Topping Lift

[Chris Corbett]

Hey,

My dad and I are nearly finished building a Storm 15 here in the States, and I was wondering if anyone else has thought about putting a topping lift on the sprit boom.

Wouldn't it make reefing easier if you could keep the boom up while shifting halliard position and tying up the sail? It would prevent the sail from tripping you in the cockpit. It might also make it possible to have some kind of boom tent.

My thinking was to attach a line to the masthead and down to a clamcleat on the end of the sprit boom. This way one could have it slack while sailing, but then tighten it up if you need the boom to stay up.

Has this already been done?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated,

Chris

[Terry Cross]

Hi Chris
 We have been using this system for the last year and it works very well :-
"Storm 15  Sail handling afloat"    Technical  page 3
You also may be interested   General dis. page 3 "Electric outboard on IONA ( storm 15") "

Terry Cross "IONA"

[Tony]

Indispensable for reefing etc. 
Only drawback is that it gets in the way if you use the boom to support a tent, or, in my case, a small tarp spread to keep the rain out of the cockpit when cooking at night.  I struggled with boom crutches until I realised that I could rig a tensioned line under the boom. It  works just as well and stows away easily.

[Chris Corbett]

Terry,

Where might I find Storm 15 Sail handling afloat?

Chris

[Terry Cross]

Hi Chris
It is in Technical, Page 3, about 3 from the bottom.
Terry

[Terry Cross]

PS
You may also be interested in Technical. Page 7, items 3 & 4
Terry