Selden boom: reassigning the reefs?

[nigelmercier]

I have a Selden boom with two internal single-line reef tracks. These are assigned to reefs 1 and 2, with reef 3 requiring use of the ram's horn. I am considering reassigning the reefs so that the trip to the mast is required for reef 1, with 2 and 3 on the tracks.

Has anyone done this? What does it entail?

 

[duncan99210]

No real problem with the idea but I think you'll find that there isn't enough travel available inside the boom for the third reef. I thought of doing this but didn't bother because of this, however, I never actually measured things up, it's just a feeling...... Easy enough to check the measurements. You'll also need to remove the car to attach a longer line for the third reef as well as mousing through a new, longer main reefing line.

 

[vyv_cox]

No problem if you have a line each for the third tack and clew. As duncan99210 says, it won't work if you have internal balance blocks, the boom is not long enough to provide sufficient pennant length.

 

[penfold]

As well as the possible pennant length issue, when you take in the 2nd reef the 1st will probably fall off the ram's horn and necessitate another trip to the mast if you want to shake out just the 2nd reef later on...

 

[knuterikt]

No problem if you have a line each for the third tack and clew.

Even if you where able to rig single line reef for the third it would be lots of rope.

All (three) mine are two line reef setup (with a line each for the tack and clew) it works fine.

If you already have three reefs rigged you only need one line for the tack, you need;
-a block on the mast at the same height as the boom (or a little bit above)
-block at the mast ring
-room in the deck organizer for the extra rope
-a clutch to cleat it

On my boat the third reef it's not rigged all the time (we mostly sail in waters where two reefs is enough.
We are one clutch short so the third reef share clutch with the spare head sail halyard (would probably be better to share with a spinnaker halyard).
All the lines are finished with reeving eyes and I have made a small "reeving needle" so fast and easy to put the lines through the clutch.

 

[Simondjuk]

I have a line which runs from the coachroof jammers, through the deck organisers, round a mast base block, up through the gooseneck and then terminates in a shackle. In light conditions the line is made to the Cunningham spectacle before sailing. In heavy conditions it's made to the reef 3 spectacle before sailing. Only if conditions change from one extreme to the other do I need to go forward.

 

[knuterikt]

I have a line which runs from the coachroof jammers, through the deck organisers, round a mast base block, up through the gooseneck and then terminates in a shackle. In light conditions the line is made to the Cunningham spectacle before sailing. In heavy conditions it's made to the reef 3 spectacle before sailing. Only if conditions change from one extreme to the other do I need to go forward.

You could make a thin endless reeving line from the gooseneck through the reef 3 spectacle.
That way you can pull the combined reef/cunningham line through reef 3 spectacle and down, need a attachment point at the gooseneck/mast base to tie the end.
Then you would have 1:2 purchase for the tack reef 3 that you can rig after pulling in reef 1.

 

[IanCalling]

I have a Selden Boom but it's a fairly old one that has 2 internal reefing lines that run to the gooseneck, along with the outhaul with cam levers just outward of the ramshorn. The clew is simply managed using spectacles and the ramshorn. The casting at the outer end of the boom has imprints saying "Reef 1 & 3" on one side and "Reef 2 & 4" and the other but there are just places for two lines plus the outhaul. I wish to add a third reef as I will mostly be sailing solo or short handed". How do all these reefs work when the boom supports just two lines?

 

[johnalison]

Unless you are doing ocean sailing, the simple answer is to change to two, deep, reefs.

 

[[70521]]

On the day when we hear of the loss of another forumnite it was good to see a thread started by the late rather wonderful Mr Mercier

 

[lw395]

I have a Selden Boom but it's a fairly old one that has 2 internal reefing lines that run to the gooseneck, along with the outhaul with cam levers just outward of the ramshorn. The clew is simply managed using spectacles and the ramshorn. The casting at the outer end of the boom has imprints saying "Reef 1 & 3" on one side and "Reef 2 & 4" and the other but there are just places for two lines plus the outhaul. I wish to add a third reef as I will mostly be sailing solo or short handed". How do all these reefs work when the boom supports just two lines?

You swap reefing line 1 to the third reef when the second reef is used.
An awful lot of yachts have managed with this over the years.
A lot of people don't use the second reef from one season to the next, let alone a third.
Having too many lines often just causes tangles.

 

[RupertW]

You swap reefing line 1 to the third reef when the second reef is used.
An awful lot of yachts have managed with this over the years.
A lot of people don't use the second reef from one season to the next, let alone a third.
Having too many lines often just causes tangles.

We went the other way this season and have just reefs 2 and 3 rigged. We find that by the time we need a single reef we almost certainly need a double, and when the wind dies down it's almost always to full mainsail. Alhough we haven't yet used the third reef in anger we've had plenty of times double reefed and a scrap of jib up and just been hoping the wind doesn't rise any more.

 

[BabaYaga]

You swap reefing line 1 to the third reef when the second reef is used.
An awful lot of yachts have managed with this over the years.

To make the swap easier, you can have a thin, endless line with a small loop running between 2nd and 3rd leech cringle. So when 2nd reef is taken, the 1st line is transferred, just in case. I have had this for many years, but only used in anger once.

 

[lw395]

We went the other way this season and have just reefs 2 and 3 rigged. We find that by the time we need a single reef we almost certainly need a double, and when the wind dies down it's almost always to full mainsail. Alhough we haven't yet used the third reef in anger we've had plenty of times double reefed and a scrap of jib up and just been hoping the wind doesn't rise any more.

A lot of boats have reefing lines too short to rig the 3rd reef with full sail.
Some boats have a very small first reef, others it's substantial.

 

[RupertW]

A lot of boats have reefing lines too short to rig the 3rd reef with full sail.
Some boats have a very small first reef, others it's substantial.

The third reef is too important as a last resort to me, so I wanted it to easy to reef with no message around at 40 knots plus wind and waves. We don't have single line reefing so I just had to get a much longer reefing line.

The answer I couldn't bear to give when asked "what do we do if the wind gets up even more" is "I'll rig a third reef from scratch"

 

[lw395]

To make the swap easier, you can have a thin, endless line with a small loop running between 2nd and 3rd leech cringle. So when 2nd reef is taken, the 1st line is transferred, just in case. I have had this for many years, but only used in anger once.

I've rigged the 3rd cringle this way a couple of times, only ever used it to demonstrate that it's there and working.