Main Sail Reefing

[BlewBayouToo]

I have a question about reefing the main sail. On the other boats that we have been on their was a "reefing hook" mounted on the mast. On our boat there is nothing there. The sail has two reefing points but nothing to fasten them to. Some people around the marina have said to just tie the sail down to the boom. I wanted to put it back "stock" or what ever upgrade has been devised. Could some one take a few pictures of your system and post the on here or e-mail them to me at chmachin@bellsouth.net . Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Ron Hill]

Terry : I added a "reefing hook"(pig tail) to mine.  You'll have to drill it out a little larger so it will fit thru thru the pin that holds the tack of the main to the boom.  Then you run the reef lines for the leach of the sail thru the blocks on the starboard side of the mast to the jam cleats - that are forward.    

[BlewBayouToo]

Thanks for the reply. I know its asking a lot but could I possible get a couple of pictures of your set up? I dont want to mess it up and have extra holes in my mast. As close as I can remember the pig tail is either riveted or screwed to the mast. The pig tail that WM has for sale only has one hole in it to fasten it in to position. Again any help is greatly appreciated.

[Jeff Kaplan]

terry, i just got thru setting up the reefing system on #219. used two ideas and much advice from this site. i ended up using a 2 line set up and led them both aft, the tack  comes back on the port side and the clew, starboard . for the tack clew, i drilled, tapped and installed a padeye on the starboard side of the mast about 4"down from the sail stop screw and near the middle of the mast. on the port side i installed a fairlead, same level. i used 3/8" staset line and attached a bowline to the padeye, lead the line thru the grommet, down thru the fairlead to the block on the mast collar, got a new double block from garhauer, thru the deck organizer back to a spare clutch on port coachroof. for the clew, i installed a small harken carbo block to the grommet attaching it to a 1 1/4" ss ring on the opposite side. i brought the line from the car on the boom up to the block and back down on the same side of the sail thru the block,to a fairlead  on the boom, to a block on the mast, right under the boom, down to a block on the mast collar, to the deck org., back to a new double clutch on star. coach roof. the tack line is 30' and the clew is 45'. all holes were drilled and tapped 10-24, using a 5/32 bit. the tack idea came from julandra projects and the clew set up came from the catalina 38 site. premarked the spot on the main halyard, so when ready to reef, just drop line, haul in both reef lines, reset main halyard, and roll up sail. i could have ued a block on the tack, but the pull is short and pretty straight. if i get a chance this weekend, i will take some pic's. look back thru the previous posts and all this info is there. total time to install everything is a couple of hours, pretty easy, use good, sharp drill bits and get a 10-24 tap,also use philips head screws. you can contact me with any questions. good luck...jeff

[BlewBayouToo]

Thanks for the info. I guess I should have said from the beginning that all the jiffy reefing lines are already in place, luckily. The only thing missing from the reefing set up is the pig tail. But I would really like to see some close up pictures of your set up. Thanks

[Ken Juul]

There is at least one other C34 in or near Kemah.  Hopefully they will reply.  Sometimes answers can be found by walking around the marina and seeing what others have done.

[SteveLyle]

If you want it stock, it sounds like you've got it.

The tack line runs from an eye strap on the port side of the mast, about a foot or so off the deck, up through the luff reef point, and back down to a cleat on the stb side of the mast.  To reef, haul down on the line on the stbd side, it'll pull the luff down to be the new tack at the base of the boom/mast, and cleat the line off.

Sounds too simple - what am I missing?