Slab reefing mainsail

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cpedw

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When I take a reef in on my mainsail (33' Westerly Falcon), I put a tack ring on a ramshorn, raise the sail then pull the appropriate outhaul tight. The problem is, this seems to leave an awful lot of strain on the sail slide which is immediately below the tack ring in use.
Should I really need to take this out of the track when reefing? I have tried doing that and it's not at all easy when it's already past time that 2 reefs were in.

Alternatively, I thought I could replace the sail to slide shackles with something like these Captive pin shackles but I can't find any suitably short - they need to be about 30mm long.

Is this the right procedure?
Can anyone suggest a source of suitable shackles or another way to deal with the problem?

Many thanks,
Derek
 
I didn't like the pressure around the tack ring so I now use a 1ft length of about 8mm cord with an eye splice in one end.
The eye splice goes over one rams horn then the cord goes through the tack ring and hitches onto the other rams horn.
 
The common problem here is that the ramshorn is too far aft. Here's an effective solution:

First, get a couple of stainless rings larger than your reef-tack ring, and about 8" of three-quarter-inch webbing. Sew the webbing strongly in a loop, attach it to one ring by a 'cow hitch', pass the doubled end of the loop through the reef-tack ring, and attach the other s/s ring also using a 'cow hitch'. This now becomes your new reef-tack ring(s)

Make up another 8" length of webbing into a loop, fasten it round your gooseneck ahead of your ramshorns using a 'cow hitch', and clip a s/s snaplink into the standing-up loop.

To reef, drop the sail sufficiently to clip the snaplink into one of the new reef-rings. Tension the halyard.....

Bobs your uncle!

cow hitch

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Clearly if the slide above the ramshorn is under tension then the rams horn is too far aft. ie is not holding the reefing eyelet close enough to the mast.

I don't use a horn What I use is a piece of rope through the eyelet attached near the front of the mast and below the gooseneck. This can be pulled tight so the sail is pulled down and into the mast with a 2 purchase. The rope goes to a saddle rivetted to the side of the mast as far forward as possible and a simmilar distance below the eyelet when hauled in and down. This gives a 45 degree pull on the sail. ie down and forward. The other end of the rope goes through another saddle (although a cheek pulley would be better) then down to a turning pulley on the deck and back to the halyard collection and halyard winches. The rope is long enough so it can be left in place when sail is not reefed.
This has three advantages, the sail eyelet cannot slip off as in slipping off the horn. the sail is pulled right into the corner of the boom to mast so both the luff and the foot remain in perfect alignment (so no creases) and it can be reefed or unreefed from the cockpit. The clew (boom end) reef line similarly comes back to the halyard winch area.

Alternatives are as bilbobaggins is suggesting (I think) providing new reef eyelet attachment at the mast using webbing around the mast and presumably around the boom also. I am a bit confused there or
Using webbing sewn to the sail and a SSring provide a new reefing eyelet which is further into the sail. Sew the webbing at 45 degrees so it can pull down as well as forward.
Yes you can persevere with releasing the slider above the reef but you will still have a non alighnment of the luff which will be less of a problem but still there. I presume you either don't have sliders below the reef or you remove them from the track before reefing to allow the reef eyelet to come down to the boom. Or do you just have the reefing eyelet up higher than the boom on a stack of sliders. This problem shows the advantage of bolt rope in the track. Don't be reluctant to try different ways of reefing. Just use it often and get it right. good luck olewill
 
Should you be hesitant about 'strongly' sewing your webbing into a loop, visit a climbers' shop. They all sell pre-stitched loops of webbing in various sizes/grades - some of which will be ideal for your purposes.

Nothing to do with 'around the mast'.....

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Thanks; I think you have identified the source of my problem and I must fix that rather than searching for a fancy shackle to alleviate the problem.

Not certain I understand your solution. The sail has 3 reef cringles. Each of those has a loop of webbing through with s.s. rings on the ends. I put one of the rings on the ramshorn. In any case, I had been considering how to achieve fully from the cockpit reefing. Now I can solve this problem by setting the tack reefing lines up correctly. The only problem will be what to do with all those loose bits of string when deeply reefed!

Thanks to all for pointing out the way forward.

Derek
 
[ QUOTE ]
Each of those has a loop of webbing through with s.s. rings on the ends.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, Derek, you're more than halfway there, in terms of my suggestion, for you already have most of what I was trying to describe. So, next time you're passing Nancy Black's and that camping/climbing shop nearby, get yourself a wee strong snaplink clipped to a loop of webbing, and fasten that loop around your boom-gooseneck forward of the ramshorns. Then try clipping your First Reef s/s reef ring into that snaplink, instead of onto the ramshorn.

If that solves the problem of too much strain on the nearest sailslide, then maybe a more permanent solution is to replace the bolt through your gooseneck with a 'ringbolt' and a 'ring nut', and clip a couple of snaplinks to these two rings.

A tack reefing line, should you want to fit one, can be led from the mast foot, up through one of these ringbolt rings, on up through your sail ring higher up, then down again to the mast base and back to the cockpit. That would keep the lead fair and forward. You can, of course, have this arrangement both P and S.....

If you're interested, but cannot picture this, PM me with an email address and I'll try to sort out a piccy or a clearer diagram.

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