There is no cunningham tackle on my M17. There's not even any obvious downhaul setup, other than a line off the bottom of the gooseneck. There are two small jam cleats almost side by side, starboard side of the mast track, below the gooseneck location, and I've just been putting the downhaul line off the gooseneck through one of those. It is almost too high and too much off to the side to use - works to hold the line fast but would not work well to adjust under tension. Just making do until I figure out something better. I reckon this is a variable preference from sailor to sailor - personally, I think the hooks are super-convenient, will be even more so when I get floppy rings in place. cheers, John S. On 10/07/2016 04:31 PM, Henry Rodriguez wrote:
I'm with GO in using the Cunningham tackle with a hook at the top end for the luff cringles at both (all) reefs. Just ease tension on the tackle and move the hook from the Cunningham cringle to the appropriate reef cringle. Much easier than messing with hooks on the boom, plus you have the added benefit of a powerful tackle to add tension to the luff as the wind increases.
Henry
On Fri, Oct 7, 2016 at 1:26 PM, John Schinnerer <john@eco-living.net> wrote:
I have the J-hooks for the tack grommets on front of boom, both sides. No lines needed. They are a bit of a pain to put in place, however I also just learned about a solution, called "floppy rings" - webbing and rings through the tack grommet that get hooked over the J-hooks. Much easier. Sample photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/27250333@N05/3424998800/sizes/ m/in/photostream/
Has to be put in by adequately skilled owner or sail shop though, because the rings obviously can't pass through the grommet.
There are some forum threads about using soft shackles for this. Also for various knots in line or webbing that could be used to DIY. Here's one, unfortunately several key pics are broken... http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=149518
cheers, John S.
On 10/07/2016 11:08 AM, GILASAILR--- via montgomery_boats wrote:
There would only be Two lines for the forward reefs as the cunningham is typically used on the flattening reef. (I use stand alone cunni (4:1 for forward reef downhaul - saves hardware on the limited boom real estate. Hard to tell what intermediate owners use/remove or modify over the years?!?!
In a message dated 10/7/2016 10:56:35 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, john@eco-living.net writes:
On 10/06/2016 11:53 AM, David Rifkind wrote: ...
I’m curious how you handle multiple reefs. My main has only one. I assume you don’t have three full sets of reefing tackle on the boom. What do you do with them?
So far I have only used the first reef - what GO said might be a "flattening" reef. It takes a decent bite out of sail area and seems to match very well with the "small" jib that came with the boat. And it does flatten the main some compared to no reef.
There are two cheek blocks and two horn cleats on starboard side of my boom. The horn cleats I plan to replace with jam cleats for quickness and ease - making fast with good outhaul tension on a horn cleat with sail and boom bouncing around in rising wind is less than optimal. The upside is, they provide something to wrap the excess reefing line around...which a jam cleat doesn't...what have others done for this conundrum?
Interesting GO what you said about a "flattening reef" - because the cheek blocks do not seem to be positioned right for what I was assuming was the "first" and "second" reef (I figured the block & cleat for the 2nd would also be used for the 3rd, or, that nobody had ever put on a block & cleat for the 3rd).
The rear-most cheek block, which I assumed was for the "first" reef, is not far enough aft to give an effective outhaul for the first reef. But it would be well located for the "second" reef. Likewise the other cheek block is not aft enough for the apparent "second" reef, but clearly is aft enough for the "third" reef.
So I think you've clarified why that is...I was one off in my thinking, those two blocks are for the 2nd and 3rd reef, not the 1st and 2nd.
So to use my "first" (flattening?) reef, I've just run the regular outhaul through the first reef grommet, using the same end-of-boom block as for full main. Which is a bit less convenient than I'd like. So I'm pondering how to have a quick-n-easy setup for that first/flattening reef.
cheers, John S.
-- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com
-- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com