INVESTIGATOR 563

Hi all,

I'm steadily moving along with my refurbishment and in a spare moment of reflection I thought about roller reefing on the boom.

Does anyone with roller reefing on the boom want to shoot off a few photos of the neck attachment so I can see how it all works.
Reading the I563 info sheet it seems that boom roller reefing was standard on I563's but goes on to mention a boom vang cannot be used although there are ways around that...

My boom is fixed at the gooseneck but has a freely rotating topping lift attachment
Cheers, Pete

the gooseneck is spring loaded. Pull the boom away from the mast when it attached to the track. Its just a short movement but the boom should rotate and roll up the sail.

I have cringles sown into the leech of my sail otherwise the boom end will droop. Check out the pictures accompanying a few days in the shed post.

Dr. Peter wrote:the gooseneck is spring loaded. Pull the boom away from the mast when it attached to the track. Its just a short movement but the boom should rotate and roll up the sail.

I have cringles sown into the leech of my sail otherwise the boom end will droop. Check out the pictures accompanying a few days in the shed post.

Thanks for the info,
Had a search and found the "Couple of days in the shed" post but the photos would not open any larger so was a bit difficult to see exactly what the set up was.....I did also notice the vang, are there larger photos I can see?
Direct emails is ok... (but I'll not make the mistake of posting my email address so spammers can email me lol)
I have now got the boom rotating. It took quite a bit of force to get the gooseneck out but it did come out enough to allow the boom to roll...
I've not at least got a reefing boom I'll investigate a Horseshoe type arrangement to help set a boom vang

Cheers, Peter

Hi Pete,
I have used the roller reefing a bit , my problem was my spring seems to not hold well and wanted to pop out , so check that . It would be inconvenient if it happened in a blow. Also I experimented with foam strip( concreters expansion strips ) double sided taped on thelast few feet of the main sheet end of the boom to help bulk the sail out on that end during roller reefing. It does give better sail shape.

I have also used slab reefing but as I am basically a fair weather sailor and rarely far from shelter on lake Mac I don't have much of preference based on experience. Other than roller reefing is quick and simple. I never worried about the vang during reefing but I am a bit slack when it comes to sail trim as I'm never in a hurry . Boom rolling seems to be regarded as old hat these days but I read that north sea fishing (sail) boats used and perfected it years ago . Given the horrific conditions such vessels worked in for a living it must have had something going for it


Edit just looked at dr peters pics . Your roller reefing pics Peter show your sail nice and neat with the boom still parallel to the cabin top. My sails when rolled droop the boom quite badly by this much sail rolled in which is why I used the foam. What's your secret

The spring on my roller reefing gooseneck fitting is long past its frisky days. Could pull the whole lot off and start again, but not sure how easy it would be to remove a gooseneck end that has been in place for nigh on 40 years.

If you end up using a cringle on the clew, you are almost back to slab reefing. I am thinking slab reef first, and then in extremis, I can reef some more by rolling round the boom.

With slab reefing I use the Cunningham ( as discussed on TSP) on the next available reef cringle to tension the sail down , still puts a strain on the sail slug below it .

What do others do?

My gooseneck attachment is a bit dodgy so we always have a pennant line holding the front of the boom down.

I use a reefing line between the leech cringle and a small snail cam cleat on the end of the boom. You belay the line around the boom end in the opposite direction to the way the sail is rolled and then cleat it. The sail stays where it is supposed to. I have different size lines to suit the first reef position and the second and third otherwise you have a big tail to deal with.

BTW - when I had the mainsail made by Eastwind I specifically requested that the battens be parallel to the boom to keep things neat. If I was to do another made or ever had need to send it away for repair then I would have matching cringles on the luff. That would give me the option of either roller reefing or quicker slab reefing.

I tried cropping the relevant area of the original photos and posting them here. Hope it helps. One is the deep third reef.

I have 2 reefs in my mainsail but I really need to have 3. With the second reef in I still need my genoa up to balance the helm, As the breeze increases and healing gets excessive, If I change to my storm jib I then have helm problems because the main is overpowering. I would really need to reef the main again to get in balance with the storm jib. Roller boom reefing would be perfect for helm balance on these little yachts. Next time I'm out in it, I'll throw up the storm jib and roller reef the main to find the sweet spot, then I'll know where to put a third reef.
I have 2 cheek blocks and 2 cleats on my boom for reefing, one set either side of the boom for hauling out whilst reefed. I use a cable attached to the mast step with a hook on the other end to hook into the reefing crinkle and I tension it up with the main halyard.
Steve

Rather than struggling with sail sizes when you have balance problems, you can simply pull the center board back a bit to counter weather helm.

Yara50 wrote:Rather than struggling with sail sizes when you have balance problems, you can simply pull the center board back a bit to counter weather helm.

Unfortunately I cant see it being that simple, A reduction in main sail area is what I need to get the boat sailing with less heal and in balance with the storm jib.

Steve