# Old tyme roller reefing by boom rolling..



## groundhog (Jun 27, 2006)

Hello,
I need some help from experienced salts here.
I have an Albin Vega which came stock with the rolling boom, where you crank a handle on the forward side of the mast and roll the mainsail up on the boom for reefing.

The boom is a simple circular tube.

The problem with this is the bulky sail slides and bolt rope on the luff take up lots of room, so they bunch up real big on the mast end of the boom.

Then the middle of the sail has a bag in it, so this doesnt roll up tight enough, leaving the main not flat enough for heavy weather pointing and depowering.

Then the aft end of the boom rolls up the leach and at this end there is not enough material, and the aft end of the boom may drop too low and not be supported enough.

I have heard of a number of models of boats that were made with the roller boom reefing. Some that were succesful were done with shaped booms to roll up the main properly and tight.

It seems this issue is a hot button, as so many people on my vega forum become emotionally negative about this system. I am not experienced enough to know one way or the other. But I am curious as to why so many builders over at least decades (before WW2 at least that I know of) chose to implement this system on their products.

Seems to me it must have worked for someone, somehow, at some time.

Also, for my specific application, would it be possible to have a piece of foam sewn into the mainsail foot, in the proper shape to make this system work well? Like they do with furled headsails.

Thanks,
groundhog


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Groundhog—

Most of the boats that were equipped with this type of early roller reefing boom were converted to slab or jiffy reefing for a reason. The old roller reefing boom systems just didn't work very well. 

They also made using a boom vang very difficult, since the boom vang needed a special claw-like fitting to fit around the reefed sail.

One thing that often was done with these types of booms to try and improve their shape was to attach wedges to the boom that were shaped to try and help the main sail have better shape when reefed. Most of the time, this added weight and complexity but did little good in getting the sail to have anything resembling decent shape.

I'd point out that these booms usually prevented the use of fully battened sails, and lost the advantages thereof in the process.


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## eolon (Feb 5, 2008)

I don't use the boom rolling on my boat for the reasons you cite. If the conditions call for reefing the main, I just bring it down completely and run just the jib and the mizzen.

On a side note, I still have the nice little wood-handled crank for the boom roller - I am absolutely amazed that it hasn't gone into the drink 20 years ago.

Best Regards,


e

.::.


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## tommays (Sep 9, 2008)

I have a spare Cal 29 roller boom in my shead the PO liker it so me much he bought a standard ONE to replace it


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

I grew up with roller furling booms, and while they seemed like a great idea at the time. they never really did work all that well resulting in very baggy sail once it was reefed. Even if you were extremely careful and got a tight roll with the foot of the sail pulled out tight, the leech would creep toward the tack and the sail would slowly bag up. 

As has been suggested, the hot ticket is to convert the boat to a two-line slab reefing system which is a very fast, and reliable way to reef that results in a nicely shaped sail once reefed. 

Jeff


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## groundhog (Jun 27, 2006)

Well, gee Wally, how do these modern high tech in boom roller reefers do it?


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## mitiempo (Sep 19, 2008)

I have read that in the 50s and 60s racers and others with roller reefing used to roll up towels in the sail to keep the reefed sail flatter.


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## captbillc (Jul 31, 2008)

i have a profurl in boom system that the PO installed . the fully battened main is cut to work with this setup. the vang has to to hold up the boom at 87 1/2 degrees so the sail will roll up properly. it works very good.


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## tommays (Sep 9, 2008)

captbillc said:


> i have a profurl in boom system that the PO installed . the fully battened main is cut to work with this setup. the vang has to to hold up the boom at 87 1/2 degrees so the sail will roll up properly. it works very good.


That is what my PO bought but its a STOBOOM and you better dam well not be at 88 if you want to roll up


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

First, they don't use the boom to roll the sail around... but a mandrel inside the boom. Second, the sails are cut specifically to work with the mandrel.



groundhog said:


> Well, gee Wally, how do these modern high tech in boom roller reefers do it?


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## CPage (Aug 18, 2016)

Sorry no idea as to the answer to that question, but I have a roller boom on my Pandora International 22 which I like but this afternoon I lost the handle for the roller mechanism overboard. Any advice on how I can get a replacement? 
Christine


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## capt jgwinks (Sep 24, 2013)

When I was a kid we had a Columbia 26 with the roller boom. We hated it and usually just dropped the main instead of reefing it. Now I have a Columbia 36 with the same system and one of the first things I did to the boat was switch to slab reefing. That also allowed me to go to mid boom sheeting to allow for a bimini. I'm also surprised the crank handle is still there after 47 years. It also controls the internal outhaul so I still need it.


