy at all with it.
My original idea of the roller boom as well is still in my mind ... but then kicking strap will need unclipping ..

I hate sail slugs ..... they leave a slot between sail and mast ... odd ones get cocked up in slot and jam, when they break - the sail is cr*p ........