reefing blocks for oday 322

Jun 10, 2021
9
oday 322 havre de grace
ok, thank you guys for all of your patience and help. I put a double block o tje bottom of each side of the mast. it is way simpler tha i thought. no wind today so i raised tje sails at the marina and tested both sides and it appears to work correctly. thank you
 
Jan 7, 2011
4,723
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
so the line will slide through the gromet o the sail?
Yeah, that is the way my clew is set up. From the back of the boom, up to the grommet, through the grommet, and then down to the boom, where the end is made fast. When I had a sail with a bolt rope, I tied it off to an eye under the boom. Now that I moved to a loose-footed sail, around the boom and tied.

The reef line is intended to pull the back of the sail down, and back at the same time.

Greg
 
Dec 28, 2015
39
O'DAY 322 Bridgeport CT
Do you guys think I can put a balancing block inside my boom? Or does the boom need to be made for it?
I too sail an 88 322. I have attempted several method for cockpit reef.. OM shows a shuttle in the boom for each reef,, these were missing on my boat.. I have good reef for first but too much friction in 2nd reef.. will be adding low friction rings to my sail soon..
I was told original shuttle is no longer available,, may consider building a set of my own.
fair winds....
 
Feb 22, 2010
70
Oday 322 Delaware River
I converted mine to 'double-line' reefing. After fussing for some years with the (not quite adequate) single line reefing system. I have never found single-line reefing to work all that well. Pearsons of the '80's had single line reefing as well, which I chartered a bit at the time. I believe many of those systems used the shuttle-car system in the middle of the boom.

The attached picture is not of my mast, but mine is exactly the same configuration and hardware.

Note the two rings attached to the mast.

I have two lines - a line for the 1st reef tack, and another line for the 1st reef clew.
The 1st reef tack line goes from a spinlock clutch on the cabin top at the cockpit, through a decktop organizer 90 degree bend to the base of the mast where a block turns it 90 degrees up, through one of the loops fastened to the mast at the gooseneck, then up and through the 1st reef tack cringle, then down through the second loop on the mast (at the gooseneck again), then fastened near the base of the mast.

The 1st reef clew is fastened with a bowline self-cinching loop around the mast below and just behind the 1st reef clew cringle, goes up through the 1st reef clew cringle, down to one of the four blocks at the back end of the boom, through the boom to the front, where it exits an internal boom block 90 degrees down to the deck, to a block which turns it to a deck organizer, turning it 90 degrees to a second spinlock clutch on the coachroof at the cockpit.

I have a winch on each side of the companionway coachroof, with spinlock clutches. I added four more spinlock clutches and a winch on the port side of the coachroof (some of you have them for spinnaker handling).

To 1st reef....
1 - ease the main halyard, draw down on the 1st reef tack line until it reaches the boom (the two loops on the mast hold the reef tack cringle nicely forward, just like the full hoist tack would be. Lock the clutch.
2 - Then I winch the 1st reef clew line until that cringle is drawn down to the boom, with a nice tight foot at the 1st reef. Lock the clutch.
3 - then I tighten the main halyard back up. Lock the clutch.
Done.

It takes less than 60 seconds, and I never leave the cockpit. I love it, no friction, works perfectly, sets a nice tight reefed main with a tight foot, with both tack and clew cinched down well. I do use a Harken micro-block on the 1st reef clew cringle, but you wouldn't have to if it makes you uneasy it might break. The only disadvantage to this system is it is two lines and two clutches used for each reef point.
But what a difference, it is a joy to use.

I only setup the second reef when I go on a trip because it is a lot of yardage when stowing the mainsail. If the 2nd tack reef line was rigged, it would go up through those same two loops fastened to the mast at the gooseneck, right along side the 1st reef tack line. the 2nd reef tack line would however, be much longer at full hoist as it goes much higher up the sail.

The system is twice as many lines, but after you have tried it, you will never look back to single line reefing.

Fair winds.
 

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