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Hello,
The tail splice variations are particularly attractive if you have a crowded drum. A similar effect can be achieved by stripping the core out of the first few feet of a double-braid furling line. Both techniques give you the option of using a fatter line than 3/8", which is a good thing for handling. The double-braid method is usually much cheaper. In either case, if you have a crowded drum, it is fairly likely that you have an undersized furler...
With reefs the stripped-out-core method isn't an option, as the loads are constant throughout the length of the line (on the jib furler, the loads have gone away by the time the coreless section is exposed). The tapered method works, but is less compelling, because given the length of the boom relative to the height of the reef clew, you can only taper a bit more than that height and still not have skinny rope in your hands when the clew is to the boom. Basically you end up with skinny rope on one side of the sail and fat rope on the other, at full hoist. It can still be worth doing, just not as much as with the furling line.
With reefs, however, the problem is often that they are oversized for the loads. When properly vectored, you have a nearly 2:1 advantage, so you can use a smaller line. One sees reef clewlines of 1/2" rope, with a break strength approaching 5 tons, and an effective strength of nearly twice that. Something is wrong with that. So with clewlines it is possible, not that you need to taper the line, but that the line is too big.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss
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