Quote Originally Posted by Lanikai View Post
Yep. And I'd say if your boat isn't already set up with halyard and reef lines going to the cockpit, don't bother, just do it all at the mast. I went to the trouble of installing all the hardware needed for single line reefing to the cockpit, and then regretted it. Tons of friction and lots of swear words and still needed to get on the cabin top to help crank in the clew end anyway. But!

Then I "invented" a new technique using the topping lift and now I love it! Of course, this is probably how most people do it and I'm just slow to the game. Obviously only works if you have a topping lift and no rigid vang.
1: release the vang
2: drop the halyard some, but not all the way, so the reef cringle on the luff is still clear of the boom, gooseneck, etc. The reef line tends to foul on stuff if the cringle is all the way down.
3: pull the topping lift so the boom comes up to meet the reef cringle on the leech. Pull in the slack on the reef line -- easy peasy! Waaay less friction. Tie/clutch it off.
4: release the topping lift
5: drop the halyard the rest of the way and pull in the remaining slack
6: vang on

You'd think that during step 5 the clew end would quickly take any slack and ruin your nice tight reef, but for whatever reason this either hasn't happened or results in just a couple inches that need to be cranked back in. The whole process has made my 1st reef process go from about 5 minutes to less than 1. 2nd reef is also easier using the same process, but a little uglier since the lines and cheek blocks tend to foul with the sail folds from the 1st reef.
If I could go back in time put the effort and money toward other projects, however, I would. Reefing at the mast isn't so bad.

All that has added to my project list: modify mainsail so the bottom slides are on a loose line (whatever the proper term for that setup is), not stitched hard against the luff rope. Got a nice little tear cranking the luff cringle down toward the cheek block on the boom, instead of to the reef hook that it was designed for.

The rest of my own project list is very croozer related. I'll spare everyone the horror.
Thank you, friction bothers me, too.
I will try,
Like from BobJ's post suggested, I will stay with slab.