Why Don"t Most Catamarans Come with Furling Main Sails?

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by Kaptain Ken

I think you got it backwards. In mast furling is NOT affected by mast rake, but in boom furling is.

Nahhh, mast rake at certain point is not good for inmast furling, no matter if is a mono or multi, the furler need to be set as straight as posible, a customer ask me for some extreme prebend and rake in a selden fitted in a Bavaria , we say no, we get a hot discussion with the guys in question and he end it cranking a lot the backstay and uppers, go and figurate...

[Manos1955]

To me there is no excuse
All cats must be equipped with in mast furling
Maybe the gunboat will be excluded
Safety and easy handling keeps the shorthanded crew relaxed which enhance safety in exchange of a few tenths of a knot slower performance
Same apply to all cruising monos

[Factor]

Originally Posted by Manos1955

To me there is no excuse
All cats must be equipped with in mast furling
Maybe the gunboat will be excluded
Safety and easy handling keeps the shorthanded crew relaxed which enhance safety in exchange of a few tenths of a knot slower performance
Same apply to all cruising monos

To me there is no excuse
NO cats must be equipped with in mast furling
Maybe the Lagoon will be excluded
Safety and easy handling keeps the shorthanded crew relaxed which enhance safety in exchange of a few knot EXTRA performance

[Factor]

Seriously - can someone explain to me how in-mast is safer?

[robert sailor]

No system is safer in my mind, it gets down to the competence of the operator. The real advantage to in mast furling is that you can reef on any point of sail which means that it's quite safe to keep up just the right amount of sail rather than say reefing at night. Having said that I never reefed at night with a full baton sail unless I needed to so frankly there is not much difference in the sails other than the full baton sail or long batons whichever you prefer is simply a much more powerful sail.

[Bulawayo]

Originally Posted by SVNeko

This I don't agree with at all. Cats need to excise as much unnecessary weight as possible, and the best place to start is aloft. That's why you'll see so many cats with synthetic rigging.

I like the idea of synthetic rigging but have never seen any boat yet with such. I guess its a regional difference and material availability/familiarity - and the owners wallet capacity.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Question:

Why do most catamarans come equipped with a fully battened main sail, usually equipped with a stack pack and cover, instead of with in-mast furling or a boom furling system such as a ProFurl system? Especially when the catamarans become large and over 50ft. It seems to me the main sail would be easier to handle with a short handed crew, like for a cuising couple if there was more automation.

Does it have to do with the shape of the main sail?

Thanks

Ken

If you're motoring 100% of the time, why would you bother with a furling mainsail?

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

If you're motoring 100% of the time, why would you bother with a furling mainsail?

Pretty cute, LOL

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by Bulawayo

I like the idea of synthetic rigging but have never seen any boat yet with such. I guess its a regional difference and material availability/familiarity - and the owners wallet capacity.

I recently re-rigged my cat and looked very hard at synthetic. I would have loved to have gone that route, but dyneema, in larger boat sizes, is still 3x the cost of 1x19.

[REsCat]

I came to the same conclusion and that the weight aloft savings was not as significant (with a reduced lifespan) or as high a priority for performance as money spent on other aspects of the boat to reduce weight (batteries...) and achieve better performance.

Bob

[Training Wheels]

Same here. Plus, there's that pissed off native with a machete......

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Why do most catamarans come equipped with a fully battened main sail, usually equipped with a stack pack and cover, instead of with in-mast furling or a boom furling system such as a ProFurl system? Especially when the catamarans become large and over 50ft. It seems to me the main sail would be easier to handle with a short handed crew, like for a cuising couple if there was more automation.

I've wondered about the same question. Since so many answers so far are just standard anti-furling replies I wonder if anyone knows.

[REsCat]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Since so many answers so far are just standard anti-furling replies I wonder if anyone knows.

Or that most of the answers here from seasoned Cat sailors are in agreement that "IN Mast" furling is not viable or feasible or a better solution for the type of mains and rig dynamics found on large modern Cats.
and that "In Boom" furling has its own limitations and gives up mechanical simplicity("gravity" as Factor points out) ,lower cost and performance for the variety of main types found on Cats.
Its got nothing to do with "anti-furling" at all... we (Cat owners) do use and embrace and rely on "furling" on many other sail handling areas.... Headsails ?

Bob

[SVNeko]

Originally Posted by REsCat

I came to the same conclusion and that the weight aloft savings was not as significant (with a reduced lifespan) or as high a priority for performance as money spent on other aspects of the boat to reduce weight (batteries...) and achieve better performance.



Bob

To us all excess weight matters but you are right there are cost trade offs. In our case since we were replacing old Kevlar shrouds, we didn't want to ADD weight. Dux is not much more expensive than dyform and seems to last as long. By the way our investigation showed boats that used it for diamonds had loads of trouble. There we stuck with rod.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by REsCat

Or that most of the answers here from seasoned Cat sailors are in agreement that "IN Mast" furling is not viable or feasible or a better solution for the type of mains and rig dynamics found on large modern Cats.
and that "In Boom" furling has its own limitations and gives up mechanical simplicity("gravity" as Factor points out) ,lower cost and performance for the variety of main types found on Cats.
Its got nothing to do with "anti-furling" at all... we (Cat owners) do use and embrace and rely on "furling" on many other sail handling areas.... Headsails ?

Bob

I didn't find that to be any answer at all. Unless you are saying that cat owners know what is best and therefore don't use furling mains, which of of course isn't an answer at all.

So why or why great cat owner is "furling not a viable or feasible"?

BTW - I don't have a furling main and am not defending them, just looking for the answer to the question because I would think they would be a plus on a big cat.