Reefing BR20 Gunter Rig

[MarkF]

I'd be grateful for some advice about reefing setup, please.
Specifically the three corners of the sail.

Our top mast has a sawn-through bulls-eye fairlead for each reefing point.  I've seen instructions seemingly to tie on the main halyard, but we have no ties, just a fairlead.  Am I right in thinking the halyard just presses into the fairlead and is held in by pressure once the sail is raised?

Our clew is attached to the outhaul with a hefty bow shackle.  This seems slow and cumbersome and the wrong piece of kit.  Would a captive shackle or piston-hank allow the outhaul to be transferred to the reefing cringle more quickly and easily?  I'm reluctant to use a spring-gated clip due to the risk of it clipping on to unintended items.  What do people normally use here?

The tack is similarly attached to the downhaul, which is clipped to the mast foot pin in the tabernacle (hopefully this is the correct place to attach it!).  What's the preferred way to attach to the reefing cringles here? 

If this is relevant - carbon mast and wooden boom.

[Graham W]

I’ve only just seen this.

I'd be grateful for some advice about reefing setup, please.
Specifically the three corners of the sail.

Our top mast has a sawn-through bulls-eye fairlead for each reefing point.  I've seen instructions seemingly to tie on the main halyard, but we have no ties, just a fairlead.  Am I right in thinking the halyard just presses into the fairlead and is held in by pressure once the sail is raised?
 

From what I remember, the cut-off bullseye fairleads are there to hold individual ties in place.  You have to untie them and then re-tie them around the main halyard for your chosen reefing position.  In the interests of speed, I’ve long since junked this arrangement and now have ties permanently fixed in place on the aft face of the yard, so that the untying step is no longer needed.

Our clew is attached to the outhaul with a hefty bow shackle.  This seems slow and cumbersome and the wrong piece of kit.  Would a captive shackle or piston-hank allow the outhaul to be transferred to the reefing cringle more quickly and easily?  I'm reluctant to use a spring-gated clip due to the risk of it clipping on to unintended items.  What do people normally use here?

Again in the interests of speed, I’ve placed small Dyneema loops in each cringle, as I found that hooking up to the cringle itself is too fiddly.  I have a spring-gated hook on the outhaul. See this post https://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/smf/index.php/topic,1991.msg13129.html#msg13129.

The tack is similarly attached to the downhaul, which is clipped to the mast foot pin in the tabernacle (hopefully this is the correct place to attach it!).  What's the preferred way to attach to the reefing cringles here?

Same again – Dyneema loops in the luff cringles, at least for the two reefing points.  I use an open hook on the downhaul as it is faster to attach and less likely to shake undone than the hook on the outhaul.  I’ve modified my downhaul as seen in the attached photo.
 

If this is relevant - carbon mast and wooden boom.

As long as these are the standard shape and size for the gunter rig, this shouldn’t be relevant.

[MarkF]

Thanks once again, Graham.  This is really helpful.

From what I remember, the cut-off bullseye fairleads are there to hold individual ties in place.  You have to untie them and then re-tie them around the main halyard for your chosen reefing position.  In the interests of speed, I’ve long since junked this arrangement and now have ties permanently fixed in place on the aft face of the yard, so that the untying step is no longer needed.

As our topmast fairleads are sawn-through, I won't be able to emulate your setup, having the tie left in place.  I think just having the ties available to hand will have to do.
Either way, it will be an improvement on my first reefing effort where I unclipped the main halyard and clipped it back on at the reefing point.  It worked, but leaves the end of the top mast uncontrolled.  A gunter-rig gaffe on my part.

Again in the interests of speed, I’ve placed small Dyneema loops in each cringle, as I found that hooking up to the cringle itself is too fiddly.  I have a spring-gated hook on the outhaul. See this post https://www.swallowyachtsassociation.org/smf/index.php/topic,1991.msg13129.html#msg13129.

I tried out a D-bar captive shackle on the outhaul.  Quickly realizing (what ought to have been obvious), that the gap in the shackle is too narrow for the outhaul rope to slide unrestricted.  Your picture is very useful - I'll be installing the small block to run the rope through.  The captive shackle itself works well enough for now, although a clip or snap-shackle would be equally good.

And the soft shackle around the boom will be a worthy addition.  Am I right in thinking it doesn't need to be particularly tight and must be loose enough to slide over the mainsheet attachment, to position it further forward on the boom when putting in the second reef?

Same again – Dyneema loops in the luff cringles, at least for the two reefing points.  I use an open hook on the downhaul as it is faster to attach and less likely to shake undone than the hook on the outhaul.  I’ve modified my downhaul as seen in the attached photo.

The open hook arrangement you demonstrated is exactly what I need.  The current shackle I have is a ridiculous arrangement.
One thing I'd like to check - do you hook/shackle your downhaul to the hole in the metal plate at the back of the tabernacle, or onto the spindle that the mast pivots on?  Ours is set up to attach to the mast spindle, but I don't like the idea of loading the middle of the bar in case it gets bent, which will unleash a world of nuisance.

[Graham W]

Am I right in thinking [the anti-droop outhaul soft shackle] doesn't need to be particularly tight and must be loose enough to slide over the mainsheet attachment, to position it further forward on the boom when putting in the second reef?

Unfortunately, to get the soft shackle into the second reef position, it’s necessary to undo it, move it forward beyond the mainsheet attachment and then do it up again.  I suppose it could be a bit looser and then the alternative would be to undo the mainsheet attachment before moving the shackle (or loop) forward.  Either way, until someone comes up with a clever and speedy alternative, something in that area has to be undone to turn reef 1 into reef 2

One thing I'd like to check - do you hook/shackle your downhaul to the hole in the metal plate at the back of the tabernacle, or onto the spindle that the mast pivots on?

I’ve got a folding deck pad-eye bolted to the plate on the back of the tabernacle and the downhaul is attached to the that.  Similar to this one https://www.seascrew.com/browse.cfm?3MM-BAR-DECK-PAD-EYE-WITH-FOLDING-D-RING--STAINLESS-&p=0000001484

[MarkF]

It sounds like a tighter soft shackle is the way to go, and undo it to install reef 2.  No alternative cunning plan springs to mind, sadly.

I suspect there are several variations of tabernacle.  As ours has a single hole in middle of the backplate (about 5-6mm, I think), I may be able to get away with a bolt-on hinged eye, if such an item exists.   Or possibly just a long shackle.  I'll let you know what works.