Roller furler main sail

[esse0esse]

Is there any inconvenients to a roller furler main sail ?

[Pblais]

Is there any inconvenients to a roller furler main sail ?

I would say the advantages of not having to go to the foredeck outweighs any disadvantages. Hanked on sails of the correct size will out perform a roller furling mounted sail when it is reefed. You can't reef a hanked on sail however.

In the early days it was thought that a roller furling was unreliable. This is clearly not the case today. The only problem I've ever had with a roller urling is when the halyard tension was slack. This can lead to halyard wrap on the head of the roller furling.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Pblais

You can't reef a hanked on sail however.

My staysail (with boom) says otherwise . My "storm jib" is a triple reefed staysail. Sure, it's got a boom, but a lot of people would ditch that whole thing in favor of roller reefing.

To the original poster, I think the disadvantage is that it's an increase of complexity. One by one, adding doo-dads to your boat isn't going to amount to much, but limiting the amount of moving parts and doo-dads is important to me, and in my world, a roller furling mast is not a level of complexity I want to engage in.

[David M]

You also cannot have any battens, which limits your options concerning sail shape.

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by David M

You also cannot have any battens, which limits your options concerning sail shape.

The latest in-mast furling has vertical battens. Don't know how well it works but, as you can see, this is an area where developments are continuing.

[btrayfors]

PRELUDE

Or, of a very traditional and stubborn one!

Much of my sailing since the mid 50's (yes, the 1950's) has been in boats without the niceties of roller furling jibs or mains or....even...engines. For years, I sailed my 10-ton gaff-rigged ketch with NO engine.

Eighteen years ago I fell in love with my present boat, a Bob Perry-designed 42' sloop. She's got a tall rig, an efficient underbody, and she sails like a witch. For the first years I sailed her, I had only hank-on sails (#s 1,2,3 genoas, stormsail) and a slab-reefed main. I put many thousands of coastal and offshore miles on her with this configuration, sailed her down to the Eastern Caribbean and to Grenada and back to the Virgins and...all over. My favorite headsail was a huge hank-on 2.5oz drifter, which I managed to blow out quite a few times in the trade winds. I named that sail, "Luke the Drifter" after Hank Williams -- his first stage name.

PART ONE: THE SEDUCTION

Then, alas, there came the time when in Nanny Cay, Tortola, we were having a dockside sundowner and someone I deeply respected asked me to have a look around the marina. Bill had many, many thousands of sea miles, had written a wonderful book on offshore sailing, was production manager for two big New England yards, etc., etc. He said, "Look around you. Out of several hundred boats in this marina, you are the ONLY boat without a roller furling headsail."

I was still reluctant. But after a few Mt. Gays he convinced me that "I'd love it".

So, reluctantly, I did the research. I checked with the riggers on the island to see which brand was best. In particular, I noted that the Moorings had several hundred vessels and ALL of them had ProFurls. Their riggers said they NEVER had problems with them, even with the hundreds of clueless charterers who can break just about anything.

So, I had the best rigger on the island install a ProFurl LC-42 for me, and my local sailmaker -- very experienced in sewing up my drifter and other sails I'd blown out -- cut down my excellent #2 genoa and put luff tape on it to fit the ProFurl.

I can't say I was ecstatic. Right out of the box, my assessment was that I probably lost a bit of speed with the roller-furling genoa. A tiny bit. But after living with furler for a few weeks in the tradewinds, I DID come to love it. Now, some 10 years later, I'm still in love.

PART TWO: THE FURTHER SEDUCTION

When I passed 60, I began to slow just a bit. Used to sailing my 42-footer alone much of the time, I just didn't relish going forward in sloppy weather to reef or drop the main. The slab reefing was just as efficient and sure as it had always been, but I wasn't. Perhaps the roller furling genoa had made a wimp of me. Whatever the reason, I began researching roller-furling options for the mainsail.

Early on I decided against in-mast furlers of any kind. For all the reasons cited above and elsewhere. Especially on smaller boats (say, less than 60'), they can and will eventually jam. And, Murphy's Law, it will be at a very inconvenient time.

That left either behind-the-mast furlers or in-boom furlers. I seriously considered the former. Simple, proven technology (hey, it's just taking a ProFurl and installing it right behind the mast), relatively inexpensive, and lots of cruising sailors are using and swearing by them. Still, I was concerned at the extra weight and windage up high when the sail is furled, and the fact that you can't have battens or a big roach with such a sail. Could compromise the sailing characteristics somewhat.

In-boom furlers were just maturing. It seemed at the time that Leisure Furl was just ahead of the pack, with a proven technology used by yachts of all sizes, including 100+ footers. In-boom furling would mean I could keep a mainsail with a big roach, and full horizontal battens. I could reduce it by any amount desired as winds increased and, if something failed, I could drop it just like a regular mainsail. Only problem: it was far more expensive than a ProFurl installed behind the mast. And, it would require a new, purpose-built mainsail.

In the end, after months of agonizing and trying to justify the additional cost, I decided to throw caution to the winds and just go for it. Chesapeake Rigging in Annapolis did a heroic job of installing the LeisureFurl boom. As it turned out, because of the special characteristics of my mast extrusion, it was necessary to pull the rig. In mid-winter. Just before Christmas.

So we did. And they did a great job of surgery on the mast so the new LeisureFurl would fit. North Sails did a nice job on the new main, and by the New Year I was ready to go.

Since fitting the roller furling main, I've put a few thousand more miles on the boat, including two trips to Maine and back.

