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A "hack" to keep the dog bone ring on the tack hook

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
I use tack hooks, located port and starboard at the gooseneck, for securing my reefing tack. My sail is fitted with "dog bones," which pass through the sail's luff with rings on either side. These make it very easy to slip the reefing tack over the tack hook. Unfortunately, they also makes it very easy for the rings to shake loose and fall off before I can get back to the cockpit to put tension on the main halyard. (If my main halyard terminated at the mast this would not be an issue.)

My sailmaker suggested a "hack" to prevent this from happening. It consists of fashioning a small piece of shock cord with two small loops on either end (photo 1). I put one loop over the starboard hook (photo 2), passed it underneath the sail, and then hooked the other loop to the port hook (photo 3). (I suppose you could also pass the cord through the sail's tack cringle if there is room. It would work fine either way.)

When it comes time to reef, I just slide the loop off of the tack hook, set the ring in place, and then slide the loop back on (photo 4). This keeps the ring from flogging off while I make my way back to the cockpit to tension the luff.
 

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Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Just to help me understand, the shock cord is under some tension, so that when you remove it and put the ring over the hook it will go back on and stay due to .... tension. (?)
I could use something like this. That ring, falling back off the hook is a PITA.
 

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
Just to help me understand, the shock cord is under some tension, so that when you remove it and put the ring over the hook it will go back on and stay due to .... tension. (?)
I could use something like this. That ring, falling back off the hook is a PITA.
Yes, the cord is indeed under tension. I should have mentioned that.

I should also mention, though, that the size of the loops on the shock cord is small enough so that they would not fall off of the hook in any case. While they are not difficult to take on and off, I made them small enough so that they grip the hook snugly.

One site that mentioned this hack suggested running the cord through one of the unused holes for the tack cringle pin (e.g., as clearly shown in photo 4), to keep from losing the cord. But I don't exactly have a clear path to do that, and I don't think the shock cord would wander off anyway, due to the friction furnished by the shock cord loop itself, if nothing else. If that makes sense.

Now, I should offer this caveat: I just installed it this morning and only tried it out at the dock! But my sailmaker suggested it, and based on my test at the dock I can't see why it wouldn't work in real life.
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
The mast cam looks like a good solution to a slightly different problem, at least to me.
What would benefit me is the solution of the 'dog bone' retainer that will let me tie in the foot of the main in reefed position, at the dock. Then I can go out on a windy day with the main ready to hoist and set. This is good for when sailing solo, or when I am the only experienced sailor on board.
Note that I do not question the usefulness of anyone else's solutions, but rather am trying to imagine this for our boat.
 

goldenstate

Sustaining Member
Blogs Author
I do the same thing with a loop of shock cord on a cow hitch/larks head on my whisker pole D ring.

A larger open loop doesn’t require any threading over the rams horn to secure the dog bone.

So many animals.
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
The ultimate solution is probably reef downhauls, which are grand to have if you do a lot of reefing and unreefing.

But they do add complication, require deck organizer and clutch, and are overkill for daysailing.
 

goldenstate

Sustaining Member
Blogs Author
Can you describe this in a bit more detail? I'm not quite picturing it.
The red loop of shock cord shown hanging is my dog-bone keeper. I lower the sail, go forward and set dog bone reefing point, then pull the red cord onto the rams horn. It only needs to keep the ring on enough for me to get back to the cockpit to put tension on the halyard to set the reefing point. One can adjust the length of the loop to solve for a compromise between ease-of-use and adequate-tension.

IMG_9074.JPG
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
The ultimate solution is probably reef downhauls, which are grand to have if you do a lot of reefing and unreefing.

But they do add complication, require deck organizer and clutch, and are overkill for daysailing.
Absolutely, and I once had those on a prior boat. Complication, yes.

Separate added comment, looking at Tom's picture: identical mast base and organizers on our boat. I had already changed out the turning blocks for ball-bearing Garhauers, and recently changed out the organizers for ball-bearing Harken, which uses the same mounting holes. Not a huge change in friction reduction, but it all adds up. IMHO.
The visibility of the shock cord is a big plus, too.
 
