Tourterelles has had trouble with the reefing lines chafing on long passages since we bought her.
The boom has a lug to attach the sail outhaul that the 1st & 2nd reef chafe on - however this implies there is movement too. I am thinking that the standard lines the boat came with are basic polyester braid on braid and I am wondering if as the sail pulls - especially off the wind that the line is stretching inside the boom and causing movement at the chafe point - see picture.
But even that eventually fails…
I am considering changing the lines for a dyneema core+outer line that will have much less stretch and therefore movement.
Does anyone have similar issues and if so how have you solved them?
Any thoughts on the pro’s n con’s of replacing with dyneema gratefully received.
A couple of questions before I can give (hopefully !!) a descent answer. How do you lock off the reefing line at the gooseneck once you have set the reef?
Or do you have a single line reefing system?
Well that is interesting as with that chaff I thought it would be a single line reefing system. I have done nearly 40 000nm and my reefing lines still look perfect … Single line reefing is normally the culprit in this regard (and another negative is it turns your helm station into a spaghetti junction !!!)
I will check with my mates at Sparcraft and revert … as I am to a large degree at a loss why this is happening … unless you have not tightened the reefing line sufficiently at the leech when reefing which causes play in the reefing line and hence chaff. One suggestion is that I never use the cams at the gooseneck (I only use them temporary basis when switch from one reef to another and keep the tension on the reefing line by leaving the reefing line tightly secured on the relevant winch at the mast as those cams will certainly chaff your cover off the reefing line. The only other thing I can think of it that there is some issue with the sheeves at the end of the boom and/or the reefing lines that are not being used do not have enough slack in them. Switching to a dyneema cover will reduce the problem but not solve it … the cause of this chaff needs to be identified … besides the dyneema cored and covered line replacement for all three lines will not a cheap exercise!! … I am interested to hear your comments re the above … cheers … Steve
Thanks Steve, I think the reefing lines are tight when in use - I lift the boom on the topping lift, set the reef then lower it on the topping lift again.
The reason I posted was that a couple of days ago reef one chafe through completely (photo is from previous issues). When I reach Fiji I will fish out the remnants and work out where it chafed - I expected it to be the same.
If you’ve been following us on our trip from Cape Town to the Newport, RI area, you know that we’ve been having issues with chafing. Personally, I am not impressed with the lines that North Sails provides. I’m not sure who they’re sourcing their lines from.
When we were in Grenada, I got to know the rigger at Turbulance (who’s a South African), and he said that he replaces lines on a constant basis on boats out of South Africa, but doesn’t have the same issue with European boats. He utilizes line from Italy (I don’t know the mfg). I replaced a fair number of lines before departing from Knysna with Dynema lines with a Technora sheath from Southern Ropes.
I would check to make sure that your lines have completely straight runs and aren’t crossing over one another. That would chew through lines in no time at all. I replaced some of the mast entry openings with ones with rollers, as I had chafing there.
Best of luck and let us know what you find, or how you hopefully solve it!
