reefing system

[dlymn]

Hi there from south Australia,

Can anyone provide me with a sketch/picture of the mainsail reefing system? After the first time out sailing down wind, I need all the help I can get! Has anyone used some form of boom brake?

Dave Lymn

[Rick Westlake]

I don't believe the Macs come with a reefing system "standard." Many of us have put on different versions of "slab reefing" or "jiffy reefing" systems, ranging from well-worked stock systems from Harken et al to complex control-line runs that just add to the spaghetti on the cockpit sole.

I'm a "keep it simple" advocate, so reefing from the mast makes the best sense to me. I installed strap-eyes and cheek-blocks on the outboard end of the boom for each reef, and led the lines inside the boom to cleats by the mast. This meant a lot of work on the boom during "refitting season" (winter) but it keeps things neat and easy when I take in a reef.

Here are some photos of what I've done:


These are the cheek blocks at the boom end. I've pulled the lines up to the cleats, for clarity. The strap-eyes are on the port side of the boom.



These are the cleats, back by the mast. The fitting below the boom is my Boomkicker. Color-coding the reef lines should keep me from pulling the wrong one, when the wind pipes up.



And this is a close-up of the cheek block and exit plate for the second reef.

All this hardware lets me handle the whole reefing process from the mast:

1. Loose the main halliard, and let the sail drop till the luff cringle is at the gooseneck. There's a reefing hook on my mast, so I can hook it there and pull the halliard taut again.

2. Pull the reefing line taut, to pull the leech cringle to the boom, and cleat it off.

3. Get back to the cockpit and resume sailing.

I thread the reefing lines through the leech cringles when I put the mainsail on the boom, and tie them into the strap-eyes with a figure-eight knot (stopper knot). It takes about 20 feet of line for the first reef, and 25 feet for the second. (If you have a third reef, you'll have to measure that for yourself.) I will only remove the lines from the cheek blocks and cleats when it's time to replace them - threading them through the boom was NOT fun!

As for a boom brake - the time-honored right way to secure your boom in a downwind run is a "boom preventer." This is a sturdy nylon line, led from the boom end OUTSIDE of the shrouds to a foredeck cleat. (Nylon for shock-absorption.) This is more trouble than a boom brake, but ... my nephew got clocked in the head on his first downwind run in his new 26M, a couple of weeks ago. He was extremely fortunate; all he got was a "goose-egg"!

Hope this helps -
Rick

[dlymn]

Thanks Rick

I said the Macgregor system because the boat came supplied with a pulleys on the boom and a pulley at the base of the mast, none of which were needed for halyards etc. I kept on reading about a single line reefing system that was supplied on many 26ms (at least the ads referred to it). I was hoping that there was a picture of this system somewhere (other than Harken and other commercial sites). I am finding it difficult to get back to Macgregor through their site and the instruction manual is woefully inadequate for a beginner.

The boat is 3 years old and the previous owner also had to work everything out for himself, but this did not go as far as a reefing system.

Last Sunday we went for our third sail; out with winds across port at 4 knots and back with winds behind us gusting to 20 knots! I still ache and the admiral is having a hard time explaining her bruises to her work mates.
Dave

[delevi]

Nice job Rick. Looks great!

Leon

[bubba]

This is a photo of our reef system with the sails up. http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm42 ... ing009.jpg Our system has 3 reefs 3 colors of line and line bags made by my wife out of Gortex material for the 3 reefs and outhall's extra line, reef line bags help when all that line is around everything like a snake in a fire. All the reef lines are controled from the cockpit with the dodger on. At the boom mast connection we have a double pully attached low on the mast with a quick disconnect for the second and third reef lines and an existing pully on the boom to pull down the reefs on the front of the boom running back to the aft of the boom thru fairleads an to jam cleats, we do have a lot of line for this system but not having to leave a safe cockpit is worth it and the bags hole the line great.

[c130king]

I have a system that looks like this Harken system...but it was installed by the original owner so I am not sure what brand it is and I didn't install the hardware. Works great and the nice part is I don't have to leave the cockpit at all. Loosen the halyard so the main will come down, pull on the reeefing line to get the tack and the clew down to the boom and secure the reefing line, then rehaul the main up using the halyard and secure.

Harken Reefing System

I only have the stock reefing point on my sail so if you want multiple reefing points there may be better ways to go about it.

I don't have any "spaghetti" issues when reefing. The reefing line for me is on the port side of the cockpit. As I pull on the reefing line I simply hand loop it and hang it on a horn cleat installed at the front of the cockpit on the port side. However, when I lower the main at the end of the day the reefing line will hang loosley from the boom. I simply bundle it up and secure it along with the sail using sail ties then put the sail cover over the whole thing.

Good Luck,
Jim

[bubba]

Were buying new sails and with the mainsail were getting a lazy jack system with zipup main bag that stays on our boom (Kelly Hansen sells them), all the loose reef lines lay in the bag when not in use making it easy to raise and lower the main or to reef and stow the line on the boom in pockets.

