Single Line reefing

[Mike Lofstrom]

After fiddling around with the single line reefing on "Cat Tales" and not getting satisfaction, I bit the bullet, (and my wallet!) and re-rigged the boat.  My boat is a 92 with single ine reefing where the lines run entirely inside the boom and exit over sheaves at the ends.  I pulled the boom off, put a Harken Carbo Air cheek block on each side near the goosneck, and added small Schafer mast exit plates to the sides of the boom to allow the clew reef lines out on each side.  ( there is nothing as daunting as going after the boom of one's sailboat with a sabre saw to cut exit slots!!)  The Clew lines now exit the boom 14 inches aft of the gooseneck and are turned down just aft of the gooseneck to turning blocks at the mast base.  I replaced several of the single mast base blocks with Garhauer doubles to handle the extra lines.  These blocks are not really in the catalog, but the made them up for me anyway.  The folks at Garhauer are very responsive.  I then added a Quad rope clutch from Garhauer to the Starboard side of the cabin top in place of the Single Clutch / Clam cleat thingy, and kept the triple clutch on the port side. I now have separate clew and tack reef lines for both reef points.  While I was at it, I stacked a double deck organizer on top of a triple on each side of the boat so I could get all of the lines back to the cockpit.  I have also run the Vang, Cunningham and Topping lift, (i don't have a solid vang) into the cockpit to a set of Harken cam matics.  So now, from port to starboard I have Cunningham and Vang in Cam matics, Jib Halyard, #2 Tack and Clew reef lines in the triple clutch, Main sheet, # 1 reef lines and Main Halyard in the Quad clutch, and the topping lift in another cam matic on Starboard.  The folks at Garhauer provided all of the new blocks and clutches and a new quad fairlead to mount under the main traveller track.  The quad fairlead was a tight fit, but it worked out perfectly.  The cam matics on the port side are also mounted on 7/8 Harken risers so the lines will clear the hatch over the head.  I was able to test sail the boat last friday in about 20 knots of wind and the reefing now works perfectly.  It is a little more complicated to get the boat reefed, but I was able to do it singlehanded in a couple of minutes without problem.  The Sail shape with this system is a huge improvement over the stock single line reefing.  The total cost of parts and new lines was probably around $600-$700. Many thanks to Stu Jackson for the Mainsheet article and to others who have posted on this subject.  This website is a treasure trove!