Question about "The Claw"

[itguy1010]

Well, for lack of a better option and the fact that my sails are about 43 years old, I'm going to try using the boom roller reefing with the dreaded claw. I searched this forum for this question but didn't find too much actual experience.

Question is...

Does anyone have any experience using the reefing claw on their boat? I have all the hardware set up but I can't figure out what would keep the claw from sliding fore or aft on the boom? Especially on a broad reach or DDW it seems like it would be able to slide along the boom and that would not be good.

I have center boom sheeting down to the CB trunk. No trapeze traveller aft.

I have no reefing points in my main and am retiring these sails after the season so I'm not spending any $$$ to put reefing points into these.

Thanks in advance for the comments, stories or just plain old opinions.

Eric

[TIM WEBB]

I used roller reefing on TRW for the first year with the old sails. Didn't have a claw (or a clue for that matter!), and instead made this:



Clip the snap shackle to the boom bail. Roll the boom. 1st ring is one revolution, 2nd is two, 3rd is three. Clip the mainsheet block to one of the rings. Better than nothin'! ;-P

Used this for one season with old sails before coming to my senses, getting new sails, and installing jiffy reefing ...

As to the claw wanting to "migrate", I doubt it would, as the angle of pressure on it from the mainsheet would cause it to "self-center"?

[kokko]

The claw was a bad idea. Much better to rig your sail for jiffy reefing.

[SUNBIRD]

Well, for lack of a better option and the fact that my sails are about 43 years old, I'm going to try using the boom roller reefing with the dreaded claw. I searched this forum for this question but didn't find too much actual experience.

Question is...

Does anyone have any experience using the reefing claw on their boat? I have all the hardware set up but I can't figure out what would keep the claw from sliding fore or aft on the boom? Especially on a broad reach or DDW it seems like it would be able to slide along the boom and that would not be good.

I have center boom sheeting down to the CB trunk. No trapeze traveller aft.

I have no reefing points in my main and am retiring these sails after the season so I'm not spending any $$$ to put reefing points into these.

Thanks in advance for the comments, stories or just plain old opinions.

Eric

I used the reefing claw for the first few seasons before converting to slab reefing, the roller-reefing doesn't work too well! The boltrope on the sail tends to bunch up and prevent the gooseneck from locking in after you release it after rolling in the reef, so I had the sail partly unroll more than once. The sail rolled around the boom prevents use of a boom-vang, just when you need it most, in strong winds. However, my experience with the claw showed that it really doesn't try to slide forward or aft along the boom as much as you would think! tension of the mainsheet keeps it in place pretty well, even on a broad reach or run, one secret if I recall though is to carefully let out the sail as you change from a close reach to a broad-reach and then run.. keeping tension on the sheet helps hold the claw from sliding.

After all the above reasons that the roller-reefing "doesn't work well", let me admit that it sure beats not having any reefing option!! If you are buying a new sail soon, I would recommend ordering that sail with reefpoints and then setting your boat up for slab or jiffy reefing. but, in the mean time, although the roller-reefing was far from what I had hoped, it DOES WORK to a point, I wouldn't spend the money to convert your present sail if you intend to get a new sail soon. I used the roller-reefing and claw for 3 seasons before finally converting to jiffy-reefing (slab-reefing). The big advantage that you presently have is actually having that claw! To try to buy one now will run about the same cost (or more?) than converting to reefpoints ($60-100+). I sold mine for around $25 after adding reefpoints to my sail.