450: faster mainsail dropping? Reefing mod?

[caymancat]

Originally Posted by sbaydreamer

I have been reading this thread with intresst- I always have some problem with raising my main on my 450!

Just to much friction everywhere,!

So: change the ring for the reefing lines to blocks?
Smaller size ropes for the reefing lines? Size?

About the slack on the reefing lines when you drop the sail- explain- why not collect ithem when lowering the sail? What's the alternative? Just trough it in the bag afterwards?

Happy for replies

When raising the sail, its much quicker to just go to the base of the mast and pull the sail up the old fashioned way. Also, its a good position from which to view the ends of the battens and the lazy jacks, so its easier to get the timing right.

[sbaydreamer]

Originally Posted by Emerald Sea

And my two cents worth....

- When lowering or raising the main (into the wind), we let out the mainsheet to allow the boom float laterally. This has a positive effect on not allowing the main to snag in the jack lines.
- We have installed a downhaul line (8mm), attached to the square top, runs along the mast, thru the mast base blocks and to the helm. When the last part of the main needs a little extra tugging to get into the bag, this helps a lot. No need for any boat hooks.
- We added Harken low friction blocks (removed the rings) to all the main sail luff and leach reefing points to reduce the friction in the reef lines when hoisting.
- Prior to hoisting the main, I run out about 3-5m of each 3 reefing lines onto salon roof as this also aids in reducing the friction.
- When lowering the main, pending how many hands are on deck, we will simultaneously pull in the reefing lines. But if not, and we have time, then we just stop the lowering process, tug at the reef lines or just pull them in when the sail is completely down. And yes, sometimes I just fold them at the boom end, over into the bag and they run out easily enough next time we raise the main.
- And as Paul does, we mark the reefing lines at the clutches for easy reference when placing a reef.

On particularly windy days or rougher seas, when lowering the main, a small section of sail will occasionally flop outside the bag but thats not often. Releasing the mainsheet and using the downhaul line are the key remedies to the basic 450 setup.

What size of pullies did you put in the sail? Rate for ? KG?

[sbaydreamer]

Originally Posted by boom23

If you loosen the mainsheet and raise/drop the mainsail slowly, you should be OK. I just throw the reef lines in the lazy bag after the sail is lowered. You can also loosen the lazy bag a little, but we did not find this necessary.

On a different note, if you plan to do extended cruising, change your reefing lines. We've had the factory first reef line break on two different occasions (at the low friction ring by the leech) and the mainsail ripped the lazy bag both times. It was fun trying to control the mainsail in bad weather. I finally learned and got better quality lines in NZ.

Keep an eye on the reef lines. Keep loosening/tightening them to change the stress points. Make sure they do not chafe where they enter the boom by the mast. Use better lines.

You'll enjoy the L450. We love ours.

What size of lines did you change to and to what quality?

[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by sbaydreamer

What size of lines did you change to and to what quality?

I have changed reefing lines to dyneema 8mm. Clutch will not hold it, so you need to reserve winch for it, which you need anyway. I need 6 turns on winch. On L 400 this can be nicely achieved, presume 45 should be same. Estimated that factory lines are tad less strong than 8mm dyneema. Hence did not want 10 mm or more so this can serve as fuse when sudden significant gusts hit the boat.

Alternative is to splice double braided rope to dyneema. Then you have double braid for winch and dyneema to slide thru reefing aparatus. This works for me as well.

Reefing offwind and raising sail when reefs pulled in become much simpler operation. Also chafe on sail from reefing lines is virtually gone.