You need to tie in a loop thru the reef cringle and around the boom if you elect to not add more hardware for the use of the flattening reef - or add MORE hardware - That is why they call it a BOOM! I have converted to 'less hardware - more use of line or soft attachments' philosophy as our boats and spars are very small/I am too cheap to buy new hardware and 'soft' is more flexible and less weight. 'Google' soft shackles, soft attachments for sail rigging or related for ideas. Have fUn, go sailing GO 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