Here's a pic of 'Born Free' at the Trump Marina in Atlantic City this summer. You can see her LeisureFurl boom. Gallery :: Born Free Maine Trip 2007 :: DSC_0452e

Was it worth it?

For me, I'd have to say, "yes". Because I can handle both sails on my boat in almost any weather without leaving the cockpit. We left Rockland, ME this fall with 30-35 knots of wind as we blew down Penobscot Bay and into the Gulf of Maine. Sail handling was a breeze (sorry for the pun); no problems whatsoever. I could easily adjust the amount of headsail and mainsail to fit conditions and they evolved. Without leaving the cockpit.

For others, and particularly for much younger sailors with young crews, I'd say it would be a tossup whether or not you'd want to spend all that money on a roller-furling main. I still think slab-reefing is great, but at my age I just don't wanna be on a slippery foredeck reefing the main at night in a blow.

Sailing performance overall? Just about the same. 'Born Free' still makes her 160-165nm days runs just as before her master succumbed to this madness of roller furling :-)

Bill

[GordMay]

Very well said, Bill.

[Jeannius]

Originally Posted by esse0esse

Is there any inconvenients to a roller furler main sail ?

Do you mean in-mast furling or in-boom furling? In mast is not a good idea on a cat as it give you a lot of weight up high. Not what you want.

In boom is a good idea though I think.

[Pblais]

My staysail (with boom) says otherwise . My "storm jib" is a triple reefed staysail. Sure, it's got a boom, but a lot of people would ditch that whole thing in favor of roller reefing.

I've had both for a stay sail. When I had the boom the sail was small enough it didn't have / need reef points but the self tacking staysail is a great thing. It did well in very nasty weather too. The current staysail is on a roller furling and at 30 knots I roll up a bit of it. The clew isn't on a boom but it is on a traveler with a 3:1 purchase.

I think the argument that roller furling is overly complicated was proven wrong 20 years ago. The unit on the last boat was a 25 year old Shaefer and the current is a 16 year old Harkin. They never have had much of anything done to them except washing the crap out of the bearings once in a while when the sail gets hauled down. Rain tends to wash it for the most part. Neither requires lubrication.

[rebel heart]

I'm not saying it's "overly complicated", but you would be hard pressed to show how it has less moving parts, parts total, and parts easily inspectable, than a hanked on main.

I'm going to dump my roller yankee and switch it out with a hanked on, to lower the complexity level of my boat. I *know* how a sail works on a stay. I know exactly, in all ways, how the thing functions, and if there's a problem, I am fully confident that I can fix whatever is wrong with it. I can't say the same for a roller furler, and I certainly couldn't say that for an in mast (or boom) mainsail.

I like simplicity. There is all this crap on the market that is supposed to make sailing easier, but all around me I see these boats that have so many doo-dads on them, typically installed by someone who was hired to do so by the owner, because the owner sure as heck doesn't know how they all work.

I want to know how *everything* on my boat works, and be qualified to do such. In order to do that, still manage to go places, and not work on boats every minute of the day, I have to strip things down and make them simple for me.

[roverhi]

The guy is talking roller furling mainsail, not a jib.

In mast furling is a disaster waiting to happen. They are very prone to jamming unless procedures are followed exactly and in order when furling/reefing. A jammed sail in serious conditions could be fatal. You lose sail area because the sail needs a hollow roach as you don't have battens. It is a non starter for me.

In boom furling systems are more reliable but the cost is stupid. I can slab reef my 350 sf main in 1 minute from the cockpit. Why would I want to pay $5,000 plus to have a system that has to have the boom at an absolute perfect angle with all it's prone to failure mechanical accoutrements and will take more time to reef and probably a trip to the mast. Besides, those fat booms are ugly.

Aloha
Peter O.

[esse0esse]

You guys are great ; i have enough here to make a sensible decision...

And yes;i was talking" in-boom" " main "sail furler , i should have been more precise...

[mickmul]

Plus you cant have a kicker/vang which renders the boom weaker . . .

[Kanani]

A Roller furling main can be very hard, to impossible to reef in severe conditions.

I helped deliver a brand new, custom-built 65' ketch from NZ to Fiji in '96. It had a roller furling main. I hadn't used one before and I was a bit skeptical. The guy that built the system was nice enough to go out on a sail with us in the Hauraki Gulf on a pretty breezy day. The system was easy to use and we left feeling pretty confident in the system.

About 100 miles out of Aukland, we were hit with the usual cold front with about 40-50kts of wind. We had the main reefed about 50%, long before the front reached us. When it hit, it became obvious that we needed to get to a reefed jib & mizzen.

When I attempted to pull the main in, it jammed. I couldn't get it in and I couldn't get it out. I had to cut the sail away at the clew, roll it up by hand (while running down-wind) and wrap the spinakker halyard around it and the mast, to keep it close to the mast. That was not a pleasant experience and I would never take a vessel, off-shore, with a furling main again. They may be OK for day-sailing but when the crap hits the fan, you'd better have something that works every single time.

I would hate to think what would have happened if that was a 40' boat. We may well have been knocked down or broached running downwind in big seas. The bigger boat is a lot more forgiving when stuff like that happens.

Thankfully, that boat sailed very well under jib & jigger and we didn't really miss the mainsail. We still made the 1100 mile passage in 8 days.

Needless to say, the owner of the boat was not happy when we pulled into Lautoka, Fiji with that boat.

[Joli]

Roller furling jibs are pretty much bullet proof but roller furling mains still scare me. The problem is you are trying to wrap someting inside a tube. If it jambs you are screwed with no way to get rid of the sail. Not a place I want to be.