Roller Reefing main.

[graham]

Sailing back from Portishead with Seedog we needed a deep reef in the main for a while with a fresh wind against the spring tide. The main set pretty badly but still got us there.

Did a bit of experimenting earlier this morning with foam pipe lagging rolled into the after part of the sail as it rolls onto the boom.The result was prettty good as you can see in the pics.One really savage little squall ripped a bit of the genoa sacrificial strip off so thats in for repair. Despite that Im well pleased to now have a system of getting a decently set main when reefed.

Ive had Wife and youngest son home ill so felt a bit guilty slipping out for a few hours this morning.They seem much better after getting rid of me for a few hours /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Thanks to Edd on the "Lewis Alexander" for the photos.

just need to make a spare roller reefing handle now or the one I have will inevitably go overboard at the worst possible moment /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[zlod]

Any chance of explaining to me / us basically how this roller reefing main system works? I assume that the boom rotates and rolls the sail around the boom. I'm just having difficulty visualising how you get enough mechanical advantage to get that sail wrapped around the boom and how the gooseneck is constructed for mainsail roller reefing. It obviously works as there are photos of it in this thread!

 

[seedog]

Now I've sussed out where I can get full 3G coverage in the flat I can now see the the photos and there is a vast improvement in the sail shape and you look to have taken out most of the bagginess. Did you take the batten out or 'forget' it again?

 

[graham]

Hello Zlod basically theres a handle that slots into a shaped hole in the goosenevck turning this handle causes the boom to rotate.The sail wraps itself around decreasing its area. The usuall problem is that the sail becomes baggy and the boom tends to droop at the aft end. I overcame this by putting bits of soft pipe insulation into the sail as it rolled up which increased the diameter of the roll at the aft ewnd so the boom didnt droop. seems to have worked well on my boat.

 

[graham]

Hello Doug Its a huge improvement on before,boat goes well to windward now with a reef in. Thje battens have been stitched in but due to thre shallow angle seem to cope with beiong rolled up. Which saves an awkward job each time. So far so good.