reefing rigging- in my case peapod

Builder's Forum
1

Hello! I have a question on possible alternate reefing rigging setups.  In my case I have a Lighthouse Tender Peapod.  Also, let me preface that most of my formal education on sailing was on sunfish 40 years ago, which have no provision for reefing, so until I built my peapod, the particulars of reefing were unknown to me. 

Perhaps the directions ave changed on a later iteration of the build manual, but in my buld manual it had what appeared to be a complicated lacing of line going from tack, to new tack position to new clew position, to clew etc, with a cleat on the spar.  It looked complicated to me, and seemed like a lot of friction as well, but what did I know?  I built it that way, although there was some additional confusion in the directions as to which side things were to be on.
Anyway, after attempting reefing several times, I find even when I make landfall in order to do reefing, or practice in my driveway, I invariably get it wrong first go.  All that zig-zaggging line seems too complicated for what I imagine is just setting new tack and clew attachment points.  plus, when reefed, I suddenly have a bunch of spare line I have to secure on the spar, just when things are getting spicy wind-wise.   Maybe it is me, of course, as I have had no prior experince with doing such things. 
Onc option I am considering in the fall is rigging something like this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beh1CnDPljI

He has an outhaul, which of course is not OEM design, but considering my windward performance is lacking as well, I might like to add.  This may require me to make a new spar that is a tad longer to allow for the additioal tackle needed on the clew end.  I already have a 4:1 downhaul retrofitted and a bleater, so I guess I am evolving to the rig in the youtube rig already.

If I did this, I would be able to get rid of a cleat and the two fairleads on my lower spar.  Which would possibly free up room for outhaul tackle.

Also, I would like to increase upwind performance. Onboard, I would have guessed it was 50º off the wind, whih i guess is to be expected for balanced lug, but after looking at my GPS tracks this summer it is more like 60º off the wind.  I know it can do better, if only a little bit.  Since I already have a 4:1 downhaul, my guess is the problem is not enough outhaul tension, and more experience from the skipper.

anyway, I am curious what others have found as a solution for securing tack and clew when reefing?

2

Nate,

See the 4-part post I just put up titled Illustrated Guide to Better Boating through Lazyjacks and Parrels. It's a detailed description of how I rigged my Peapod which you may find helpful. It's 4 different posts, each related to a different aspect of using lazyjacks and parrels, not the same post 4 times.

Laszlo

3

nate,

Starting at the end of your post, where do you have the downhaul lashed to the mast? That is, how much of your boom protrudes in front of the mast? If you have too much, that can give you lee helm which makes going upwind more difficult.

The reefing setup you have is the jiffy-reef. What it's supposed to do is to let you pull one line to get the new clew and tack down to the spar in a hurry, partially secure them by cleating the jiffy reef line and then when things have settled down clean the sail up by tying the reefing ties.

As a practical matter there's a bit more to it than that. You have to loosen the halyard to let the yard come down enough to let the new clew and tack reach the boom. If you don't have a parrel and lazy jacks (or topping lifts), the yard and boom will flap around and the yard may fall down on your head. And, of course, the dowmhaul will probably need adjusting.

I have a jiffy reef system on my Faering Cruiser's balanced lug. It also has lazy jacks and a wooden bead parrel. Last week I tried reefing my new Peapod, which has no lazy jacks or parrel, and found it to be clumsy, especially compared to the Faering Cruiser with all its extras.

The guy in your video also has lazy jacks and when he loosens his halyard  the boom doesn't move and the sail and yard stay well-behaved. His outhaul/clew loop are doing pretty much exactly what the jiffy reef line is supposed to do, but he has to manually put the loop into his outhaul carabiner. With the jiffy reef working properly you should just have to pull the line and cleat it.

So for my Peapod I am in the process of adding a wooden bead parrel (though CLC has some info on rigging a parrel with the halyard so a separate parrel is not strictly necessary) and a pair of lazy jacks.

I'm trying to decide if I want to split the jiffy-reef line in 2; that is, have one for the tack and one for the clew. The advantage is that I'd be dealing with 2 short pieces of line instead of one long one. The disadvantage is that I'd have to go forward instead of doing everything from one position.

The final addition is also something I did on my Faering Cruiser - use clips in the lazy jacks to alow the boom, sail and halyard to be separated from the mast and handled as a separate unit.

I hope this answers some of your questions. When a jiffy reef system is all tuned up, reefing is very simple - drop the halyard, pull the jiffy reef line and raise the halyard. If you have cam cleats instead of horn cleats you can do it with one hand in 3 motions. without moving from your position in the cockpit. Don't give up on it quite yet.