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Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
The red loop of shock cord shown hanging is my dog-bone keeper. I lower the sail, go forward and set dog bone reefing point, then pull the red cord onto the rams horn. It only needs to keep the ring on enough for me to get back to the cockpit to put tension on the halyard to set the reefing point. One can adjust the length of the loop to solve for a compromise between ease-of-use and adequate-tension.

View attachment 39159
Ah, yes! I like it!

I'm not sure whether it would be any easier than what I've set up, but it might be. As I mentioned to Loren, I just set mine up yesterday and have not given it a real-world test. But I'll sure keep yours in mind if I don't like how mine works.
 

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
Absolutely, and I once had those on a prior boat. Complication, yes.
Complication, and more spaghetti cluttering the cockpit.

I also had mine set up that way when I only had one reef set up. It did work quite well. But adding a second reef would be a bit much, so I have opted to go for the reef hooks and just run the reefing clew lines aft.

Of course, single-line reefing would help eliminate the extra lines. I had that on a Newport 27 I owned years ago and it actually worked OK. But separate tack and clew lines provide the best performance for tensioning the sail.

Always trade-offs....
 

Slick470

Member III
Neat idea. I take the halyard to the mast with me. From the clutch I lead it around the cabin top winch with enough wraps as necessary, open the clutch and then take the tail forward with me. This way I can adjust it on the fly and keep tension on the luff while do what is needed at the mast and while I head back to the cockpit. If I need an extra hand I step on the tail and the friction is usually enough to hold things in place.
 

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
Yes, the cord is indeed under tension. I should have mentioned that.

I should also mention, though, that the size of the loops on the shock cord is small enough so that they would not fall off of the hook in any case. While they are not difficult to take on and off, I made them small enough so that they grip the hook snugly.

One site that mentioned this hack suggested running the cord through one of the unused holes for the tack cringle pin (e.g., as clearly shown in photo 4), to keep from losing the cord. But I don't exactly have a clear path to do that, and I don't think the shock cord would wander off anyway, due to the friction furnished by the shock cord loop itself, if nothing else. If that makes sense.

Now, I should offer this caveat: I just installed it this morning and only tried it out at the dock! But my sailmaker suggested it, and based on my test at the dock I can't see why it wouldn't work in real life.
Update: I've actually used a few times now the version of the shock cord dog bone ring retainer that my sailmaker suggested, and I'm ready to pronounce it a complete success. It couldn't be simpler to take on and off, works perfectly, and is unobtrusive. The wind was honkin' today, so I had it preset at the dock before raising the sail (as Loren suggested in post #5), which worked really well.
 

Kenneth K

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
I'll say it just for the fun of stirring up the old debate: Single line reefing.

I use SLR fot the first reef and a dedicated downhaul for the second reef. Been working well for me.
 

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
I'll say it just for the fun of stirring up the old debate: Single line reefing.

I use SLR fot the first reef and a dedicated downhaul for the second reef. Been working well for me.
I've used SLR on a previous boat and it actually worked pretty well. There are pros and cons, of course.

The advantage of separate lines for tack and clew is that you can tension each independently, so getting the shape you want is more of a sure thing. Also, you want to tension the luff first and then the clew. Doing it in the other order can stress the sail slides. And then there is the friction inherent in the SLR system.

With SLR, the clear advantage is the reduction in spaghetti occupying your cockpit. Some would also claim it's easier to use because there is just one line to pull. Comparing SLR to separate lines where both are led aft to the cockpit, I personally think they are equally simple to set. My current setup, related to the topic of this thread, involves handling the tack at the gooseneck, so that sometimes represents an extra step (i.e., when I haven't pre-set the reef tack before leaving the dock).

I think this article by Pineapple Sails is quite good: http://www.pineapplesails.com/articles/reefing.htm
 
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