Reef Line - Boom Installation

[dawntreader]

I need to re-fit a reef line into the [Selden] boom traveller. Is this as a simple a job as it appears on paper or are there pit-falls I need to be aware of? From the drawings it appears that all I need to do is to remove the rear end of the boom and pull the traveller out to re-thread the reef line making sure I mouse the front end first. Comments appreciated 

[Ripster]

Redid mine this season after losing an end of one of them in the boom (don't ask!).  I tried on my own first, but couldn't get the cars to run freely past each other so called in a rigger who has done it before.  If you study the diagrams, they look fairly simple, but its the channels that the loose lines run in that is key and that is what he knew!  I (we) had to take the boom off and lay it on the pontoon, just couldn't get access to both ends well enough with it in place.  Mind you, we took all the cars and lines out, so started from scratch.  We used those little cable mousing rods to pull the lines and cars through.

[Salty]

Take care as you pull the travellers out, the older installations have small nylon rollers or wheels which are not held in securely once the traveller is out of the boom. As they hit the deck, they bounce and its odds on that one or more will go over side. New ones can be obtained from Selden stockists, but the price of them will make you wish you had been more careful.

[BillGiles]

I did ours last year (twice actually as one of the lines was too short!) and it was pretty easy if you are careful to ensure the cars are the right way round and you don't lose the little rollers as indicated above. Use a digi camera or phone to keep a record as you (slowly) go. You may need to splice or sew a little loop in the end of one of the reefing lines as a knot will be too fat. When pulling ropes through use light lines to tail through and make it easy to pull the big lines back through the boom.

We changed our lines from the Bavaria installed 12mm to a slimmer, lighter 10mm and it has made a huge difference to the ease of reefing. Although it was fairly expensive for quite a lot of rope we do now have some nice warps for a whole range of tasks!

[dawntreader]

Thanks Ripster, BillGiles and Salty - however, I went ahead before your advice arrived. It was an 'own goal' when I pulled the reef line through and late at night. I thought the line was tangled and, as I was due to launch early next morning, decided the reef was better off the rollers and out of the boom but in future will be much more careful to use mousing lines (if possible) before I decide to do this again.

I did the refit on my own but strongly advise against this - get someone to help. I used a draw wire (steel spring type) and fed this through the boom from the mast end. After mousing the sail end of the reef and taping it to the draw wire I pulled it and the traveller to the rear. I've shortened this story considerably as this part was not easy on my own  - you need someone to 'feed' and someone to 'pull'. Once the traveller got to the back of the boom one of the small rollers from the traveller fell out of its housing and tried desperately to roll off the rear of the boat but I was lucky and it stopped inches from the end. The next fiddly bit was feeding the reef line from the back to the front of the boom and trying not to catch either the travellers or the other reef and outhaul lines in the way. Three and a half hours after starting, I managed to complete the job.

Simple on paper but very difficult in practice.

[Mirror45184]

One general hint for any mousing or re-reeving of any lines is to keep all other lines already in the boom/mast taught. this will reduce the chance of tangles or twists!
Cheers
mark
SV Synergy

[Nigel]

We changed our lines from the Bavaria installed 12mm to a slimmer, lighter 10mm and it has made a huge difference to the ease of reefing...

How did you work out how much you needed?

[BillGiles]

I can tell you that the measuring is easy to get wrong. My co-owner and I carefully measured every one of the lines we had taken out - twice. One of them was still wrong when we cut the new ones. You will need three different colours or flecks. And don't mix them up with a red (say) at the clew end of number three and the same red at the tack end of number one. Good luck. 

[paulemeier1]

We changed our lines from the Bavaria installed 12mm to a slimmer, lighter 10mm and it has made a huge difference to the ease of reefing...

How did you work out how much you needed?

Hi Nigel,
I have done the same, replace the 12mm to 10mm. It is realy much easier to handle.
The way of me was to se a pilot line at the end of the line at the mast. it is to short to come out alone. Then remove the end of the boom , and pull out the line. But be very careful, you will loose a small roll which is not locked to the "schlitten". there are 4 peaces of it, be very careful, I lost one and have to rebuy.
Then you se, the line with the pilot line is sewed to the "schlitten" . I removed it and put the new one in. Then I sewed a long an at the other line, pulled it thru the boom and put the "schlitten back in the boom. Be carefull not to drill the lines.
Thats all, same procedure with reef 2
Good look!

[Nigel]

I would need to measure before removing the lines, but I think I can get all the data from the guy who measured for my new sail.

Using 10mm would be nice, but I'd worry about the load, it's a big sail on a B47.

[Mirror45184]

Hi Nigel,

If you are concerned about 10 mm over 12 mm poly/poly double braid use 10 mm spectra, slightly more expensive but will give peace of mind. For measuring the lengths, Mouse out all the lines to be replaced using "VB" cord, keep a bit of tension on it so it does not fall between a sheave and cheek. Then you can yse the lines removed to measure off for the new lines.

Cheers
Mark
SV Synergy

[BillGiles]

10mm 16 ply polyester has a breaking strain of about 2850kg and 12mm has about 4450kg. Which is a huge difference but given that a new Range Rover Sport weighs in at 2144kg I can only guess that you are not hoisting the weight of the latest SUV up your mainsail! However, the more modern ropes will give you more strength, for instance I recently bought some 3mm dyneema which has a breaking strain of nearly 1000kg. Nevertheless, having reduced the size of our reefing lines to 10mm we could have used Dyneema at 8mm which would have been even lighter and much the same price. (See here as a guide https://www.jimmygreen.co.uk/p/technical/yacht-ropes-and-rigging-technical-articles-/rope-breaking-strain-guide)

[Nigel]

... we could have used Dyneema at 8mm which would have been even lighter and much the same price...

Where have you seen Dyneema at similar prices to BoB?

[BillGiles]

Breaking strain for breaking strain the price is much the same, ie 10mm conventional rope is about the same price as 6mm Dyneema but has the same breaking strain. Although it is easy to pull on 10mm rope 6mm is harder on the hands.