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

I had that system on a boat I sailed from Pago Pago to the Caribbean via the Red Sea (1200 miles of short tacking, hard to weather) and the Med and I just LOVED it. However, my mast was in the cockpit and the wheel on the mast, so I could reef the main from the wheel, which was rather convenient.
Honestly, I don't see what all the fuss about sail shape is about as it was infinite reefing and therefore I never had any more or less sail up than the conditions dictated, so the boat always sailed at her best. Perhaps the box section wooden boom made some difference to the sail shape?


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## RichH (Jul 10, 2000)

CPage said:


> Sorry no idea as to the answer to that question, but I have a roller boom on my Pandora International 22 which I like but this afternoon I lost the handle for the roller mechanism overboard. Any advice on how I can get a replacement?
> Christine


At the end of the season take the whole boom to a welder/blacksmith for him to make an estimate to build a replacement. 
Such will be even cheaper if you can find a second-hand winch handle that closely approximates what went overboard. The blacksmith will replace the 'drive' portion with new. 
I would suggest either stainless steel or bronze for the new 'driver' portion of your new 'handle'.


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## Lazerbrains (Oct 25, 2015)

CPage said:


> Sorry no idea as to the answer to that question, but I have a roller boom on my Pandora International 22 which I like but this afternoon I lost the handle for the roller mechanism overboard. Any advice on how I can get a replacement?
> Christine


He posted that question 6 years ago, I'm sure he got the answer already.


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## roverhi (Dec 19, 2013)

It's amazing to me why the roller main reefing that was popular in the '50s-'60s was ever invented and, more curious, why it was so popular. A reefed sail ended up with a big bag in the middle, a too tight leech, and a lump of bolt rope at the goose neck. If you reefed deeply and tried to go to weather, the sail created a lot of heeling moment and not much drive. If you tried to cure the shape issue with the traveller and mainsheet, you stretched the leech out permanently ruining the sail shape. Had this roller reefing on my first boat and promptly ruined the brand new main on my first trip across the Molokai Channel. It was glacially slow to roll in a reef as you had to constantly pull on the leech to try, without success, to get the bag out of the middle and handle the buildup of luff rope at the gooseneck. After a few times reefing, just dropped the main rather than deal with the crappy setting reefed main and effort it took to reef it. 2nd boat also had roller reefing but converted it to slab reefing and all was wonderful.


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## Tanski (May 28, 2015)

I have a roller boom on my boat - horrible idea!
Pinned it so it can no longer rotate and had the sail set up for slab reefing.
Big thing was I then could install a boom vang.
Many drawbacks to the system with no benefits I could see then or since I changed it.


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## willyd (Feb 22, 2008)

CPage said:


> Sorry no idea as to the answer to that question, but I have a roller boom on my Pandora International 22 which I like but this afternoon I lost the handle for the roller mechanism overboard. Any advice on how I can get a replacement?
> Christine


Wouldn't a deep socket on a ratchet wrench work?

Re: comments about sail shape - when I've used my roller furling boom, the shape was quite uniform, much neater than I get with slab reefing. But the aluminum gear/screw on mine recently gave up the ghost (after 50 years), so now I've got to reef the normal way. The results you get seem to vary a lot between boats and sail shapes.


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## TomMaine (Dec 21, 2010)

willyd said:


> Re: comments about sail shape - when I've used my roller furling boom, the shape was quite uniform, much neater than I get with slab reefing. But the aluminum gear/screw on mine recently gave up the ghost (after 50 years), so now I've got to reef the normal way. The results you get seem to vary a lot between boats and sail shapes.


Yes, the results do vary. I always got a uniformly shaped reefed main with the roller boom. The boom shape and sail were designed to flatten as it rolled. And I would often reef before raising the sail, at anchor, and do it single handed. A pull or two on the leech would smooth it all out.

But that's all history. I had a new main built a few years ago and went with slab reefing. But I also wanted full battens and a loose foot. It's a little faster (to reef), and the shape is better, mainly because it's a new sail.










The old roller boom is history but I have this shot of the sail that happened to be reefed. 
At this time, it was over 20 years old. Does it look baggy to you?

I still use that old mainsail, today. It's been turned into a bag.


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