Need used roller-furling mechanism for Hunter 25.5
Stan West
If it is worth looking into, I'd appreciate any pointers about where to find one and pitfalls to avoid.
Finally, how much should I expect to pay for a good used equipment?
Thanks for any sharing of experience or ideas.
Stan West
Matthew Haines
I'll trade you my used roller-furling for a similar piece of
used boating equipment.
My roller-furler consists of two swivel mechanisms, a plastic-
coated piece of luff wire, and a drum. Sticking off of the drum
is a feader to fead the furling line onto the drum.
Frankly, I hated it. It was mounted right aft of the forestay.
When I tried to furl, the genoa would invariably catch the forestay
and wrap it into the furl. Of course, you are supposed to remove
the forestay, which will prevent that problem. I liked my forestay
more than the idea of roller-furling.
The advantage of a luff-wire system is that you can drop the
furled sail. The disadvantage is that it is not as rigid as one
of those rigid foil jobbies. But to do that, it's best to have
a permanent forestay. And then you get the problem I outlined
above.
--Matthew
PS: My boat is 29', so I'm pretty sure you'd have to cut the
luff wire down some.
Stefan Mochnacki
>
>My roller-furler consists of two swivel mechanisms, a plastic-
>coated piece of luff wire, and a drum. Sticking off of the drum
>is a feader to fead the furling line onto the drum.
>
>Frankly, I hated it. It was mounted right aft of the forestay.
>When I tried to furl, the genoa would invariably catch the forestay
>and wrap it into the furl. Of course, you are supposed to remove
>the forestay, which will prevent that problem. I liked my forestay
>more than the idea of roller-furling.
>
>The advantage of a luff-wire system is that you can drop the
>furled sail. The disadvantage is that it is not as rigid as one
>of those rigid foil jobbies. But to do that, it's best to have
>a permanent forestay. And then you get the problem I outlined
>above.
>
I have a Schaeffer version of this on my Grampian 30, and I like it a
lot. I very rarely have it interact with the forestay, and only when
sailing downwind. The trick is to furl it on the wind. The luff wire sags
more than a jib hanked on the forestay, but I don't notice much difference
in pointing ability when using the furling genny. It helps to have a wire
headsail halyard with a big winch to crank on the tension.
Obviously, it needs to be mounted sufficiently behind the forestay for both
the drum and the furled sail to clear the forestay. However, by furling
the genny on the wind and by controlling the sheet as well as the furling line,
I have no trouble with it. The sag of the luff keeps it away from the
forestay.
After some moderately heavy weather sailing, I'm quite convinced that Fishmeal
is right: you need the ability to hank on a variety of jibs. Furling a genny
on a wire and dropping it is much easier than handing an unfurled genny in a
stiff breeze, whether it be hanked on or being changed for a smaller jib
on a foil (such as on a rigid forestay-mounted furling system). The furled
genny rolls up into a coil less than two feet in diameter, and is easy to
stow on deck or below.
Wire furling seems to be old-fashioned and out of favour, but I think it
has advantages which may outweigh the disadvantages.
- Stefan
--
Stefan W. Mochnacki INTERNET - ste...@centaur.astro.utoronto.ca
Astronomy, U. of Toronto UUCP - {uunet,pyramid}!utai!helios.physics!stefan
Ph. (905) 884-9562 LOCATION - David Dunlap Observatory
FAX (905) 884-2672 Ph. (Mon,Wed) (416)-978-4165 (St.George Campus)
Matthew Haines
> Obviously, it needs to be mounted sufficiently behind the forestay for both
> the drum and the furled sail to clear the forestay. However, by furling
> the genny on the wind and by controlling the sheet as well as the furling line,
> I have no trouble with it. The sag of the luff keeps it away from the
> forestay.
On my boat the drum was about a foot behind the forestay, but at the
masthead, there was only about two inches of separation. I don't keep
my rig piano-wire tight like racers do. I found that either the luff
wire sagged or, if I cranked the luff-wire in tight, the forestay sagged.
That meant that going down wind, the luff-wire was even closer to the
forestay. I managed to wrap the forestay into the sail a number of times.
I just bought a hanked on genoa for $100 and like it very much.
Of course, my sailing is limited to floating around the marina. Hopefully
as soon as I refinish the mast I'll be able to venture further.
> After some moderately heavy weather sailing, I'm quite convinced that Fishmeal
> is right: you need the ability to hank on a variety of jibs. Furling a genny
> on a wire and dropping it is much easier than handing an unfurled genny in a
> stiff breeze, whether it be hanked on or being changed for a smaller jib
> on a foil (such as on a rigid forestay-mounted furling system). The furled
> genny rolls up into a coil less than two feet in diameter, and is easy to
> stow on deck or below.
The swivelling mechanism at the top of my luff-wire is about 2" on each
dimension. I about brained myself dropping the genoa in the slip.
--Matthew
jhw...@ecs.umass.edu
sw...@eos.hitc.com (Stan West) writes:
>I'd like to know if it would be wise to consider buying used roller
>furling in place of the conventional jibs on my Hunter 25.5 sailboat.
>If it is worth looking into, I'd appreciate any pointers about where
>to find one and pitfalls to avoid.
>Finally, how much should I expect to pay for a good used equipment?
Having just done some research on this I might be able to make
a few helpful observations.
The first question to ask is: why is this equipment used? Often the
older stuff was discarded because it would bind when the sail was
being rolled up. Just a few weeks ago I thought I'd found a steal
on a used harken cruising system for my Bristol 29 but when
I checked with the folks at Marine Exchange I was told that
they would give me one for free (the other was going for $150), or
in other words, the used one was pretty useless. This was a mid
80s model. A friend with a Flexible Furler of the same vintage
just recently had some trouble and had to return in windy
conditions with the jib still out.
You might want to consider buying new. From a recent JSI catalog
a Harken #0 is $700, a Flexible Furler is $400, a Hood 700 is $540,
and a Profurl R25 is $1,000. If your headstay is longer or thicker
than what these units support it will cost more, of course.
I have spec. sheets from a few of these vendors; let me know
if you want additional information.
Jonathan Welch VAX Systems Manager Umass/Amherst JHW...@ecs.umass.edu