Laszlo

 

 

4

   While my first season I had the downhaul slighly forward of where is hould have been, which resulted in heavy windward helm in stiff winds, I believe after consulting the build manual again I have the thing rigged more or less in the correct position now.  I have the downhaul attachment point slightly aft of straight up and down, (slight hint of vang perhaps) but the bleater keeps it from pulling spar forward.  My understanding is that in heavy winds you might want the spar more forward to decrease heavy windward helm, and in light winds you would like the spar more aft.  WIth that in mind I made the bleater have three positions/loops that I can clip a carabiner to, but in practice I have left it in the middle position this season so I have not tested it.  Middle position is supposed to put it in stock postion as per the build manual.

I have just been using the halyard parrel rig as described in the manual, although I also put a carabiner in its termination point at forward spar.

I had experimented with making lazy jacks in my driveway last year, as I often dunked the sail when lowering it.  In the end it seemed like a lot of lines to sort out and get right on a fairly small boat, and that maybe all I needed to do was learn to lower the sail with alacrity so it doesn't have time to swing out into the drink.  KISS-Keep it Simple Stupid.  I have since more or less mastered that at least, making lazy jacks less important on the to-do list. 

But because I don't have lazy jacks, my MO for putting in a reef is lowering the sail completely, so it doesn't flail me to death as I sort things out.  then loosen the downhaul, so that later when I raise the sail, I can re-apply tension properly.  But when I pull on what I now know is the "jiffy-reef" line (thanks for that) I pull it till I think it is tight, but invariably the tack bit isn't brought down entirely properly, which I put down to too much friction in the system.  While doing the investigation on lazy jacks, I came across some small metal things whose name escapes me at the moment but seemed like a good compromise in place of a small block (too big and expesive) or just running it through the already jammed full of line hole at the end of the spar (too much friction) , and I put that on the back end of the spar. 

does it help?  maybe?  but it also does a good job of marring my deck when the spars are stowed on deck.  sigh.  Maybe what I need are cheeck blocks instead of fairleads.  anyway, it seems to me that the OEM design has too many zig zags and friction points that make a nice idea too complex to actually work as "jiffy", at least in my case.  but maybe with some small cheek blocks and that metal thing that I can't for the life of me remember what it is called, I can get the friction down. or making aft hole in spar bigger than the manual calls for.  as it is, it's pretty stuffed of line. 

Anyway, I still can't imagine enjoying putting in a reef where i am not on a beach or on the mooring, as I would be away from the helm, sail down, wrestling with first the jiffy line, and the downhaul, and reef points, then raising the halyard again, then realizing the jiffy line was not entriely pulled in enough, then lowering the sail again, etc all while the wind is having it's way with me, possibly blowing me abeam of the wind. 

anyway, hour comments were very helpful, as I can now imagine some alternate ways of doing things (I will be googling applications of parrel beads, for example....) and do some further research. 

 

5

Lazlo,

Is there any chance you could post some photos of your Faering Cruiser lazy jack and your wooden bead parrel setup.   I recently finished a Lillestone First Mate using a sliding Gunter rig.  The boat lives a mooring so rigging is a once a year event.   I had not thought about how much simpler having lazy jacks would make both lowering the sail and reefing until I read your post.  Thank you.  As usual,  your posts are a source of wisdom for everyone on this forum.   David

 

 

 

 

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Lazy jacks on Faering Cruiser #1 as rigged by John C. Harris himself - except for the Brummel clips I added at the apex of the V.

Close-up of Brummel clips joining the V of the lazy jacks to the jack halyard.

Lines unclipped from the yard/sail/boom allowing the mast to stay stepped while the sail assembly is stowed elsewhere. The line coming down the front of the mast and terminated in a block splits into 2 a ways up and goes through a pair of cheek blocks and comes back down to the Brummel clips.

The shaded fairlead and cam cleat are where the end of the jack halyard goes. This allows the lazy jack tension to be adjusted with one hand. The split in the line prevents the line from going through the cheek blocks (and the boom falling down into the cockpit) if the tension is fully released.

No pictures of the parrel yet, but it's just a piece of paracord with wooden beads from a craft store threaded onto it. One end is lashed to the yard where the halyard is attached and the other clips to a lashing by the halyard attachment point to allow the parrel to be opened so that the halyard can be disconnected from the mast.

That enough?

Laszlo

 

 

7

 Nate

Like you I had my doubts about the jiffy reefing system for the peapod.  It seemed like a lot of friction and I was cautious about the long loop of rope running along (or more likely hanging under) the boom.

I have done what Lazio suggested which is to split the system in two - one line for the tack and one for the clew.  I have two cleats on the boom . To reduce friction I invested in a couple of cheek blocks to use instead of the plastic fairleads supplied.

I have reefed/unreefed on the water but have not got round to making a proper note of how I did it (I think I was concentrating on experimenting with capsizes that day).  I think my prefered technique is:

1. Leave mizzen cleated in and let mainsheet out - it will tend to keep the boat head to wind (ish) while you are away from the tiller.

