The lower (unused) portion of the sail gets wrapped up and tied as you described. The clew and tack fittings at the reef points definitely need to be reinforced to support the downhaul and mainsheet loads. The reef points in the body of the sail don’t need as much reinforcement since they are just holding the sail roll and not intended to support any load from the sail controls.
The main issue with reefing on a cat (and the reason why it’s rarely done) is dealing with the main halyard attachment. Most modern cats use some type of hook system to attach the head of the mainsail to the top of the mast. That system really doesn’t lend itself to reefing and relying on the main halyard to support the reefed sail is not a great approach since doing so can lead to the sail slipping down which messes up the downhaul/mainsheet tensions.
sm
Steve M.
ounds like I should have two levels of reefing
are you planing on crossing an ocean? if so sure - otherwise 1 reef should be enough
a 12% reduction is going to make a big impact - but if you don't think it's enough - go for 15 or 18%
that should allow you to sail in pretty heavy air and reduce heeling enough to make it comfortable
multiple reef points make sense on big non rotating masts that will snap if you must sail but NEED to depower (i.e. MUST get back to port on a big cruiser)
What do you do with the bolt rope that doesn't get fed up the mast?
bolt rope is your luff - it is connected to your main - on my setup you roll up the bottom of the sail and use the reef points to secure it
does the forward reef point need a good connection to the downhaul attach point?
the reef points are not for your downhaul - you need a new downhaul grommet or strope (that is reinforced) to be the new downhaul attachment and one for the clew
Is it ok just to wrap the reefing line around the boom batten?
my setup has 2 patches on the sail. on the patches are very small loops/stropes.
when i lower the sail to "reefed", attach the downhaul to the new location (tack/grommet) and attach the mainblocks to the new location (clew/grommet) i then roll up the 5' (est) of sail. i tie a micro line from one side of my sail, around the sail roll and tie to the other patch/strope. (2mm dynema? but could be any small line - there is NO force applied to this line, it is simply holding the bottom of my sail that is now rolled up)
As you go from the luff to the leech how many grommets should there be? Obviously has to be at least two but seems like you would need more to hold the bottom of the reef to the bottom of the sail. How big do those lines need to be?
tack / reef point - reef point / downhaul
dental floss would work - your just holding the bottom of a rolled up sail
Has anybody made a luff extender, i.e. if you reef at 12% have a 12% long boltrope sewed to a strap or something which attaches to the head of the sail on one side, and the halyard on the other side? I'm not sure if this is exactly what Scott/texastuma was saying.
no offense but that sounds really wrong - if you sew a second bolt rope/ring at the head what stops it from flapping/slamming around when not in use (i guess you could velcro it but .... no)
pretty sure Scott was saying he adds a second halyard from the ring on the head of the sail via a shackel - cable - to a second ring that is attached to the hook. this is a good idea but you must perfect the art of getting this second ring off the hook - otherwise you are flipping your boat on it's side to get your main down - i can't imagine it works but i trust Scott when he says he did perfect this.
Edited by MN3 on Feb 04, 2021 - 03:46 PM.
MN3
Some good points in Joseph Bennett's recent video on a H16.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VizxguKv7XI&t=573s
schoen.steve wrote: Some good points in Joseph Bennett's recent video on a H16.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VizxguKv7XI&t=573s
why is eating the camera? LOL
MN3
Thanks all for the responses!
Great video. "I don't really do swimming."
What is still not clear to me is how reefing works with a boomless sail. I'll have to take some pictures to describe what I'm talking about.
What is still not clear to me is how reefing works with a boomless sail. I'll have to take some pictures to describe what I'm talking about.
You would need an extra heavy batten in the "new" bottom of your sail - just like what should be there now
Why are you so worried about reefing? 98% of beach cats don't
only cats with with reefing are people doing endurance races where it is required, old h16's that had it originally and custom setups like mine where the owner was paranoid about getting caught in a pop up storm with his very young child being on board (we all used to sail almost every weekend around here). I don' t think the original owner ever needed it -and i used it a few times cause i wanted to try it out. first time was fine, second time a tore out my clew and needed it repaired (was under reinforced)
i have sailed too much and too old for that crap now. I have sailed reefed -it was fun but beach and anchor handling still sucked, and if you capsize .... your in for a hell of a unfun time
i can't help but think you would just be better off sailing with a smaller sail plan on med-heavy air days, or stay home and wait for 5-15 knot days
MN3
I guess the original owner put the fear of going reefless in me. Plus I've seen one of the local cat sailors on my lake reef his main. So maybe I'll not worry about it. It will be a while before I have more than one sail. I'd still like to go on the heavy air days. That was a lot of fun on the little boats. I'd like to have that fun but at a faster speed.