Do It Yourself PVC Roller Furler

[Blue Stocking]

Hood SL and LD systems use a dogbone shaped piece to join section of the foil.

[Steve Bean]

Has anyone tried a furling sock on any jibs other than "spinnakers"?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[George Da Porge]

Originally Posted by Steve Bean

Has anyone tried a furling sock on any jibs other than "spinnakers"?

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

I would think a sock for a jib would be difficult. A spinnaker is much lighter cloth and has (reasonably) the same amount of cloth per vertical foot (from head to foot). A jib gets larger toward the foot and would need a tapered sock(?).


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[agentjohnson]

I'll be waiting to see how this turns out!

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

Here's another possibility.

I once owned a 1960's paceship eastwind that came with an old roller furling jib. The jib was not attached to the forestay in any way. It used its own wire luff rope in the sail in place of the forestay. A roller drum was fixed at the bottom. There was a swivel and shackle below the drum by which it was attached to a deck fitting. At the head of the sail/luff wire was another swivel and shackle so it could be attached to the jib halyard.

To use it you attached the tack to the deck fitting, the halyard to the head, and hoisted it like a jib. Route the furling line back to the cockpit, attach the jib sheets, and off you go. Simple. It furled and unfurled just like any other roller furler jib. It could be removed fairly quickly and, since the forestay was not used, you could hoist a regular jib.

Hudson Force and I both have wire rope furlers... They work great !

[barnakiel]

Structural furlers are fine but a sail should not be used half-in nor half-out.

Jib sock: most jibs are dacron, heavy and not all that pliable in the wind. Now free the tack and try to douse with a sock. A rather no from me.

I would stick with the pvc route seeing where it takes us.

There are structural furlers around, there are socks.

PVC foil furler is the new kid.

b.

[Voodooacrobat]

Update: Well, I spent most of yesterday at the marina. I first dry-fitted my "foil" onto my forestay using duct tape to join the three lengths. I had to take it all down and cut a bit more off of the lower length for a better fit.

I then got out my pvc pipe glue and got things locked together. I had to slide the three pieces individually onto the forestay and then stand there holding the pieces together while the glue set. I had to run back to the cockpit for something and left it leaning against the mast. As I started back to the foredeck I heard a zipping noise as the two sections slid down the forestay and slipped into the water!! PVC doesn't float. Who knew?

So.... I went home to get centered. I stumbled across an even nicer drum design online at Duckworks - DIY Furler and decided to rethink my plan. I told a friend from another marina what I was doing and he said, "Oh, I've got a couple of spare drums. You can have one." Oh yea!!!!! It's wide, heavy, and has a long guide that keeps the line aimed at the spool so that it winds up smoothly even if the angle isn't perfect. So, with this terrific drum I'll be rethinking the entire project. Since I have a steel cable for a bolt rope, I could just use this drum, attach it to the sail, and put a beefier swivel at the top. Old school. Free-standing behind the forestay. No foil. Or I could.... Hell. I'm in Michigan and just want to get in a few more weeks of sailing before it's time to put the boat away for the winter!

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by HappyMdRSailor

Hudson Force and I both have wire rope furlers... They work great !

Originally Posted by Voodooacrobat

Update: Well, I spent most of yesterday at the marina. I first dry-fitted my "foil" onto my forestay using duct tape to join the three lengths. I had to take it all down and cut a bit more off of the lower length for a better fit.

I then got out my pvc pipe glue and got things locked together. I had to slide the three pieces individually onto the forestay and then stand there holding the pieces together while the glue set. I had to run back to the cockpit for something and left it leaning against the mast. As I started back to the foredeck I heard a zipping noise as the two sections slid down the forestay and slipped into the water!! PVC doesn't float. Who knew?

So.... I went home to get centered. I stumbled across an even nicer drum design online at Duckworks - DIY Furler and decided to rethink my plan. I told a friend from another marina what I was doing and he said, "Oh, I've got a couple of spare drums. You can have one." Oh yea!!!!! It's wide, heavy, and has a long guide that keeps the line aimed at the spool so that it winds up smoothly even if the angle isn't perfect. So, with this terrific drum I'll be rethinking the entire project. Since I have a steel cable for a bolt rope, I could just use this drum, attach it to the sail, and put a beefier swivel at the top. Old school. Free-standing behind the forestay. No foil. Or I could.... Hell. I'm in Michigan and just want to get in a few more weeks of sailing before it's time to put the boat away for the winter!

Not only does PVC pipe NOT float... I think the specific gravity of PVC, coefficient of friction of pipe, and section shape of pipe...

Make it disappear from the surface as fast as anything you can toss in!

Drum and swivel man... GO SAILING!

[Voodooacrobat]

FINAL UPDATE (At least until spring): I visited a friend at his marina and told him all about my wonderful project. I had decided to go without the foil and built a dandy drum from pipe flanges, pvc, u-bolt, etc. It worked, but getting the angle for the furling line to feed without tangling was a problem.

As I explained this to my pal, he said, "Oh. I've got a couple of extra drums. Want one?" After I picked my up jaw up from the ground, we opened his enormous dock box and dug through Tupperware crates until he came up with a gorgeous, Code 0 drum; complete with line! It's in perfect, smooth running condition. It's very wide, which makes pulling the line effortless, and it has an arm coming off of it that feeds the line efficiently onto the spool at all angles.

I took it to my boat, attached the bottom of it to the deck shackle just aft of the forestay, attached the foot of the sail to the top of the drum, and hoisted it. I put a collar above my halyard snap shackle to keep the halyard itself still while the shackle spins with the sail. It's freakin' perfect!! Works very, very well!!

I will get a beefier halyard shackle (looking for an actual furler top in the used marketplace). So far I have no complaints about this rig. I know these "Code 0" rigs aren't meant to use half furled. But I can drop the sail when it's furled and it lays elegantly on the deck like an anaconda and I still have the forestay available for any of my other four hank-on sails that I may want to use.

So, for now, case closed. I've saved my two DIY rollers, the sections of foil that I didn't lose to the lake, and my plans. I have a McVay Falcon 16' in the driveway on a trailer and I will use the pvc rig for it.

Thanks to one and all who responded. I still think the pvc thing would have worked once I ironed out the details. I'll let you know how it does on the Falcon.

Fair winds,

Mark