2. Pull on the aft reefing line to bring down the clew reefing point.  That will naturally raise the boom

3.  Lower a suitable length of haliard.

4.  Pull on forward reefing line to bring down the tack reefing point. 

5.  Retighten haliard.

I will be out for a sail tomorrow - I will try to remember to give it another try.

I have also discovered that reefing moves the centre of effort aft increasing weather helm quite a bit (yawl rig).  I think that lifting the centreboard around 15 degrees  (about 1/6 up) should put everything back in balance. 

Paul

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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   Lazlo,  perfect.  Thank you. David

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David,

I was out rigging my Faering Cruiser yesterday (probably for the last time) and snapped a few more pictures. All these can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Here's the bead parrel. As you can see, nothing really special to make or attach. The only trick is to remember which lines go over and which ones go under. The red line is the main halyard, the grey ones on the left are the lazy jacks and the white one on the right is the lazy jack halyard. Also visible is one of the lazy jack cheek blocks.

This one shows the unfurled sail controlled by all the diferent components. The mainsheet is holding the boom more or less centered on the boat, the downhaul parrel (or bleater) is holding the boom against the mast and also limits the fore-aft excursions and finally, the bead parrel is holding the yard against the mast. Note also how the tension in the luff prevents the top of the sail from twisting even though there's a pretty decent breeze blowing from the left side of the picture.

Finally, here's what happens with lazy jacks when you drop the sail. The boom doesn't move up or down and it's kept in place by the sheet and bleater. The yard and sail are cradled by the lazy jacks  and rest on top of the boom. The bead parrel keeps the yard close to the mast nad controls its fore-aft position.

With this setup you can leave the halyard mostly up and reef the sail or you can drop it all the way down and furl it, even out on the water. And for the Faering Cruiser, at least, you can change the anchor point of the main sheet and adjust the lazy jacks, downhaul and halyards to get the furled sail out of the way of rowing. In that position, with all the lines tightened, it's as solid as if the boom and yard were nailed to the mast, even though it's just being held by line tension.

Paul, thanks for confirming the thought I had yesterday that cheek blocks would do a better job than fairleads. I had just gotten to thinking that and was wondering how to test the idea before buying a pair; and here's your note about already having done that. Thanks.

Laszlo

 

 

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Wow. Thanks.  Beautiful boat.   

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   Ok, I tried setting up reefing again on the mooring today.  This confirmed that the juffy rig just does not work for me.  I like the idea of splitting it into two lines.  Paul, when you did that, does that mean you have a cleat on each side of the spar? I have my spar riding on port side of mast (I have seen soe rigged the opposite way), and currently have the one cleat on starboard side. 


Also, a thought occured to me, maybe people could weigh in.  Lets say I split the reef line into two.  And replace fairleads with cheeck blocks.  and finally, instead of cleats I put jam cleats on the spar.  And possibly even put two jam cleats per line.  Why? so that I don't have a bunch of dangling line when I reef, and I have confirmation that I have reefed correctly.  One jam cleat would be in the "no reef" position, with only enough line coming out for a handle, maybe a hotch around the spar.  in the "Reef" position, the second jam cleat would be just forward of that so that all the extra line when reefed is taken up, with enough for handle or a hitch.   That way I know that I have properly taken in enough line because it reaches the second jam cleat.  Do the same for the other reef line, keeping lines and cleats clear of the spar against mast point.  So I guess forward reef line would run aft on port side, and aft reef line could run forward on either port or starboard, whatever works and does not put a twist in the spar. 

Also, I continue to be annoyed at not being able to get better than 60º off the wind, despite really tight downhaul.  I will tighten my outhaul, see if that helps.  My old Sunfish points enough better enough that I notice, (but I have not measured via GPS this season to actually have hard numbers to confirm)

also, my peapod is rigged as single mast, not the yawl version.  Sometimes I wish it was the yawl, on account of the ability to heave to, which would be nice. 

Thanks everyone!

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   Nate

I too have the boom rigged on the port side of the mast.  

My two cleats are on the port side of the boom.  I think it best to have them on the same side otherwise you will have to change tack during the reefing exercise if reefing while on the water.  Having them on the port side keeps the forward cleat away from potentially bashing the the mast and avoids the risk of the forward reefing line getting caught between boom and mast.

Finally I think I may have placed the after cleat too far back - you need to be able to reach it when the boom is not right over the hull.

Paul

 

 

 

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I was working on my rigging yesterday. I added a downhaul parrel, 2:1 purchase on the downhaul using a block plus trapeze clamcleat and a beaded parrel at the yard. The sun went down before I was able to add the lazyjacks, but even so the boom, yard and sail control is much improved.

