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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Mods: Two-Line Reefing and Topping Lift

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T O P I C R E V I E W
crystal_blue	Posted - 09/12/2026 : 21:51:28 Water levels in our usual home port of Lindon Marina on Utah Lake have been precipitously declining, and we were recently instructed that all sailboats to be hauled out by the end of July. We had figured that was the end of the season for us; but then I hatched the idea of boat-camping at a rented slip at Jordanelle State Park for five days and my wife surprisingly endorsed the idea (understanding that I would be camping solo, though various family members might be coming up for a couple of hours on various days). Since it was just going to be me and Mariah, I came up with a list of projects I had hoped to tackle including a deep clean of the exterior (Utah Lake has a high algae content and is infested with midge flies that poop, so keeping a boat clean there is something of an ordeal). The two most notable projects were the addition of a topping lift, and a shift to two-line reefing. I know lots of others have done similar projects; but as many older posts seem to have lost their photos I figured I'd document my version for posterity. Topping Lift Our 1996 C250-WB has a pigtail run off the backstay. Getting the boom up high enough to clip the pigtail in can sometimes be a struggle (invariably, just when I'm almost close enough, it turns out that the blanekty-blank mainsheet managed to cleat itself off!). Dealing with the boom when the mainsail is doused is also something of a nuisance. I had also read stories of a topping lift providing better sail control and allowing lowering the mainsail even if the boat is not headed dead upwind. I used the Topping Lift Kit from Catalina Direct. The kit was generally simple and the instructions understandable. The hardware came with self-tapping screws; and this was my first time trying to tap holes in aluminum on my own. I tried to take the regular advice of using a screwdriver with a lot of pressure and screw in 1/4 turn, then back it out 1/2 turn, and use lots of lubricant; but I still wound up stripping the Philips-head of a couple of the self-tapping screws (the kit does not come with extras). What finally worked was getting a couple of hex-head screws of the same size and thread count at Home Depot, and using those with a socket wrench to tap the holes. Once that was done, the kit's remaining functional screws (plus a couple of replacements in stainless) went in fine, with a coating of Tef-Gel to hopefully prevent corrosion. Port view (the loop sort of covers the eye strap secured to the mast with screws): Starboard view (showing cheek block and cam cleat): Generally the topping lift works as expected. It's much easier for me or a kid to raise the boom. I tried dousing the sail while having the boat pointed off-the-wind, but I still ended up having to go to the mast to help the slugs down (I may need to treat the sail track with Sailkote and see if that helps things). Also, when the main isn't up I find I still prefer to have the pigtail secured as well--helps minimize boom swing, and just makes things feel a little more "solid" when using the boom as handhold. One idiosyncrasy of my boat is that I fly an ensign off my backstay with the halyard secured to a block suspended from a shroud cleat. The topping lift kept snagging on the cleat; and it looks like I'm going to have to remove the cleat and figure out some other way to fly my ensign. Ah, well . . . Two-Line Reefing My pet peeve about the factory-supplied at-the-mast jiffy reefing system is that when conditions are such that I'm thinking about reefing, the coachtop is the last place on the boat that I want to be--especially when singlehanding. Additionally the forum archives hold a lot of complaints about excessive friction in the system. Some folks have addressed the friction issue by securing a block through their reef cringles to a metal O-ring on the opposite side of the sail. My initial thought was to do this and get a longer reefing line to run aft to the cockpit (my mainsail has only one set of reef points); but additional forum posters noted that the single-line reefing tends to exert more aft force at the clew than downward force at the tack; and some folks have reported broken sail slugs by using their winch to haul in on their jiffy-reefing line. So, two-line reefing it was. Ideally I'd go whole-hog with deck organizers and line clutches; but I've been pretty loath to go drilling holes in my deck. So I came up with a sort of "slacker's solution". It takes advantage of the swivel-blocks for halyards attached to the mast port and starboard (early boats, including mine, had this; I understand later boats had eyes right at the tabernacle to allow for mounting blocks). Additional materials for this setup include the following: --2x Selden 50mm Plain Bearing Block - Single, Swivel, Cam --2 Marine Grade 3/8" Stainless Steel Wide D-Shackle --Catalina Direct - 50' 3/16" reefing line --5 Command cable bundlers Assembled bearing block, shackled to D-shackle, which is secured to factory halyard swivel block: Just for reference, here's the factory jiffy-reefing setup: For the tack reefing line, I used the new Catalina Direct reefing line (it's much too long, but I haven't gotten around to trimming it yet). The line is tied with a bowline around the small factory-installed cheek block on the port side of the mast; then runs up to the cringle, down to the bearing block on the starboard, then aft to the cockpit. In this photo you can see the starboard side of the tack reefing line--again going down to bearing block, then aft. You can also see the clew reefing line. Basically I used the existing jiffy-reefing line and secured it to the clew as per factory recommendations. But when the line exits the boom it goes down to the port bearing block, then aft to the cockpit. To keep some semblance of order at the cockpit, I stole an idea from a 2007 post by Britnusa and got 3M Command Adhesive Cable Bundlers. The port bundlers hold the jib furling line, the clew reefing line, and the boom vang. (Covered knot-meter/depth sounder to port of the bundlers.) To starboard is the tack reefing line (still needs to be trimmed--don't judge!) and the main halyard (probably about due for a replacement); with the covered compass in between. I was able to use the reefing setup while sailing on Jordanelle this week and was really happy with it overall. The bearing blocks are hard to release remotely, so shaking out a reef can get finicky--but the reefing itself is easy-peasy; and I figure if conditions are lightening to the point where I want more sail, I can probably risk a trip to the cabin top.
1 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
Steve Milby	Posted - 09/13/2026 : 05:56:12 Good work and well thought out. The apparent simplicity of single line reefing is appealing, but two lines led to the cockpit work much better. I had a 25' racer and could quickly and easily reef it singlehanded with two line reefing, without leaving the cockpit.

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.