Close off mast slot opening

[David W]

Greetings all, my wife and I sail Crown 34; 1978 IOR hull design, large fore triangle, smaller main. When we have to go upwind in more than about 15 kts we tend to reef because the boat is better balanced. We have a 2 yr old, loose footed full batten main with slides (not batt cars) raising and lowering is no problem.

I'm setting up a cockpit led, two line reefing system. The lines are not a problem. There is a pin that goes through the mast slot. Under normal circumstances it stops the slides from falling out of the mast slot. The cringle for the first reef point is above the first two slides. When I reef I have to pull this pin so I can drop first two slides out of the mast track to get the reef point cringle at the tack nice and low.

I can't leave the pin out all of the time or the entire mainsail ends up on the deck when its time to lower it. So I was thinking that a strip of aluminum attached on each side of the mast slot opening would effectively narrow the opening so that the slides can't come out.

Then I realized that would prevent me from dropping the slides meaning the tack of the sail would be about 4" - 5" above the gooseneck.

I must be missing some critical concept here because it seems to me that the entire point of cockpit led reefing is to not have to leave the cockpit when the weather is rough. At this point, even if I have reefing lines to the cockpit I still have to got on deck to pull the pin.

If this doesn't make any sense I'll whip up a quick drawing.

I'm confident that one of you intrepid interweb sailors has figured this out!

 

[Ross]

You need to narrow the slot not close it. A strip on each side of the slot held in place by some creative means would do the job.

 

[David W]

That's what I had in my head, didn't translate to keyboard...I've edited the post accordingly. Thanks!

 

[Ross]

You need only to remove the plates in the fall when you remove your sail and replace it in the spring when you bend them on.

 

[Sailm8]

I did this on my C22 years ago. As I recall I found Aluminum stair tread (might have been weather strip) at the hardware store. Cut it to size and got out the old tap and dies set to cut appropriate sized holes for machine screws to hold it in place.

 

[Bud22569]

I believe you are describing the same issue on my boat. When reefing the main I am required to remove a track stop to allow two slides to come out of the track. The track opening is more than 12" above the boom on the mast. Proper reefing is not possible without removing the track stop and removing two slides. Reefing without removing the two slides on my boat would put considerable strain on the luff of the main. I'm not clear on how the solutions posted resolve the issue of how to reef the main without removing some of the main sail slides from the mast track. Can someone post a picture or a drawing of how they have dealt with this?

 

[David W]

I believe you are describing the same issue on my boat. When reefing the main I am required to remove a track stop to allow two slides to come out of the track. The track opening is more than 12" above the boom on the mast. Proper reefing is not possible without removing the track stop and removing two slides. Reefing without removing the two slides on my boat would put considerable strain on the luff of the main. I'm not clear on how the solutions posted resolve the issue of how to reef the main without removing some of the main sail slides from the mast track. Can someone post a picture or a drawing of how they have dealt with this?

The slot on my mast is a bit lower; maybe 4 - 5 inches above the gooseneck but fundamentally the same issue.

 

[David W]

Same idea but the issue of stacked slides still exists

I did this on my C22 years ago. As I recall I found Aluminum stair tread (might have been weather strip) at the hardware store. Cut it to size and got out the old tap and dies set to cut appropriate sized holes for machine screws to hold it in place.

Thanks, that is exactly the material I was planning on using when I realized it wasn't going to solve the problem.

 

[David W]

Agreed, except the challenge is actually that when reefing I'll have two sail slides staked up and the reef cringle will be about 4 - 5 inches above the gooseneck. I tried reefing like this at the dock. If I pull the clew to the same height as the tack reef cringle then the clew can't be pulled tight enough. If I bring the clew down to the boom the tack reef cringle is higher which create a terrible tension oun the luff and a terrible sail shape...

 

[Ross]

I believe you are describing the same issue on my boat. When reefing the main I am required to remove a track stop to allow two slides to come out of the track. The track opening is more than 12" above the boom on the mast. Proper reefing is not possible without removing the track stop and removing two slides. Reefing without removing the two slides on my boat would put considerable strain on the luff of the main. I'm not clear on how the solutions posted resolve the issue of how to reef the main without removing some of the main sail slides from the mast track. Can someone post a picture or a drawing of how they have dealt with this?

Bud , I had exactly the same problem with my Islander. I found a short section of track and fastened it below the original with a couple of 6-32 screws when I want to remove the sail I remove one screw and loosen the other and swing the short section to one side and allow the slides to come off the track.