With that in hand I started exploring the stock jiffy reefing system and have decided to leave it as is. The friction problem turned out to be a combination of trying to do too much at once with incorrect procedure. To understand that, keep in mind that I have the boom, yard, sail and jiffy reef cleat on the port side of the mast and the long stretch of the jiffy reef line on the starboard side of the boom. Here's what works (and it's faster to do than to read about):

1. Drop the main halyard by at least the distance between the boom and reef line. This is where the beaded (or any other type) parrel up at the yard earns its keep. It stops the yard from flying away from the mast. The future lazy jacks will stop it from rotating around the mast.

2. Release the downhaul, completely. The downhaul parrel will keep the boom from flying away and from sliding forward.

3. Slightly loosen the main sheet. At this point the boom is free to move up.

4. With your right hand, pull on the long jiffy reefing line. The forward part of the boom will rise to the reef point at the luff. Pulling  from the starboard side avoids the friction from rounding the clew, traveling up to the leech reef point and back down to the boom, plus the 90-degree turn and 2 runs through the fairleads. Having the proper slack in the sail and downhaul provides the required mobility.

5. When the luff reef point is ready to become the new tack, with your left hand take up the slack in the jiffy reefing line on the port side of the boom.

6. Now keep pulling that until the leech reef point becomes the new clew. If it doesn't want to move all the way down to the boom, loosen the main sheet a little again.

7. Once it's in position, cleat the jiffy reef line, tighten up the downhaul, halyard and sheet until you have the boom where you want it (I like to have it back at its original position) and a nice sail shape.

8. Finally, clean up the sail by tying the reefing lines around the foot of the sail (not the boom) and coiling the excess jiffy reefing line and hanging it from the cleat.

The parrels really make this a lot easier than it sounds, as does the clamcleat on the downhaul. The lazyjacks will make it even more so. I'll be posting pictures and an updated procesdure to include the lazy jacks when I get them done, but I just wanted to let folks know that the stock jiffy reef system actually works without binding when the correct procedure is used (to the point that I've decided not to change mine) before anyone started buying parts and cutting lines.

They'e your boats and if you want a different system, by all means go aheas. But consider trying the existing one again before you spend the time and money.

Laszlo

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   Thanks Laszlo, very helpful.  I largely have been doing similar, although (perhaps becaue I don't have lazy jacks) I have just lowered sail completely.  I also have mine slightly differently rigged than yours.  Like you, I have spar on port side of mast, but I have the jiffy reef line on port side of spar (and that is where all the fairleads are) and coming back to the cleat on starboard side.  I don't suppose that matters much, but when I built it it was slightly confusion in the manual as they had different variations in the photos, and I decided I didn't want a line possibly pinched between spar and mast.
I guess the main takeaway is that I would try and cinch everything up from the end of the line, and invariably I would have to give up and grab the jiffy line halfway between the clew and tack and pull up the difference, cursing the whole thing,

Whereas you grab the jiffy line halfway between clew and tack as a matter of course, and only after you have pulled in what you need, do you pull the clew in on the end of the line.   Same basic thing I guess, I just need to adjust my attitude and and grab the line halfway as standard procedure and see how I like doing it that way after a few tries.  I might still switch to cheek blocks in any case, we shall see....

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Lazlo,

I’m building a Peapod and want to thank you for the numerous tips I’ve gleaned from your posts. I see the value in lazy jacks but it looks like the cheek blocks may chafe your halyard. Would drilling a second hole in the mast fore-and-aft under the halyard hole be an option for the lazy Jack “halyard”?

Many thanks,
Randy

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Randy,

Glad to have been of some help. I have not had a chafing problem so far either with the peapod or with the Faering Cruiser that I used to own that was rigged the same way. In fact, I copied the peapod rigging from the Faering Cruiser, which was originally rigged by John C. Harris himself, so I take that as the ultimate endorsement of the method.

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But, if you’re still uncomfortable with the idea, yes, the fore/aft opening should work, albeit with some additional effort. First, there’s the friction. The lazy jacks can need a lot of tension, especially when bracing the boom-sail-yard assembly for stowage while rowing. Some kind of a sheave and axle should help with that. Second, with the cheek blocks the lazyjacks are kept separate as they move up and down. With the fore/aft hole they will tend to pinch, causing friction and if they roll around each other they could completely jam (not good out on the water with a long row home). So if you’re going this route you’ll need some way to keep the lines separated. Maybe a pair of sheaves with a separator between them. That’s why I used the cheek blocks. It’s a pair of sheaves with the mast separating them.

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The screw heads and plate edges are rounded and smooth, so the chances of damaging the halyard as it slides over is minimal.

Laszlo

17

Lazlo,

Thank you for the close-up photo of the cheek block and for allaying my fears of chafing. I see your point about increased friction and the possibility of the two lines twisting and jamming in a single drilled hole…

Thanks,
Randy