Optimizing reefing system

[txg]

Our 1978 Dufour still has the original reefing system. This means to:

-take out the stopper for the mainsail slides
-tighten the boom vang
-loosen the boom downhaul
-loosen the main sheet if needed.
-take off the main halyard from its cleat
-pull down the sail, hook the forward reef point
-tighten the halyard again, hope that the forward reef point didn't slide off of its hook
-pull on the aft reefing point line and use a boom-mounted winch to tighten the line, while the main (and therefore the boom) is slapping.
-loosen boom vang
-tighten downhaul

It sometimes is quite a struggle to get the forward reef point on the hook, and also to get enough pull on the aft reef point. Also, when unreefing, it is complicated to get the slides back in the mast again.

In the last days, i sailed a 35ft boat from northern denmark to germany, and it had absolutely every line led aft to the cockpit into a stopper. I didn't like this system in every aspect, because it takes so much more force to hoist the sails. On this boat, it took nearly a minute to raise the main, using the winch for the second half. On our similarly sized boat i pull up the main in less than 5 seconds. But what i liked is that the process of reefing does simply consist of opening and closing jammers and using a single winch for the whole process.

So now i'm thinking about changing our reefing system. I want to leave everything at the mast to keep the forces low. But i want to be able to use a single winch (a Lewmar 8 that is currently used for the main halyard only) for reefing. Has anyone done a modification like that? If so, it would be nice to see some pictures of your installation.

[billknny]

I am not a fan of having a single line tighten both clew and tack on the reefed sail. Lots of friction and wear, and it ends up being slower.

Here is an idea that will take some of the frustration out of your reefing process: Forget the hook. Instead, have a line (Spectra is good) attached on the port side of the mast that runs to, and through the reef tack cringle, with a stopper on the starboard side. It should be just short of tight at full hoist.

Now when you drop the sail, you can just pull that line through the cringle, pull tight, and drop a spliced loop on a cleat, or tie it if that's you preference. Takes no time, it's a lot easier than trying to muscle bundled sail out of the way to get to the hook, and is robust and reliable.

[Stu Jackson]

In addition to bill's idea, consider adding either mast gates to your slot on the mast or install jack lines on your lower mainsail slugs.

[gjordan]

Stu,s suggestion of jacklines will certainly be a step to make things easier. I also dont like single line reefing. The extra friction and the amount of line in the cockpit or even at the mast makes it a pain. I know lots of people like it but I found it awkward. I always used hooks at the gooseneck and never found it to be a problem. You have a sliding gooseneck so using line around the mast might be a problem. It would be easy to try without any modifications. You might also just fix the height of the gooseneck. Just some thoughts. ______Grant.

[txg]

Thanks for these ideas. I will try out the jackline idea, but i feel like it is quite hard to get the right tension. Maybe it would work to hoist the sail and then set the tension with thin dyneema webbing (just once, not every time when hoisting).

I don't want to go the single line reefing way, i don't think that would work well without a specially designed boom that has the needed car inside.

What i want to do is to add halyard stoppers to the mast, not only for the main halyard but also for all the reefing lines. So i can reef the main by using only the main halyard winch and opening and closing the needed stoppers.

Right now im thinking about a single stopper for the halyard above the winch at the mast and a quad stopper below the winch for the four reefing lines. Does anyone have an installation like this and can show some pictures?