Slab Reefing kits

warwicksail

warwicksail

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Hello.
One of the winter jobs for me is running all my controll line back to the cockpit I have a a 21' cruiser with 2 slab reefs on the main with a sleden boom. can anyone recomend if the kits such as bartons are any good/value for money or a good simple method for this

cheers
 
I don't think you need a kit as such.
You need 2 cheek mounted blocks to be fitted near the end of the boom such that the reefing rope can go through the eyelet in the sail down to the block with an equal amaount of pull backwards as down. ie about 45 degrees when the eyelet is very near the boom. This rope can be attached at the eyelet or led back down to a saddle on the other side of the boom (to the pulley) or can go under the boom to tie onto the pulley body.
I prefer on my 21fter to take the rope back to a saddle on the side of the boom. This gives a 2 purchase at the sail but means more rope to pull in.
These pulleys are sometimes mounted on a track for adjustment but I think they can be permanently mounted once you find the position for each reef.

The rope can run under the boom held up out of the way by some saddles mounted to guide the rope until it meets a double pulley at the gooseneck. (double one for each reef) This can be hung under the gooseneck. (depending on what is available to attach it to. You then need another double turning block at the deck to return the ropes along the deck to the cockpit.

Some fancy systeems have a pulley embedded in the top of the boom with the rope running internally to another turning block embedded in the under side of the boom near the gooseneck.
I have a winch available for the reef lines (4 for halyards) which is a bit of an overkill but makes reefing veery convenient.

In a similar manner I run a rope through the front reef eyelet of the sail down the mast to a turning block on deck to return to the cockpit. This rope needs to have a saddle or cheek block mounted well forward on the mast just below the gooseneck to provide the tack eyelet a pull forward as well as down.Again so with the reef in the rope pulls at 45 degrees.
Again I fitted an eyelet on the other side of the mast again well forward for the end of the rope again giving a 2 purchase at the luff.

You may like to try just one reef set up first. I have 2 reefs on my 21fter large main fractional rig. I usually only sail with the first reef set up. If it looks blowy on departure I can set it up for the second reef.And if I want tie the first reef in with ropes.

A reef can be put in very successfully before departure using 4 pieces of rope. One from the clew eyelet around the boom at the back to hold it down (against the mainsheet pull) Another from the end of the boom to the same eyelet to act as an outhaul.
At the gooseneck you have one rope through the tack eyelet and around the boom to hold the eyelet down and react against the halyard. The last piece goes from the tack eyelet around the mast to pull the eyelet forward to react against the outhaul. Pieces of cord can be used to tie the bunch of unused sail up to the boom to keep it up out of the way.

I would suggest you try the pieces of rope reef first so that you can estimate the position of the pulleys on the boom.

Rather than fit a kit you can just let the reefing system evolve as you like it using what pulleys you may have already. good luck olewill

PS I posted a picture a few days back of Howzat You can just see the forward reefing line and the saddle that guides the reefing line forwad on the side of the mast a bit below and forwad of the gooseneck.
 
Nowt wrong with the reefing kit. I think mine is a Barton.
Basically two cheek blocks on a short track that lets you fiddle about a bit to get them in the correct position to put some tension on the new foot.

They also have beckets, I suppose you'd call them, to attach the end of the reefing line. That then goes under the boom, up the other side of the sail, through the reefing cringle, back down, around the block then forward along the boom to the mast.

Make sure you fit it the right way. Someone a while back could not figure out why his reefing lines would not stay on the blocks. The beckets can be repositioned if needed to fit the whole caboudle on the other side of the boom (mine came set to fit on the port side)

This type of thing:
Slabreefing.jpg
 
This is all starting to make more sense know, thanks for your help guys, after looking at the boom I have I think I may be part way there. There are 2 reefing lines running down the inside of the boom to the leech end of the sail from the mast. Which currently just tie off to cleats will the kit system make use of this ? As I stated earlier I want to run all the lines back to clutches in the cockpit. was hoping to work on it to day but the weather is looking rather grim
 
That's a Barton genoa track and travellers with cheek blocks mounted on it. Novel use and unlikely to be recognised BUT

if you look at the Harken US site they've several single-line reefing set-ups.

UK Harken is pretty useless, I dealt entirely with the US.

More expensive than Barton, but considerably more sophisticated engineering.
 
I f you mean you have reefing lines in the boom that go to a double block built into the top of the boom a bit like multiple outhauls these can be used rather than the cheek block system. And it makes the boom look more tidy.

We spoke of a reefing line which runs from the boom up through the eyelet then back to a cheek block both lines of the purchase htting the eyelet at 45 degrees to provide pull outwards and downwards.
It is OK to have one part of the rope running from the end of the boom through the eyelet then attaching to the boom at apoint forward or just below the eyelet. This gives one line of the 2 purchase system pulling down and one pulling aft. If you have a loose footed main sail ie not in a track then the tail of the reefing line can be tied simply to the boom under the eyelet. The double block built in will accomodate either 2 reef lines or one reef and one adjustable outhaul. ie to pull normal foot back.
You will need to have longer rope and another built in turning block near the gooseneck to take the reefing line out of the boom down to the deck and back.
And you will still need an arrangement at the front of the sail. olewill
 
Yes that sounds clear ish, the current line in the boom will only reef in the leech end of the sail so i need to thread this through the eylets on the mast end via a cheek block on the boom or mast then back to a block at the base of the mast to give a good angle to run the line back toward my deck organisers. In theory !
 
Hi, i fitted slab reefing a few years back with the reefing lines running through blocks on the end of the boom, last summer i brought the mainsail halyard and topping lift back to the cockpit, now i can put a reef in in no time,the only problem is i have to go up to the mast to hook the reefing eye? onto the boom, this summer i will work out how i can get around this.
 
You may be a little confused when you mention cheek block. The rope comes out of the boom through the reef eyelet then down to the boom at a point under or even forward of the eyelet. This means that the 2 purchase system has one rope pulling aft too far and one rope pulling straight down too far forward the result being a suitable pull angle. It is worth trying after you get the front end set up to see if you get enough stretch of the foot and enough hold down against the main sheet pull.

Re Chrishelen I find I can get away without using the topping lift when sailing close hauled. I release the main sheet, drop the main halyard about half what is needed. Then haul on the outer reefing line to lift the boom up towards the reef eyelet (using a winch) I tighten up the luff line a simiualr amount. Then I can ease the main halyard enough to pull down the luff line till the luff eylet is at the boom and haul up the boom to the clew eyelet. All done.
Yes luff line back to the cockpit (I don't use luff slugs or sliders) means no going to the mast for reefing unreefing. Only if I put a line around the wasted sail through the eyelets to pull it out of the way back to the boom. (desirable but not necessary with one reef) olewill
 
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