Furling boom

[borisyanush]

Hi,

I ordered a new 43ft sailboat from Alubat that is planned for delivery in spring of 2024. I will be sailing it alone part of the time and contemplating ordering a furling boom. I heard that while it works in good weather, it might not work well if the weather is not calm and could result in the mainsail jamming. What experiences did folks have with a furling boom and can you recommend a good brand?

Thank you
Boris

[psk125]

We have friends with in-boom r/f mains. They have managed to have battens poke holes in the sail and jam inside the boom. This is not cheap or fun to have happen.

[Wavehiker]

I have had a furler boom on my 46’ boat for eight years with no problems experienced. Never had a problem reefing in 30+ knot winds. If you have the proper boom angle and a slight luff to the sail when raising or lowering the sail all should go well.

[TrentePieds]

Well, THIS is interesting Boris :-), so welcome to CF:-)!

You HAVE ordered a quite sophisticated 43 foot boat yet to be built in France? And priced about the same as a decent condo at a major ski resort? You have, I see, just joined us and, I deduce, you are forsaking the joys of Whistler, where very few boats have ever been known to sail despite the proximity to some really wonderful cruising grounds, and yet you are asking us THAT sort of question?

And you propose to single-hand?

There will be dozens - even hundreds - of people in this forum who will be looking forward to your posts telling us how you get on.

You will also find that there are dozens - even hundreds - of people here with both the common sense and the seafaring experience to get you started - safely - on the cruising life.

All the best to you, and do let us know how it goes :-)

TrentePieds

[suiramor]

Have you considered (is it an option) in-mast furling? Seems less dependent on boom angle and given that the furling is along horizontal direction, most likely requires less power, at least to deploy the sail. My mast has an additional, side rail to hoist a stay sail.

[shimari]

John Harries at MorgansCloud just did a series on slab, in-boom, and in-mast furling. I highly recommend you check it out at http://morganscloud.com. It's behind a pay wall, but the subscription price is $12/yr and it's probably the best investment I've made wrt sailing.

[NSboatman]

What shimari said. Pay the money and get access to the incredible wealth of data, experience and well reasoned discussion on the morganscloud.com site. There is no better starting point for you.

[derfy]

Originally Posted by borisyanush

Hi,

I ordered a new 43ft sailboat from Alubat that is planned for delivery in spring of 2024. I will be sailing it alone part of the time and contemplating ordering a furling boom. I heard that while it works in good weather, it might not work well if the weather is not calm and could result in the mainsail jamming. What experiences did folks have with a furling boom and can you recommend a good brand?

Thank you
Boris

They jam - and you end up not getting the sail down when you really need to.

Get a boat you can reef when sailing off the wind. Furlers (in-mast and in-boom) simply cannot do this - they have to be pointed dead to wind. Turning the boat into the wind and waves may seem simple enough in moderate conditions. In a honking gale in the Gulf Steam at night, it can be fatal. And learn to reef in your sleep, with one hand (you'll be hanging on tight with the other one, even if clipped in).

If you want to know what can happen with in-boom furlers, read this...

https://www.bwsailing.com/anatomy-of-a-tragedy-at-sea/

With in-boom furlers the boom must be perfectly square with the tensioned sail, and you have to be able to see it and judge the boom angle. Very hard thing at night on a pitching deck with a wildly flogging sail.

Get a full battened main with lazy jacks and Harken sail track.

Jib furlers are fine. Better and safer than hank-on jibs. But not the main.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by borisyanush

What experiences did folks have with a furling boom and can you recommend a good brand?

I have a Furlboom. The boat is fairly new to us and I am still trying to decide if I like it. I offer these initial observations:


- Ability to maintain the proper angle between the mast and boom is critical. If the boom sags during furling the sail will not roll onto the mandrel fair and will jam. You must have a heavy duty rigid boom vang. You must have a topping lift.


- Due to the considerable friction throughout the hoisting and furling system, you must have an electric halyard winch, and manual operation must be seen as an emergency procedure.


- The boom is heavy and requires particular attention to positive control through a preventer or boom brake while sailing with the wind abaft the beam.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by derfy

They jam - and you end up not getting the sail down when you really need to.

