Sprits'l Roller Reefing

[Pernicious Atavist]

I have a 40' lateen that works fine on my canoe but I want to use my 54' sprits'l, too. Now, the sprits'l needs to be reefable, which it isn't. I'm thinkin' roller reefing. Anyone out there doing/done it? I'd rather that than having to spend money to have reef points installed.

Seems roller-reef would be easier underway, too. A line wrapped around the mast that gets pulled, wrapping up the sail. Loosen sprit, roll, press on.

Yes?

[Paul Pless]

40' lateen??

54' sprits'l???

That's gotta be one hell of a canoe!!!;):D

[Plumbtex]

I've been thinking along the same lines, but haven't figured out how to handle the snotter with the sail wrapped around the mast. The only thing I can think of so far is to have the sail attach to a roller behind the mast That seems like it would start getting heavy and complex in a hurry.
Chris

[Woxbox]

I assume those numbers are square feet. At any rate, there is a way to do it with brayles or brail lines that pass around the mast and through a line of grommets parallel to the mast. -- ease the snotter, haul on the line and it bunches a couple of feet of canvas along the luff up against the mast, and then harden up on the snotter again. Sort of a jiffy reefing system for a sprit rig. The more traditional method is to scandalize the sail -- pull the sprit out competely, and then fold the peak down to the mast and tie it off, turning the squarish sail into a triangular one.

[slidercat]

Reefing seems to be the least advantageous element of the sprit rig, in conventional terms.

I didn't get around to putting reef points in Slider's home-made sail, but the first time we encountered 25 to 30 knot winds, I went with the scandalized main. Slider has a peak line that is used to draw the tip of the sprit up to the peak, and when the sprit is removed, the line is available to pull the scandalized main around the mast, and then the line can be cleated at the end of the boom.

I was very pleasantly surprised by how well the boat sailed in those conditions, scandalized. Before I built the boat I'd been dubious, since the reduction in area is so large. But the boat still went to windward well under scandalized main alone, though progress was sedate.

With the new main I recently ordered, I did have a row of reef points installed. The unfortunate thing about reefing a spritsail is that the sprit must descend the mast as the sail is reefed, or it completely screws up the geometry of the sail. So you're limited to one not-so-large reef before the sprit descends far enough to foul the boom. But if you're not a racer, a shallow reef and then scandalizing what's left will cover most any situation.

[Pernicious Atavist]

NOT AT THE SAME TIME, PAUL! Of course....hmmmmm.......nahhhh....

Wox, it's feet, what else? I'm thinking roller reefing to avoid having to put in reef points. Scandalizing would cause its own problems since it's a canoe and hasn't the room to work in.

[Thorne]

Try a search of this Forum, this has been discussed before.

I think the Scandanavians have a system where the top of the sprit has an adjustable line, and you can reef the bottom of the sail and pull it down the mast.

This is better than reefing the bottom and having to raise the sail up the mast to avoid the lower end of the sprit hitting the deck or blocking the jib (if you have one).

Can't imagine how roller reefing would work on the mast, as you'd have the sprit bearing on the rolled sail, not be able to use a jib or forestay, etc. I guess you could rig up some sort of boom roller reefing system....

[Pernicious Atavist]

Thanks, Thorne. So, yeah, as i was layin' in bed, it occurred to me that I can't roller-reef 'round the mast because of the snotter! What a knucklehead! I'll have to get reef points installed after all. For my skiff, I envisioned having a line that drew the peak of the sail up the snotter and vice-versa, so that'll work here. Uh, Thorne...with 54' o' sail, I don't think I'll need a jib. If I do add rag, it'll be a mizzen!


I'm sure scandalizing is suicidal in a canoe.

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

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Reefing a spritsail is no particular problem, just as long as you're not reducing the sail (in depth) by more than the lower end of the sprit can handle.

I'll say at the outset that the following comments apply to an unboomed sail. You can use a boomed sail with "roller reefing" of a sort if you're prepared to pull the boom away from the mast and roll up the sail around it by hand. This is not an option as far as I'm concerned because of the need to handle the sprit at the same time.

