260 mod, lines led back to cockpit

[Bob 04 H260]

I added a reefing line to the luff of my mainsail. Harken blocks were added to the fore and aft reef points on the sail to reduce wear and tear on the sail and make the process easier.

The 3 stock line clamps in the bottom of the gooseneck were removed and 3 sheaves were added there. A Harken cheek block was attached to the starboard side of the boom near the gooseneck to turn the forward reefing line aft.

A small aluminum plate was attached to the bottom of the boom above the companionway to hold 4 aluminum line cleats with plastic lne retainers so they can be used inverted.

I hope the pictures below will make this understandable .

The color code for the lines is, red/white - topping lift, blue/white - outhaul, black-white (2) reefing.

The outhaul line runs through a block attached to the clew then to the end of the boom to provide a 2:1 straight draw on the sail.

Bob

 

[soling42]

Very nice job. It seems to keep all the lines on the boom for easy removal of the boom/sail in one piece. Clear as a bell with the pics. Thanks.
Mike

 

[Paul356]

Nice job.

 

[troutsmoustang]

Good job Bob, How did you attach the ti-lite block to the sail? I am not able to see how you did it.

 

[Bob 04 H260]

I just used the line supplied with the blocks to attach to the two reef points on the sail. There is a piece of webbing at the luff and a grommet (cringle?) at the leach. I have now used it quite a bit and am very pleased with how it functions.

I do not usually have to do anything with the middle of the sail it sort of just sits on the boom. It is also easy to shake a reef out even in very little wind. I had single line reefing on my last boat, it put a reef in fine but was hard to shake it out in light air, too much friction.

I just put a bit of braid on the ends of the lines so it is easier to grab and pull on them as these lines are only 1/4".

Also I might add, the small block I added to the clew of the sail allows the outhaul to flatten the sail much easier than the setup suggested by Hunter. I bought a block with a fiddle in case I needed to increase the purchase but so far the one block has been plenty.

good luck, Bob