How to reef without having a kicker?

[sveinutne]

I have to admit that I am sort of novice about boats. I have been part of the crew when racing, but that was not on my boat, so I was only doing my duties without learning everything that is to learn on a sailboat. Now that I finely got the mast up on my E-41 we have started to enjoy sailing it, but I miss the boom kicker. Especially when the wind is from behind or I want to reef the main sail. So I guess I should look around for a kicker, but I wonder how the main sail was reefed without a kicker?
Yesterday I try to reef the sail, but the boom just went down on the spray hood when the halyard was loosened, so I aborted the try. It was no need to reef, I only wanted to test how to do it.

 

[PDX]

Do you have a sliding gooseneck (the attachment point between the boom and mast) on your mast? Any chance of a photograph of the gooseneck?

 

[Loren Beach]

Something to support the boom

That's a large boat with a heavy boom. I would want either a boom topping lift or a rod vang.
Something to keep the boom off your head when you lower the main to reef or stow.
We had a topping lift on our prior boat and a spring-powered solid "rod" vang on the present boat. The current scheme is much better, as the former top. lift line was often snagging batten pockets. I also had to retension it constantly to help keep it from flopping around the backstay as well as the sail.

LB

 

[paul culver]

If you have a jiffy reef set-up you can try hauling the aft line first to bring the boom UP to the reefing clew. Once you secure that, you can then carefully ease the main halyard to set the reef at the luff of the main sail.

Paul
E29 "Bear"

 

[Mort Fligelman]

Boom Topping Lift

Svein:

As Loren suggested......a wire going from the top of the mast to the end of the boom......it can be done (and I am guessing this is the way Loren's done)by having a block at the top of the mast with a rope tail going to a cleat on the mast, or a block on the deck leading back to the cockpit......or an alternative that I used prior to my having the Dutchman setup was a solid coated wire attached to the top of the mast, and to the end of the boom at a length that was suitable to allow the boom to be just below the height that it was with the mainsail raised. To eliminate the adjustment problem Loren describes I seized a length of shock cord to the coated wire under tension so that when the sail was raised the tension-ed shock cord eliminated the snagging.

In reading this over it does seem a bit confusing.......but I hope it helps....

Good Luck

Regards

 

[Andrew Means]

I have a topping lift on me E27 much like the ones Mort and Loren described. On mine the wire runs to about 2ft above where the boom swings and terminates in a block. Then I run a line up from the end of the boom through the block and down to the other side of the boom where I cleat it. I find I do have to adjust it occasionally, but it's a relatively simple operation. On an E41 I'd expect you'd want to run that down the boom and into the cockpit if possible, or just get a solid vang!

 

[sveinutne]

Wow. That was a lot of advice in a sort time. First I got a sliding goosneck, but I am not sure where to "park" it. I have put in a screw that prevents movements upward, and some rope, but I need to find something better.

 

[Seth]

Can't do that

If you have a jiffy reef set-up you can try hauling the aft line first to bring the boom UP to the reefing clew. Once you secure that, you can then carefully ease the main halyard to set the reef at the luff of the main sail.

Paul
E29 "Bear"

Actually this is a bad idea. It is essential to have the proper luff tension established BEFORE tensioning the aft reef lines, or you may pull the luff rope/mast slides out of the mast-

The solution is to employ a conventional boom topping lift (per the original design) during reefing, or as already noted, a solid vang ("kicker" for you euro types).

Cheers,

S

 

[sveinutne]

Seth
If I would like to try the boom topping lift, I need an extra line going to the top of the mast. I got six wheels at the top, but only three is in use, two forward and one backwards. If I should put up one more line, the top is OK, but I do not see where to direct the rope out of the mast. I think all wholes are taken.

 

[Vagabond39]

Topping Lift

Svein:
The topping lifts I have used were fasten to the mast head. One had a line fastened to the Boom tang, and slackened off when the sail was raised. The other used a Dwyer boom with the topping line inside the boom as was the Main outhaul, and cleated at the mast end, or brought to the cockpit for better access single handing.
Some boats have a topping lift attached to the after stay, primarily to hold the boom up with the sail stowed.
Bob.

 

[Seth]

A couple of options

If there is a spare sheave at the masthead, you can rig what is essentially a spare main halyard (really something you should have for extebnded cruising anyway) and use this for a topping lift/spare halyard/method of going aloft.

Also, there should be a couple of holes for a clevis pin near the aft end of the masthead crane. The traditional (and original I would guess) set-up is that you have a line or wire with a spliced eye at the end through which the clevis pin is attached, meaning the topping lift (in this case it is ONLY a boom topping lift) is fixed at the masthead and in the simplest form (assuming it was measured correctly) will have a shackle at the end which can attach to the boom end, but the better way is to have a 3 or 4:1 purchase at the end of this line, which would be attached to the boom-this way you have some adjustment of boom height.

When sailing (after the main is hoisted), you can either slack off the purchase and leave the topping lift attached (and just adjust it as needed to support the boom while you are reefing, remembering to ease it back off once the reef is correctly set up), or you can detach it from the end of the boom and secure it at the mast near the gooseneck so that it is not flopping around behind the leech of the mainsail while sailing. If you decide to reef you can just bring it back to the end of the boom and attach it during the reefing procedure (and of course just before you lower the mainsail when done sailing). In all case, it is ESSENTIAL that the toppong lift have ZERO LOAD once the mainsail is hoisted, reefed, or unreefed. Otherwise you will be pulling against the topping lift as you trim in the mainsheet rather than tensioning the leech of the mainsail. This is something we see all the time-folks forget to ease off the topping lift, and wonder why they can't get leech tension when they trim in the mainsheet (bad form!).

If I were planning on extended cruising though, I would rig it like a halyard so it is adjustable in the same way a halyard is via the masthead and deck sheaves if they exist, and I would size the line so that is strong enough to actually be a spare halyard.

Hope this makies some sense!

Cheers

 

[sveinutne]

Seth</SPAN>
Thank you for your advice. To have the line like a spare halyard sounds like a good option, so I will look and see if I can find an exit hole for the rope in the mast somewhere.</SPAN>

 

[Emerald]

Just add a hole and exit plate if you need to. It's easy.

 

[sveinutne]

Thank you for the guidens. It helps a lot to see how a new hole is done. Now I just need to find the right spot.

 

[Rocinante33]

Those chromed exit plates against the aluminum mast cause corrosion. They would be much better if made of aluminum like the mast. They would need to be anodized, so would undoubtably cost more. I haven't seen any on the market, either. Emerald's exit hole is pretty neat, so I almost think it would be better without any plate. Maybe you would worry about chafe, though.

 

[Emerald]

They are actually stainless plates made by Schaefer:

http://search.defender.com/search.aspx?expression=schaefer+exit&x=11&y=3

I can't tell you what the official name of the stuff is, but I often use a rugged plastic like pipe wrap used on gas fittings that is something like .5 mil thick. Cut like a gasket, it does a nice job of isolating dissimilar metals. A coating of Tef Gel on the rivets could also be used.

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|118|107602|309354&id=1758237

 

[Seth]

No plate is best

You are right. Make a nice cut and file the edges smooth. The cover plates are really just cosmetic, and need to be removed if you need to re-run a lost halyard.

Cheers,
S