To reef, you need to lower the sail far enough for its new (reefed) foot to be in the same position vertically as it was before you reefed, but of course to get it there you need to lower the sprit. (You need to do this carefully, as if the sprit comes out of the grommet on the peak, the upper triangle of the sail falls over. On the other hand, as mentioned above, this is a quick and easy way of scandalising the sail in a hurry.) Once you’ve dropped the sprit the right amount you roll up the foot of the sail and tie off each set of reef points around the bunt.

Now, you could lower the sprit by simply taking the snotter off the cleat on the sprit (if that's how it's rigged) and surging it around it, letting gravity do the work till the heel of the sprit has dropped the same distance as the reef points are from the foot of the sail, leaving the snotter hanging from the same thumb cleat on the mast, and then re-belaying the snotter on the cleat on the sprit (or however else your snotter is rigged.)

But then the heel of the sprit is going to be a long way from the thumb cleat from which it's hanging (right down near the bottom-boards forward of the mast step,) and this provides great potential for the sprit to slap around a lot ― certainly scratching your brightwork and maybe even breaking the sprit (or capsizing a canoe.)

So my way of reefing is to have a second thumb cleat further down the mast, and to hang the snotter from that one when reefed. This means slackening off the snotter just a little, then taking the whole weight of snotter and sail by hand so as to lift the strop up over the first thumb cleat and letting it slide down the mast onto the second one. Hence the second thumb cleat should be placed on the mast as far below the first as the reef points are from the foot of the sail.

One other advantage to the sprit rig, not so far mentioned, is that the whole sail can be triced up to the mast by a brailing line. This reduces the canvas even more than scandalising. You simply let thr sheet fly, pull on the brailing line, and it's done. Again, this is easier to carry out for a boomless sail, but not impossible with a boomed one. (It also makes a good lazy stow, when you're going to be off sailing again before long.)

This is Aileen Louisa with jib handed and mainsail triced. The mainsail's area is 100 sq ft.

http://www.woodenboatfittings.com.au/public/al-brailed1.jpg

Scandalising in the way mentioned should not be a problem in a canoe, and in fact would be a good deal easier I should think than reefing. It's a quick and easy way of reducing your sail area by nearly a half -- just let go the snotter and remove the sprit, all of which you should be able to do from the sitting position.

Mike

[Pernicious Atavist]

Thanks, Mike. I may just give scandalizing a go and see what happens. In any event, I'm never more than a quarter mile from a shore I can beach on should it get too fugly!

[slidercat]

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So my way of reefing is to have a second thumb cleat further down the mast, and to hang the snotter from that one when reefed. This means slackening off the snotter just a little, then taking the whole weight of snotter and sail by hand so as to lift the strop up over the first thumb cleat and letting it slide down the mast onto the second one. Hence the second thumb cleat should be placed on the mast as far below the first as the reef points are from the foot of the sail.

Mike

This is definitely the traditional way of doing it, and it works fine. Having the habit of excessively overthinking everything, I came up with a somewhat different approach. Instead of hanging the snotter from a thumb cleat (which presents a slight obstacle to raising and lowering the sail), I used a loop of Dyneema cord, which circles the mast between two robands and is shackled to a Dyneema cord halyard hanging from a fairlead at the masthead. The snotter purchase is also shackled to the loop. This allows infinite adjustment of the sprit angle, and when reefing, you need only pay out the snotter halyard to the mark. Also, when making this adjustment, there's no danger of the peak coming adrift from the tip of the sprit, because I use a peak line from a grommet at the peak, through a bee hole in the tip, and down the sprit to a cleat. This allows me to maintain control of the sprit no matter the circumstances. My double topping lift acts as lazyjacks to corral the sprit, and I leave the sprit attached and lying along the boom when sail is lowered. My sail cover lets the sprit peek out forward of the mast and aft of the boom.