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How to Install a Reefing Hook

Strengthening winds may make it necessary to reduce the sail area on a sailboat. Reefing hooks provide a quick way to reduce the sails aloft for safer sailing and better control of the boat. A variety of reefing hooks are available at any marine hardware store. With a few tools from your workshop, you can install reefing hooks in a few hours. Before you can install reefing hooks, however, the mainsail on your boat must have reefing cringles set in it. Reefing cringles are grommets set in the sail to engage the reefing hooks when the sail is lowered. If your sail does not have reefing cringles you must have them installed by a sail maker before you can install reefing hooks.

Things You'll Need

Pencil
Tape measure
Adjustable square
Cordless electric drill
Hammer
Center punch
1/4-inch drill bit
Ram Horn Reefing hooks with 1/4-inch mounting hole
8-by-1/4-inch threaded stainless steel rods, 20 threads per inch, one for each hook
1/4-inch stainless steel acorn nuts, 20 threads per inch, two for each hook
Hacksaw
Two adjustable wrenches

Instructions

- 1
  Lower the mainsail until the cringles rest on the mainsail boom. Mark a vertical line on the boom below each cringle. Your sail may have from two to four cringles, depending upon the size of the sail area. Hoist the sail clear of your working area.
- 2
  Use the adjustable square to define each of the vertical lines you have marked on the boom more clearly. Locate the center point of the boom. Mark a line across the vertical line at the center point. Mark one side of a wooden boom and both sides of a hollow aluminum boom.
- 3
  Tap the center punch firmly at each center-point mark to create a good starting point for the drill. Use a long 1/4-inch drill bit to drill through a wooden boom. Drill from both sides for an aluminum boom. Keep the drill level when drilling each hole.
- 4
  Thread a stainless steel acorn nut on one end of each 8-inch threaded stainless steel rod. Insert the rod through the mounting hole on each reefing hook. Insert the threaded rods through the wooden or aluminum boom. Cut the bare end of each threaded rod with the hacksaw so 1/4 inch is sticking through the boom. Be sure the hook for each cringle points downward. Use two adjustable wrenches to tighten the acorn nuts on each side of the boom.

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