In mast furler ?

[redbreast]

One of the boats im looking at has a in mast furling sail . How much performance would be lost with this system as apposed to a fully battened sail. Catana 411. ?

[Aussiesuede]

Obviously a number of factors will come into play, but could easily be a couple knots. That annoying whistling of the furler channel is what puts me off most. And all that extra weight aloft? Just more mass 'up there' to shorten your recovery window for carrying too much sail in a blow. There is a reason the in-mast furlers enjoyed a limited popularity. I don't like em on mono's. I like em even less on cats. Put my furler in the boom thank you. But that's just my opinion - certainly not gospel....

[btrayfors]

TONS of posts on in-mast furlers. Yes, loss of performance is one consideration, but on a boat smaller than about 60 feet LOA the real downside is the potential for jamming, especially in chaotic conditions....a real disaster waiting to happen.

Many, many owners of in-mast furlers wish they had something else.

Bill

[JB]

You sure do see a lot of them on cruising boats in the Caribbean, and we haven't had any serious problem with our Selden in mast furling in 9 years and 15,000+ nm of cruising. In fact, I can't remember ever hearing anyone complain about theirs. I must hang out in a different crowd.

[Weyalan]

Avail yourself of the "search" function and there are many threads discussing just this question. To summarise them all: If you have one, you tend to like it, if you don't you remain vaguely suspicious. They don't have as good shape as a fully battened sail (and significantly worse than a half battened sail), but for cruising theperformance loss is probably not significant. There can beissues with jamming, although proponents suggest that this is less of a problem withnewer designs. Personally, I think a slab reefing battened mainsail on a ball-bearing battcar system with decent lazy jacks is the optimum solution, but whatever floats your boat...

[btrayfors]

Just a very few of the many....

Letters From the Blue Waters

Inside Secrets of a Sailboat Rigger: Main Furlers

jeanneau owners network - In mast furling

Yachting and Boating World forums: In Mast Reefing - yuk!

Yachting Systems of America, LLC

In-mast furler; to buy or not to buy; - SailNet Community

Z Spars Mainsail Furling System - Help

Google for others.

Bill

[redbreast]

Always there to help . Great web site , Still havnt found the boat yet though.

[fastcat435]

If you want any type of performance out of your yacht stay away from in mast furlers the shape of the sail is a disaster and to much weight up there increasing your chance to tip the boat or at least having to reef fast.
Greetings