I last used the single line reef on our Defiance30. Worked well on the small mainsail, but there's a hell of a lot of rope back in the cockpit.

I have all my reefing gear at the mast and boom. It seems like a nice idea but having looked into it a little I can only say that it must cost a bomb to run everything back to the cockpit! Anyone done this and added up the total including winches, deck gear, lines, blocks, pulleys (not including modifying the dodger)? Of course it would be hugely different depending on new or used gear but it would be hard to find decent used gear for the whole shebang.

The set up l described above cost me less than fifty bucks.
Of course, if you go for brand new stuff it could go into many hundreds or more and you would be still short with the third reef!? as most reefing systems are designed for two reef lines only, but that is not what l was talking about.
What is a dodger? lol. That would make going to the mast on any yacht treacherous!

I use a similar system to you sirgallivant with a slider in the boom track. I have used the cunningham to tack the reef but this puts a lot of load on the mast track/sail slug that opposes the out haul, unless the cunningham is rigged to oppose this outhaul load, it may be possible to tear the slug or car right off the sail. When I have used the cunningham for reefing I still go forward to lash it against mast.

Well spotted Jolene!
I did not mention the fact, that l retained the horn to be used in very high winds as well as the cunningham is angled about 20 degs.

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manitulak said..
Hi, I have same setup for two reefs with one exception : tack blocks are mounted on the mast, not on the boom as per drawing.
to avoid friction main is lowered below reef level and reef line puled touth, then main rised. I m reefing and dereefing from cockpit, no deck walking.
hailyard and refing 1 and 2 are 8 mm double bride, ticker will be more comfy on hands but with increased friction, thinner with less friction willbe uncomfy for hands. I do not use winch or other power multyplaying device.

I did not liked reefing line rubing on the sail, as per pics








And with those sail track inserts solved it.




Now system works better than before, and looks better too.

Heres a better view of my system at the mast.

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nswsailor said..
Heres a better view of my system at the mast.

looks like rubbing rope on sail can be elimminated all together, thanks, future project for me, mabe next main.

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sirgallivant said..
The set up l described above cost me less than fifty bucks.
Of course, if you go for brand new stuff it could go into many hundreds or more and you would be still short with the third reef!? as most reefing systems are designed for two reef lines only, but that is not what l was talking about.
What is a dodger? lol. That would make going to the mast on any yacht treacherous!

The dodger is that bit of material that keeps you dry and comfortable in the cockpit when the wind gets over 20kts. At least on my boat. When Havefun and I were having fun last year for 48 hours of over 20-25kts and we didn't have the dodger (it was damaged and had gone in the previous gale) it made the trip really uncomfortable.

I can do everything from the cockpit except put the luff cringle on the reefing horn. I put grab handles on the dodger frame to use it as a handhold for the crew that goes forward.

As morning bird said, the handles built in to the dodger frame ,work a treat, for moving around .