[Gary N]

Were buying new sails and with the mainsail were getting a lazy jack system with zipup main bag that stays on our boom (Kelly Hansen sells them), all the loose reef lines lay in the bag when not in use making it easy to raise and lower the main or to reef and stow the line on the boom in pockets.

Do you have any pictures of you system you could post?

We have a lazy jack system with a Packaway cover and we need to implement a reefing system. I don't want to lead all lines back to the cockpit because it ends up being a mess of rope and a full time job to manage those ropes and stop them getting in a mess.

Initially I am wondering if a simple system with 3 ropes for each reef point at the back of the boom would work and be easy and quick enough to use or whether we should run a system forward to the mast end of the boom.

Any got any ideas or experience on this?

We have the Packaway sail cover which will act as a big rope storage bah (I hope) but also I think it will make any major boom modifications extra difficult.

[c130king]

Gary,

I believe the system with the "zip up" bag is very similar to the StackPack system.

http://www.doylesails.com/cruising/stac ... .htmlStack Pack System

Very neat set-up IMHO. My Lazy Jacks work fine and with the small boom of the Mac I have no problems putting on my seperate sail cover...after I do my simple LJ disconnect process.

Looks like this Stack Pack System would catch all the reef lines with no problem when lowering the main. But I personally do not want to climb up to the mast to have to put in the reefs...I predominantly single-hand and prefer doing everything from the cockpit. No issues with lines in my set-up.

Cheers,
Jim

[Rick Westlake]

Gary,

I believe the system with the "zip up" bag is very similar to the StackPack system.

Looks like this Stack Pack System would catch all the reef lines with no problem when lowering the main. But I personally do not want to climb up to the mast to have to put in the reefs...I predominantly single-hand and prefer doing everything from the cockpit. No issues with lines in my set-up.

Cheers,
Jim

I just got my StackPack from Doyle Chesapeake, in Annapolis. Took delivery of the sail cover itself, last week, and stacked the sail into it to take measurements for the zip-on mast collar - Chuck O'Malley, the manager, said they'd mail the collar to me by the end of this week. Doyle Chesapeake makes their StackPacks in-house, and they needed my mainsail both to measure the reef-point pockets and to remake the sail loose-footed. (Most Doyle lofts have them made up in Barbados, but O'Malley decided he got better quality control by making them in their own loft.)

Though they informally call it a StackPack, what I got is properly called a "Cradle Cover". The StackPack is built onto the foot of the sail. The Cradle Cover is separate, and it has a luff-rope to slide into the track on the boom; so it requires a loose-footed sail. You can take it off the boom with the sail inside, zip the front of it up, and store the sail belowdecks that way - which is convenient for a trailer-sailer.

Mine does have an integral lazyjack system, with the lines running through stainless-steel rings instead of micro-blocks (except for the masthead line). It's easy to drop and stow the lazyjacks, and cleat-off the masthead lines out of the way (I prefer cleating them to the shrouds). When the sail's up, I can roll down the sides of the cover and secure them to the boom. As for the reefing lines, it doesn't contain the lines running from the cheek-blocks along the boom; but of course, the lines through the leech cringles fall right in with the sail, and are neatly contained.

I haven't sailed with my Cradle Cover yet; it'll be another three weeks or so before my home-port marina opens the ramp. But I'm confident that it'll be a great convenience, both at the start of each sailing day and especially at the end. I'll post my experiences as I get them....

[mikelinmon]

The single line reefing system shown is wrong ( Harken, call me up and I'll fix it for you). The max load by about 10 to 1 is at the clew. The clew should be two to one purchase and the tack one to one. The reef line must start at the tack, tied directly to the cringle. One line goes down to the boom tack, back to the boom clew, up to the leech cringle, through it and down to boom clew, forward and it must go all the way to boom end at tack, down into open space. Not to the deck/mast or wherever ( we have a rotating mast an will brook not interference with rotation ). Somewhere near the boom middle to aft end that same line will pass through a cam cleat. Just pull on the single line; it will tighten the clew with two to one purchase and the tack with one to one purchase. At the same time the line passes through the (Harken brand) cam cleat tightening as you go.
Just for information; I have installed this hundreds of times since 1979. None that we have ever installed, so far knock on wood have regreted the installation.
Mike Inmon

[Jim Bunnell]

Mike-

Can you post a drawing - I'm clew-less. Thanks

[c130king]

Here is a linke to a thread on this topic from April 2008:

Single Line Reefing per Mike Inmon

However, I still say the Harken system works. I have it and it works well for me. But if you are installing a new reefing system from the get go you can go with the system Mike suggests just as easily.

Cheers,
Jim

[delevi]

If anyone is looking at the old thread to which Jim posted a link, I don't think the video links work any more. Not sure why. For the record, I no longer use this exact system. I use single line reefing for clews only. I reef tha tacks manualy as I really didn't like jack lines. I'm a stickler for optimum sail shape, and although my current method involves a quick trip on deck, I believe the sail shape is superior than what can be achieved by single or even dual line reefing. There is no one system perfect for all.

Leon

[c130king]

Leon,

When you say you don't like jack lines...what is a jack line in a reefing system? I know of jack lines as lines stretched from bow to stern that you can clip onto for safety.

Thanks,
Jim