Tack bracket on roller reefing boom?

[Alan]

I bought the tack bracket with reef hook that D&R Marine sells. Rudy tells me it attaches to the gooseneck pivot clevis on my DSII roller reefing boom, but that I'll need to replace the clevis pin with a bolt. So far, so good, but...

1. Which way does the reef hook face, port or starboard?
2. What is the pin-and-ring in the clevis for? Does it substitute for the gooseneck pin that normally secures the tack cringle?

I can't seem to raise D&R by phone or email. Anybody know?

[ChrisB]

From the picture, I would say the hook should face starboard; keeping the reef point cringle close to the mast when you reef the main. The pin and ring is for attaching the tack of the mainsail.

[Alan]

Thanks, Chris. I think I can slip out of the office tomorrow long enough to raise the mast and mainsail. I'll give it a try and see what happens.

[Alan]

Progress report: It took a little more time than I expected, but I got the tack bracket installed onto the gooseneck. The hook has to face to port; if it's to starboard, it pushes against the starboard tack pin lug on the front of the boom, so the aft end of the boom would be have to bedownward when the boom was attached to the mast.

I left the bolt a little loose, since the gooseneck slide has to be free to swivel separately from the tack bracket. I put a nylon washer between them to act as a bearing.

Now all that's left is to install the boom and mainsail on the mast and check for free movement.

Oh yeah, and install jiffy reefing, which was the original point of the exercise.

[Alan]

Oh, and Chris, you were right about the direction the hook should face, according to the picture on D&R's website. Mine has to face to port because the actual piece of hardware turned out to be different from the picture. The hook, which is angled to the right in the picture, is angled to the left on the bracket that I received.

[Alan]

OK, another progress report. I laid the mast and boom on the lawn and rigged the mainsail (didn't want to chance the boat sailing itself down the driveway if a breeze came up).

I ended up facing the hook to port and using the original tack pin (the one in the gooseneck end casting, not the one in the tack bracket). Using the pin in the bracket moved the tack forward enough that the lower edge of the sail, between the cunningham and the tack cringle, was rubbing back and forth against the mast, and the bracket was clunking and snapping as the boom pivoted back and forth.

The reefing hook works the way it's supposed to. Now all I need to do is install the jiffy reefing line and hardware, and I'm ready for, oh, I don't know, putting the boat in the water and sailing it. There's a concept...

[ChrisB]

Putting the boat in the water and sailing it.......now you're talking!