And I love it! I had read about the pros and cons to single line versus double line and the other options but in the end I chose to go with a single line set up. Being a smaller boat, 20 foot, we reef a lot. We did not have a good set up to do it prior so I came up with my own set up that worked but I am sure was far from correct. I used a extra long out haul, that I ran in a fashion I cannot even really describe to secure the first reef grommet on the clew. On the tack I had a short loop of line I would pull down and run the tack pin through on the boom after removing the sail slug so I could drop two slugs down below it. It was not easy nor quick, and doing it on the water was a real PIA.
I finally had enough and knew there had to be a better way. First step was to make a set of mast gates. Not hard, not easy, but after 4 hours of bending 1/8" aluminum plate I had a pair that worked and looked pretty good.
I ordered the parts I needed that I could not get locally. I went with two Harken mirco cheek blocks, a stainless padeye, and 4" cleat from West Marine. I picked up 35' of line and was ready to make it happen.
With Cindy at her Bachelorette party this weekend I got up early yesterday morning and headed to the lake hoping to get there before the wind picked up. I figured it would be easiest to do the install with the main sail up. Installation was straight forward. I did not have any of the stainless pop rivets so I drilled and tapped all the holes. I guess it might have take me 30 mins but I doubt it.
On my first attempt I could see the problem with the single line set up that others spoke up. It does tension the tack first. That is just due to how the line runs and by nature it is going to take up the slack at the tack grommet first. It took me all of about 10 seconds to figure out how to fix it. I just reached under the boom and grabbed the reef line and pulled the slack at the clew out then re tensioned the reef line at the cleat. In less than 30 seconds the sail was reefed and I was smiling. The shape of the sail was much better than it ever was the old way I used to do it. Shaking out the reef was as easy as undoing the cleated reef line and hoisting the main halyard back up. Again, 30 seconds tops. My smile got bigger!
At least for us, at the end of the day it boils down to making things as simple as possible that serve our needs. This is a super simple set up that will make reefing much easier and safer for us. We all know that the easier a task is the more likely we are to do it. I am considering adding the same set up to our second reef point. Ok, consideration over, I am adding it LOL! While we don't use it that much I am sure if it is a simple as the first one to use we use it more as reefing the second point was even a bigger PIA than the first reef point was.
Here are some pics of what I did. Here is the pad eye.
I put it behind the sail a bit so it would not interfere with the sail but still pull in a more downward direction. Between the padeye being there and the cheek block all the way aft on the boom the clew gets pulled down and back making for a very nice tension on the main.
This is the aft cheek block
Pretty straight forward. The only thing that bugged me a bit was the slack that gets in the reef line mid boom between the aft and front cheek block but I adjusted the stopper knot on the ree line at the cleat and it was tolerable after that.
Here if the clew cheek block.
I put it as far forward as possible so the line would pull straight down on the tack grommet. Then the cleat is even further forward on the mast so the pull is straight down even a bit forward overall. I should have made sure the slug forward of the grommet was all the way down.
If your thinking the boom looks like it is rotated a bit that would be because the mainsheet it loose and our topping lift attaches on the port side of the boom cause it to twist a bit in that set up. Once you sheet the main it goes away.
Finally here is the reef line cleat.
Probably not the best pic but the sun was shining at my phone and I was just glad it wound up in the frame. The one thing I have left to do is to mark the main halyard for where it needs to be on the cleat so I can just lower it to that point then cleat it off, then just tension the reef line and away we go. I know I should have cleated the main off on the top horn of the cleat so the line was hanging down but it was hot as a fire cracker already and this was just for demonstration purposes.
So for less than 50 bucks we are going to be able to reef much easier, quicker, and safer. Our lines are not ran back to the cockpit but you could easy set this up to run back. I guess you could even run it internally in the boom but that would prevent me from being able to tension the clew so easily.
Yes it adds a step or two to our normal operations but seeing how much we reef I feel they are worth it. As far as when we go to take the mast down if we are going to sail again somewhere soon I would just remove the stopper knot and wrap the reefing line up in the main sail as we wrap it around the boom. Even if you take it all the way off it is super simple to re run the line.
We did get to sail yesterday afternoon after Cindy got home(two round trips to the lake in one day, 4 hours on the road, and worth every minute of it). We had a nice breeze but not enough to require us to reef. But just out of curiosity we did heave too so I could reef and see how it was going to work on the water. Other than realizing it would have been easier to have done it from a starboard tack instead of port, and that I really need to mark the main halyard asap so I can just lower it and cleat it off first it worked great. Even with holding both lines I was done in about a minute and off we went. We heaved too again, this time on a starboard tack so I did not have the headsail in my way and I shook out the reef. Again, much easier and we were soon back on our way. At the end of the day I felt like it was all time well spent and I can see this new modification getting a lot of use in the future.
