roller furling hardware

[capt lar]

i am swapping out halyards and my jib halyard uses a snap shackle to attach to the "head" of my roller furling. i don't know why i would need a quick release option at this location and wonder what other use and why ?

capt. lar

[Jeff H]

I had mixed emotions about a snap shackle at the head of roller furling jib because of the possibility of having the shackle open accidentally. BUT after shredding a sail in a blow and having to douse it and secure the halyard so that the swivel/halyard would not go back up the forestay I was glad to be able to quick release the halyard and attach it to the bow rail while I wrestled with the sail. I do put a short shockcord lanyard on the snap shackle that is tied around the shackle so that it can be quick released but still holds the pull ring into the shackle where it can't foul.

Jeff

[Alan Wheeler]

And to add, I don't know of any better compact, high strength, swivel type shackle than that of the snap shackle. It may not necessary, but there is nothing better to replace it with. And unless you are a very high performace racer, the weight saving issue is not a criteria.

[capt lar]

yep - i assume the shackle preceeded the furler, so let me ask, what do you use on main, where i currently have a very safe (imo) headboard shackle. that sail is up and down all the time, and it is a pain to unthread the shackle. lastly, since i have the ear of both of you, what is a "headsail prefeeder" used for. i have one hanging there, and i have no clue. thanks
capt. lar

[Alan Wheeler]

I also use a snapshackle on the main and the Mizzen. The main reason is for the compact design and mostly, the swivel attachment. The swivel allows the halyard to remain straight instead of twisting under strain. Twist allows stretch. It's also really handy to be able to easily unclip the shackle and pull the halyard away from the boom when anchored. It stops the clang of halyard against Mast in the wind at night. My head board is just out of easy reach and clipping and unclipping a snap shackle make s attachment and release possible. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to reach and releas a threaded or captive type shackle.

[Alan Wheeler]

Oh, forgot, the prefeder allows you to quickly raise a headsail by feeing it's bolt rope into the furlers foil slot without the aid of someone feeding the bolt rope. The prefeeder is doing that job for you. I don't drop the headsail much, so I have never used one. The odd time I do drop it, mainly for a repair, then I simply feed it back in with my wife winching on the halyard. Even so, it is very easy to get the bolt rop caught and the prefeeder would enable an easier job at feeding.

[capt lar]

gotcha - halyard is wire/rope and i am staying with it since masthead shieves are too narrow for 7/16 braid, but snap would be much easier to handle
capt. lar

[Alan Wheeler]

If you ever need to replace the halyard, go to a spectra or Dyneema or similar line. It is close to the same strength as the wire for the same given size and has little stretch compared to wire, not to mention a heck of a lot better to handle and splice.

[Hasenmann]

1) I agree with Alan, if you have a wire as halyard at present - replace it by Dyneema (Spectra is usually more sensitive to UV-light)

2) Get rid of all shackles up there and use a good old knot (but don´t forget that some knots reduce the strength of lines significantly). Shackles usually cause wear problems on the swivel.

3) Sounds to me like you have a Profurl Classic furler (very good system). In this case the prefeeder is very helpfull, but also easy to loose. Make sure you secure it with a small line. Take it off before furling the sail as it might damage the sail. And don´t leave it on the furler in the harbour as it is quiet expensive and very ease to steal.

[capt lar]

i have a harken furler, and the prefeeder is permanently attached by light cable. while the feature would make sense on a bigger boat, my 130 jenny is easy enough to feed with one hand and hoist with the other. i think it would be useful if changing sails in a blow - i had never seen one before since my last furler did not have the feature.
capt. lar

[capt lar]

i ordered wire/rope combo halyards. i do my own swag fittings (better than i splice) so i can set length myself to keep line from entering shieve. the shieves have some light wear (rough) from the wire, so i was concerned they would rip up line over time. shieves are sized for 3/16 wire max.

capt. lar

[Vasco]

capt lar,

I took the feeder off my Harken. Seldom used it as I'm usually feeding the sail while my wife is hoisting it. It doesn't work that well anyway and just flops around a lot.

[capt lar]

glad to hear it. seems like one more dodad to hang up.
capt. lar