Get a boat you can reef when sailing off the wind. Furlers (in-mast and in-boom) simply cannot do this - they have to be pointed dead to wind.

This has not been our experience with our in-boom furler. It furls nicely on a reach.


You can always get the sail down. If the furler won't do it for you, you can bowse down on the luff and tie the sail to the boom as you would without a furler. This is thought to be one of the advantages over in-mast furling.

[boatman61]

Have used both on boats I have delivered and personally I prefer the inmast to the boom furler..
Easier to operate in all weather's and can be furled with the wind aft of the beam if you do it in stages, give it some belly, lock and furl.. Repeat..

[JC Reefer]

Originally Posted by suiramor

Have you considered (is it an option) in-mast furling? Seems less dependent on boom angle and given that the furling is along horizontal direction, most likely requires less power, at least to deploy the sail. My mast has an additional, side rail to hoist a stay sail.

With in-mast furling, I have torn the foot of my main because of boom angle. Pulled it out before releasing the main sheet.

The Electric winch didn’t feel a thing.

The sail was repaired overnight by a guy named Stitch who lived in an abandoned (hurricane damaged) sail loft. This was in Marathon Florida.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by derfy

They jam - and you end up not getting the sail down when you really need to.

Get a boat you can reef when sailing off the wind. Furlers (in-mast and in-boom) simply cannot do this - they have to be pointed dead to wind. Turning the boat into the wind and waves may seem simple enough in moderate conditions. In a honking gale in the Gulf Steam at night, it can be fatal. And learn to reef in your sleep, with one hand (you'll be hanging on tight with the other one, even if clipped in).

If you want to know what can happen with in-boom furlers, read this...

https://www.bwsailing.com/anatomy-of-a-tragedy-at-sea/

With in-boom furlers the boom must be perfectly square with the tensioned sail, and you have to be able to see it and judge the boom angle. Very hard thing at night on a pitching deck with a wildly flogging sail.

Get a full battened main with lazy jacks and Harken sail track.

Jib furlers are fine. Better and safer than hank-on jibs. But not the main.

Ahh, so someone with experience chimes in, you do have experience with furling booms don't you??

[Snore]

Having delivered many in-mast boats and 2-3 in boom boats I like in boom better.

Both require the boom angle to be “just right”. On a delivery, we get the angle and mark the topping lift. I suggest to owners to permanently mark BOTH the topping lift and vang. Thereafter, whenever the sail goes in or out, you check the vang and topping lift first.

Both abhor baggy sails. Although the in boom systems seemed to have more room between the sail and the spar. As such it would tolerate wrinkles better.

Why do I prefer in boom? Moves center of mass down, if it gets buggered-I can drop the sail on deck, some have battens to help sail shape, and I am yet to have a jam (yes just jinxed myself).

With either system, it is essential that you listen to the power winch. The pitch will change as it takes a load. Rolling a sail in or out, should NEVER put a big load on the winch….. Unless the sail is toast.

[derfy]

Originally Posted by Uncle Bob

Ahh, so someone with experience chimes in, you do have experience with furling booms don't you??

In mast furlers I have sailed with, and had them jam on me in the Gulfstream (a Gozzard 44), and have had rope clutches fail, causing a partially furled main to instantly unfurl, sending a 46 ft Hunter onto its ear in fresh trade winds. A horizontal mast is not a pretty site.

I have not sailed with an in-boom furler, but met the Franks in Antigua (ref'd article) and was shown a CNB 66 in-boom rig by a pro skipper in Antigua. He didn't like it - considered it prone to jamming. I know the author of this report and consider him extremely credible. I try to imagine this massively huge and heavy boom swinging from side to side and up and down while they tried to put in a reef.

Tell me, can you reef your in-boom furling main while sailing hard off the wind in rough seas, or must you come head to wind? This is my criteria. If that works and works reliably, then ... no problem. I would love to see it.

I suppose I should not comment on merits of flying wing suits off mountain cliffs, also not having tried it myself. Still - I can observe when these things fail and the effect on the people I have known.