 

[kloudie1]

Sounds like the reefing isn't gonna all happen from the cockpit.. one of these :
http://innovative-components.knobsource.com/category/all-categories-positive-locking-pins
tethered to the mast would make the pin pulling quick and easy.. or talk to a sailmaker about maybe modifying (shortening?) those bottom two slides ..

 

[DAVA390]

On my boat,we use a small gadget we bought at WestMarine. It is sort of a slide, but with a thumbwheel attached. You put the slide in the slot in the mast, slide it up ,then tighten the thumbscrew to the mast. It won`t slide down the mast. David

 

[Ross]

David, The problem here is the distance between the tack and the first sail car. When reefing you want to make the sail lay on the boom as if it were an all over smaller sail. There is a new tack that must be brought all the way down to the boom.

 

[David W]

Yes, that is exactly what I'm trying to do

David, The problem here is the distance between the tack and the first sail car. When reefing you want to make the sail lay on the boom as if it were an all over smaller sail. There is a new tack that must be brought all the way down to the boom.

I'd like to be able to do it without going forward but I don't see how I can. I can pull the pin but it requires going to the mast. I suppose I can drop the halyard to the right height, go forward, pull the pin and let the slides fall out. then return to the cockpit and snug the reefing lines.

 

[Ross]

I'd like to be able to do it without going forward but I don't see how I can. I can pull the pin but it requires going to the mast. I suppose I can drop the halyard to the right height, go forward, pull the pin and let the slides fall out. then return to the cockpit and snug the reefing lines.

You just need to keep those cars from falling out of the slot. Remember when you reef sooner or later you will be shaking that reef out and you won't want to have to feed those cars back into the mast slot.

 

[Bud22569]

I need to make a picture of my setup and post it here. I don't think there is anyway around going to the mast and pulling the pin to let the slides come out for reefing under my current mast / gooseneck configuration. I have a downhaul which results in significant space between the gooseneck and the opening in the slide track. I have marked my halyard so I know how far I need to let the sail down to reef for each reefing point. But the first two slides have to be removed for the first reefing point... two more slides for the second reefing point or the resulting strain on the luff of the main would be damaging. Going to the mast appears to be unavoidable unless I performed some major modification to my gooseneck setup. My gooseneck is one of the old "rotating boom to reef" setups that I do not even attempt to use as a reefing system. I have locked it down so that the boom will not rotate. I really need to post a picture to see if it is the same as David's setup.

 

[Ross]

BudH, I have a very heavy bronze gooseneck that mounts on a large stainless steel slide. About a foot above that my sail track starts and the boat came with a slide with a thumbscrew in it as a stop to keep the sail slides from spilling off when I dropped the sail. My solution was to extend the sail track all the way down to the gooseneck. Then I cut a gate in the extension.

 

[Allan12210]

Been there done that for over ten years. Before you rush off and get a new sail, use a jackline. An old sailor taught me this one. Leave the sail slide immediately below the cringle in the track. Take the next two sail slides out and leave them that way. Next get a piece of strong line less than 1/4 and tie it to that sail slide below the cringle. Raise the main and take the line and stick it through the grommet on the sail at the first sail slide no longer in the track. Come down to the second loose slide and poke it back through from the opposite side. Come down to the next slide that is now back in the track and tie it to the slide. You probably will have to lower the main a bit so that when it is at full hoist that jack line is tight and the main will be right up against the mast. When you drop the main to reef that extra length of unattached sail will hang down and you can put the cringle right on the hook.

That old sailor said that's a real jackline and not those things you run from bow to stern to hook your tether to so you don't fall over. Those are safety lines.

Give it a shot.

Allan

 

[Rick Sylvester]

I very well may be misunderstanding so forgive me

if I'm being obtuse.

If you're flying the main loose footed then the sail is only located at the bottom by the tack and clew, in which case, the location of the gooseneck relative to the tack is somewhat immaterial. Just look at many of the VOR designs that put the gooseneck location down at the deck while the tack is located higher on the mast.

I'd suggest you don't have to pull the pin at all. Securely mount an attachment point of your choosing (hook, pad-eye, whatever) where it's needed on the mast so the cars can remain in the track. This will locate the end of the boom and the clew higher but as long as your boom can articulate freely, it should make no difference.

If you truly desire reefing from the cockpit just run your tack lines back to the cockpit just as you do the ones for the clews.

 

[Richard Bryer]

I have had to make this mod on a couple of boats. On the SJ24 I used a couple of pieces of aluminum strip that had one edge thicker- I think it was to "edge" linoleum at a door- fastened one on each side with tapped screws to narrow the slot after the sail was bent on. On the H34 the slot was made by removing only one side of the track so I made this out of a bit of 1/8 ss: