Tom, Let me try to clarify. Perhaps I will start from the cleat on the boom and go from there. I put two hollow bottom cleats , one on each side of the boom back from the gooseneck so that they are located above the drop boards. One will be used for reef #1 and the other will be used for reef #2. Let's start with the cleat on the starboard side. Tie a stopper knot and run the line through the hollow area beneath the horns on the cleat and forward to a block on the starboard side of the boom. The block needs to be mounted as close to the gooseneck as possible. Run the line thru the block and go up the starboard side of the mainsail luff to the first cringle. Run the line thru the cringle and down the port side of the mainsail luff. Put an eye strap on bottom of the boom as close to the goose neck as possible. Run the line through the eye strap. With the mainsail all the way up pull the line through the eyestrap just enough to pull out the slack. Using a magic marker, mark the line where it enters the eyestrap. Pull out the line and tie a stopper knot. Put the line back thru the eye strap and tie another stopper knot right next to the eye strap. These two knots, one on each side of the eye strap, should be big enough to keep the line from pulling through from either direction. We have just installed reef #1. Now to do reef #2, take the line which should have exited the eyestrap to starboard, run the line up the starboard luff of the mainsail and through the second cringle and back down the port side of the mainsail luff to the second block installed on the port side of the boom, again, mounted as close to the goose neck as possible. Run the line through the block and lead it aft along the portside of the boom to the port side mounted cleat. Run the line through the cleat and put in a stopper knot and cut off the remaining line. I arranged the lines that come through each cleat so that the stopper knots are on the bottom part of the cleat. This makes it real easy to just grab the stopper knot and pull down. I use a much simpler method of reefing the aft reefing points. No blocks. Just an eye strap and a hollow base cleat for each reefing point. The first reefing line starts by being tied off to an eyestrap and run up to the first cringle and back down the othe side of the sail to a cleat. Normally the location of the eyestrap and cleat would be slightly aft of a perpendicular line running down from the cringle to the boom. To take out the guess work of where to place the hardware reef down the first reefing point and pull the foot tight and mount the hardware a wee bit aft. Repeat the same thing for the 2nd reef. Since the two reefing lines running up and down are not right on top of one another you can put both cleats on the same side of the boom or put one on one side and one on the other to match the logic of the forward reefing lines. I have the main halyard running back to a camcleat at the aft edge of the cabin top. Make a practice run of using the reefing lines. Lower the mainsail and pull down on reef line #1. This is the one on the starboard side cleat. Get it all nice and tight the way you want it. Pull the halyard to take all the slack out of the now reefed down main. Where the halyard comes out of my clam cleat I whipped a contrastng colored line on the halyard a couple of inches out from the cam cleat. This little trick will now alow me to drop the main to a predetermined spot and cleat off the halyard and now focus on the reefing lines. I did this for both reefing points so that my halyard has two very obvious marks that I can see in the day time and feel in the dark. If you are cleating off at the mast you can do the same thing and mark the halyard where you would temporarily cleat off while you work on the reefing lines. Sorry to be so wordy. But I hope this clears things up. Again, this is just one way to do a reefing line. How you finally decide to do yours depends on what you are comfortable with and more importantly what method you actually use because it's just too easy not to. Good luck, Joe ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Jenkins" <tjenk@gte.net> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 9:12 PM Subject: Re: M_Boats: cleat on M17 mast
Joe, I have thought about it, and I still can't picture your forward reefing setup. Do you have a block and cleat on each side of the boom, with the first reefing line going to one block and the second reefing line going to the other? Saying you had a "line long enough for both reefs lines" makes it sound (at least to me) as if you only need one line. I can't picture this.
Tom
On Dec 10, 2009, at 5:06 PM, Joe Murphy wrote:
I ran my main halyard down to the base of the mast and thru a block and then ran it toward the hand rail where I put a turning block and then ran it back to a Spinlock PXR Clamcleat. The camcleat is a little like a line clutch. With this setup I can raise/lower the main halyard without moving to the mast. I have a mark on the halyard to show how far to drop it for each reef point. For the forward reefing lines I have mine set up somewhat similar to what Tom has but without the beckets. Instead I put a padeye on the bottom of the boom and ran a line long enough for both reef lines. I put in a knot on each side of padey. Each line runs up to the cringle and back down to a block just behind the gooseneck and back to a cleat. I leave just enough slack so when the main is all the way up the reefing line comes back to the cleat. The line runs through the cleat with a stopper knot. Joe Seafrog M17
----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Jenkins" <tjenk@gte.net> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 5:39 PM Subject: Re: M_Boats: cleat on M17 mast
Bill,
I'm not sure what a gooseneck horn is, but I presently have a large stainless reefing hook on the starboard end of the clevis pin through the tack cringle. I rigged a short tag of line through each reef cringle, with a monkey's fist on one end to hold it in the cringle, and a loop on he other end to throw over the hook. This works fine, and is easier than working cringles over the hook, but it is slower to shake out a reef than I would like. I am planning on putting a small cheek block with becket on either side of the boom just behind the gooseneck fitting, with jam cleats a foot or so aft. The two reefing lines will run from the opposite becket, through the reef cringle, down to the block, and back to the jam cleat. The aft reefing lines will be similar, but the lines will be anchored on eyestraps opposite. Lucky me, I will get to try the system out at Havasu in February, but I still don't think the halyard setup on the mast is optimal. It would be nice to run the main halyard through a spring-loaded turning block at the mast base, and back to a winch on the cabin top, but it is harder to rig at the ramp, and the cabin-top geometry runs a line over the hatch, if I recall correctly. Let's face it: fiddling with rigging is half the fun on days when the boat sits on a trailer.
Tom
M17 hull 626 (must have been in the mold when yours went out the door).
On Dec 10, 2009, at 2:22 PM, Bill Wickett wrote:
Rick,
Where have you mounted the gooseneck horn. Our boat does not have any reefing lines rigged and that is #2 on the list for spring.
Thanks,
Bill Wickett M17 #622
On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 4:42 PM, Rick Davies <jdavies104@gmail.com> wrote:
Tom,
Why do you have to cleat it with one hand? After hooking the luff cringle over the gooseneck horn, (or cleating off the jiffy reefing line, if you happen to have one), there should be two hands available to tension and cleat the halyard.
Rick M-17 #633 Lynne L
On 12/10/09, Tom Jenkins <tjenk@gte.net> wrote:
I wonder if anyone out there has replaced the main halyard cleat with a large jam cleat (or even a cam cleat) to facilitate the reefing process. I find it cumbersome to reach out from the cockpit with one hand and cleat the halyard off while trying to keep it taut. Am I missing something that might make a regular cleat the only choice?
Thanks, Tom Jenkins M17 Scintilla
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