Sam
Other than making the mast gates this was a super simple project. Like our friends with the Hunter 23 say, it is the simple things. He is right, as I get more enjoyment out of the simple little things that make sailing easier and more fun.
I finally had enough and knew there had to be a better way. First step was to make a set of mast gates. Not hard, not easy, but after 4 hours of bending 1/8" aluminum plate I had a pair that worked and looked pretty good.
I ordered the parts I needed that I could not get locally. I went with two Harken mirco cheek blocks, a stainless padeye, and 4" cleat from West Marine. I picked up 35' of line and was ready to make it happen.
With Cindy at her Bachelorette party this weekend I got up early yesterday morning and headed to the lake hoping to get there before the wind picked up. I figured it would be easiest to do the install with the main sail up. Installation was straight forward. I did not have any of the stainless pop rivets so I drilled and tapped all the holes. I guess it might have take me 30 mins but I doubt it.
On my first attempt I could see the problem with the single line set up that others spoke up. It does tension the tack first. That is just due to how the line runs and by nature it is going to take up the slack at the tack grommet first. It took me all of about 10 seconds to figure out how to fix it. I just reached under the boom and grabbed the reef line and pulled the slack at the clew out then re tensioned the reef line at the cleat. In less than 30 seconds the sail was reefed and I was smiling. The shape of the sail was much better than it ever was the old way I used to do it. Shaking out the reef was as easy as undoing the cleated reef line and hoisting the main halyard back up. Again, 30 seconds tops. My smile got bigger!
At least for us, at the end of the day it boils down to making things as simple as possible that serve our needs. This is a super simple set up that will make reefing much easier and safer for us. We all know that the easier a task is the more likely we are to do it. I am considering adding the same set up to our second reef point. Ok, consideration over, I am adding it LOL! While we don't use it that much I am sure if it is a simple as the first one to use we use it more as reefing the second point was even a bigger PIA than the first reef point was.
Here are some pics of what I did. Here is the pad eye.
I put it behind the sail a bit so it would not interfere with the sail but still pull in a more downward direction. Between the padeye being there and the cheek block all the way aft on the boom the clew gets pulled down and back making for a very nice tension on the main.
This is the aft cheek block
Pretty straight forward. The only thing that bugged me a bit was the slack that gets in the reef line mid boom between the aft and front cheek block but I adjusted the stopper knot on the ree line at the cleat and it was tolerable after that.
Here if the clew cheek block.
I put it as far forward as possible so the line would pull straight down on the tack grommet. Then the cleat is even further forward on the mast so the pull is straight down even a bit forward overall. I should have made sure the slug forward of the grommet was all the way down.
If your thinking the boom looks like it is rotated a bit that would be because the mainsheet it loose and our topping lift attaches on the port side of the boom cause it to twist a bit in that set up. Once you sheet the main it goes away.
Finally here is the reef line cleat.
Probably not the best pic but the sun was shining at my phone and I was just glad it wound up in the frame. The one thing I have left to do is to mark the main halyard for where it needs to be on the cleat so I can just lower it to that point then cleat it off, then just tension the reef line and away we go. I know I should have cleated the main off on the top horn of the cleat so the line was hanging down but it was hot as a fire cracker already and this was just for demonstration purposes.
So for less than 50 bucks we are going to be able to reef much easier, quicker, and safer. Our lines are not ran back to the cockpit but you could easy set this up to run back. I guess you could even run it internally in the boom but that would prevent me from being able to tension the clew so easily.
Yes it adds a step or two to our normal operations but seeing how much we reef I feel they are worth it. As far as when we go to take the mast down if we are going to sail again somewhere soon I would just remove the stopper knot and wrap the reefing line up in the main sail as we wrap it around the boom. Even if you take it all the way off it is super simple to re run the line.
We did get to sail yesterday afternoon after Cindy got home(two round trips to the lake in one day, 4 hours on the road, and worth every minute of it). We had a nice breeze but not enough to require us to reef. But just out of curiosity we did heave too so I could reef and see how it was going to work on the water. Other than realizing it would have been easier to have done it from a starboard tack instead of port, and that I really need to mark the main halyard asap so I can just lower it and cleat it off first it worked great. Even with holding both lines I was done in about a minute and off we went. We heaved too again, this time on a starboard tack so I did not have the headsail in my way and I shook out the reef. Again, much easier and we were soon back on our way. At the end of the day I felt like it was all time well spent and I can see this new modification getting a lot of use in the future.
Sam
Other than making the mast gates this was a super simple project. Like our friends with the Hunter 23 say, it is the simple things. He is right, as I get more enjoyment out of the simple little things that make sailing easier and more fun.
