Main reefing on '79 33

[mystery117]

When I bought this boat the main was missing and I had to set everything up myself. When I had to reef the main I found it most difficult. In order the get the main down to the hook I have to remove the slide lock and drop out four slides. Its a lot of work when conditions are deteriorating and I like to keep things simple as much as possible. Perhaps the main I acquired isn't set up correctly? Photos of your main and reefing set up with a description would be most helpful so I can get this main set up properly.

 

[Jim Legere]

On my H37C I also have to drop slides out of the track to get the reef cringles on the hooks. The only way I can see to avoid that is to rig a jack line through the first 4 or 5 slides and then through the grommets on the sail. Then, as you pull the main down, slack the line to allow the 'floppy' part of the luff to go below the boom while the sail slides stay in the mast track. Sort of hard to explain! This is the way staysail hanks are rigged on the H37C to allow that sail to be furled on the staysail boom without unclipping hanks. It would work with the mainsail slides too. I'll try and find some pictures of the staysail jack line to help explain...

 

[Sailorjack]

Jim

My 37c main sail is rigged as you describe. It works reasonably well. I plan on adding a cover to the slug gate and allow the slugs to move down towards the boom. I think it will be easier to reef but I may have to leave the line thru the slugs in place.

 

[Paul F]

As SailorJack said my boat has a side cover that allows slugs to slide by and "pile up" lower on the mast inside the slot. To make reefing easier and faster I have changed two things on my rig that may work for you. First, a S-binder is used to attach the luff cringle to the jiffy reef hook. This is much easier and quicker than trying to fit the sail cringle over the jiffy reefing hook. Second only one line with a hook at the end is used to control the leech. This line is one of the existing lines fed through the boom. It is hooked to the leech cringle and simply cleated off at the mast end of the boom. a separate line is tied through the cringle and around the boom pulling the cringle tight to the boom. This line is much like the other reefing mid-sail lines. But in this case the line is drawn tight to the boom not loose, as the mid-lines should be. Also when moving to the next reef higher up the sail this leech cringle line is left tied to the boom. I carry a number of aprox. ¼" lines tied to the cabin top rail for this and other “need to tie quickly” purposes. If another reef is needed the hook is taken and moved higher up the sail. I find this simplified system much easier to use without all the tangled lines. It has the benefit of no lines when the reefs are not used as the leach line hook is attached to the boom when not in use. With our boat's relatively short boom this one line system works well. It likely would not work as well with longer booms.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Two choices: (in addition to the not-so-much-fun way you do now)

1. Jack lines

2. Mast gates

Good luck.

PS - You could also install Harken Batt Cars or other sail track systems, but those are rather expensive options.

 

[sandpiper10471]

I have had the H33 and now the H37C. On both boats, the jack line concept has worked the best. I tried many reefing variations on the 33 over the years and it would appear that Paul's description very closely matched my final arrangement.

 

[DianaOfBurlington]

Single-line reefing-?

Why not go to a standard single-line reefing system? With this you don't use the Cunningham hook at all (I took mine right off).

I rig the new C44s like this and owners (typically guys over 55 sailing with wives as crew) love it.

Diagrams for this setup are available in the back of the Schaefer and Ronstan catalogues as well as with any sailmaker and plenty of places online.

If you want two reefs, just mirror the arrangement on the other side of the boom. I lead mine aft to the cockpit and can effect a slab reef in about 45 seconds without leaving the hatchway or bridge deck. All that is needed is to go forward, when more feasible, to gather and tie down the sail. I am looking into lazy jacks to contain the sail till I can get to it; but the line through the reefing cringles holds it pretty well as-is.