Starlight 35 Kemp Boom and lines/single line reefing

[gregcope]

Hi,

Recently taken on a Starlight 35 with a Kemp boom.

It has 5 sheaves at the aft end - 4 with labels "Reefs 1+2" and "Reefs 2+4" and a central line that has a wire-to-rope outhaul.

However at the mast end there are 4 rollers, no outhaul, that appear to have an internal 2:1 block.

Some questions;

1. Is this wire/2:1 thingy an outhaul or flattener?
2. Does anyone run it to the cockpit - my line is too short to do that (and has no sheath/obvious kit to run it)?
3. Does anyone have single line reefing fitted to a S35 with Kemp boom?

Ta

 

[West Coast]

What year is your starlight? Perhaps the fact it is a kemp spar rather than Selden gives it away?

Mine is kemp also, 1993 vintage. The boom has 4 sheaves at the aft end, 3 are for reefing lines, the 4th for main outhaul for a loose foot mainsail. All 4 run to the cockpit (I replaced the outhaul with a longer line). Having the outhaul handy in the cockpit is really useful.

I doubt you could easily convert my boom to single line reefing, but it is no big deal to have twin line system, other than lots of rope.

 

[gregcope]

1996

Mine definitely has 4+1 on the aft end. The boom is square and quite large.

If I rang 6 or 8mm reefing lines, no reason why a block would not work in the boom I would have thought.

 

[West Coast]

Quite possibly, but I have never had single line reefing system so not best placed to say. I have heard that free blocks can become tangled, and better single line reefing systems have internal tracks that the blocks can travel in to prevent this?

 

[gregcope]

1996

Mine definitely has 4+1 on the aft end. The boom is square and quite large.

If I rang 6 or 8mm reefing lines, no reason why a block would not work in the boom I would have thought.

Sounds like we have the same.

Does your +1 have an internal 2:1?

What do you run on all of them out haul/flattened/reefs???

 

[West Coast]

Yes, outhaul is a wire strop, connected to a simple block internal in the boom, then rope to the boom end and back to the cockpit. The other 3 are reefing lines.

 

[gregcope]

Brill. Thanks.