Continuous Line Furler - can it be reefed?

[Normanby]

I'm looking at buying a boat with one of these:

continuous line furlers on the headsail.

How do these things go if one wants to sail with the headsail partially furled, as a 'reefed' headsail?

Looks like it has only a tenuous grip on the line, i worry that the wind could overpower the grip and i could find myself with way too much sail up at just the wrong time, with the sail unfurled when it should have been furled, if you get my drift.

Do these grip the line okay?
What's the appeal anyway, how is this 'better' than a single line furler?

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Normanby

I'm looking at buying a boat with one of these:

continuous line furlers on the headsail.

How do these things go if one wants to sail with the headsail partially furled, as a 'reefed' headsail?

Looks like it has only a tenuous grip on the line, i worry that the wind could overpower the grip and i could find myself with way too much sail up at just the wrong time, with the sail unfurled when it should have been furled, if you get my drift.

Do these grip the line okay?
What's the appeal anyway, how is this 'better' than a single line furler?

They are not designed as reefers , only to completely furl the sail

Dave

[Factor]

+1. furling only not reefing

[capngeo]

I'm sure the flames will fly, but what I did to my similar set-up was to add a pad-eye to the deck with a cable and pelican hook attached. I clip the pelican hook to an eye-loop welded to a pin on the rotating part of the furler when I want to reef. That said, I rarely employ it because the reefed sail has a crap shape. I'm hunting a Gale Sail for my boat.

[rtbates]

No they aren't designed for reefing a sail. And my experience is they are much worse than a single line unit.

[foolishsailor]

We use one for our code zero on a race boat. It is a brilliant piece kf kit and very efficient.

However...

They are totally unsuitable to cruising and in fact I would go as far as saying they are very dangerous to use for that purpose. They are friction based and a partially furled sail will unfurl under enough pressure and potentially create a very dangerous situation in heavy weather.

[Normanby]

Got it, makes sense, thanks.

Think I'll change it to one that can reef.
I know the partially reefed sail will be a crap shape, but I sail alone mostly and try not to go forward unless absolutely necessary, one the wind pipes up.

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by Normanby

Got it, makes sense, thanks.

Think I'll change it to one that can reef.
I know the partially reefed sail will be a crap shape, but I sail alone mostly and try not to go forward unless absolutely necessary, one the wind pipes up.

Luff tape and moving the cars forward both will improve the sail shape. Just remember that with a furled headsail the C of E moves up and forward, which is the wrong direction.

My experience with continuous line systems mirrors the others, all or nothing. They work on Code 0s for that reason.

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by capngeo

I'm sure the flames will fly, but what I did to my similar set-up was to add a pad-eye to the deck with a cable and pelican hook attached. I clip the pelican hook to an eye-loop welded to a pin on the rotating part of the furler when I want to reef. That said, I rarely employ it because the reefed sail has a crap shape. I'm hunting a Gale Sail for my boat.

That also means going forward, taking away the convenience of a furling headsail.

[Bash]

Continuous-line, constant-diameter splices are problematic. Over the years I've paid four different riggers to splice one for me, and three of the four splices have been, at best, imperfect.

I've tried the splice myself, and can't do any better than the professionals, but I find myself wondering, at this point, whether the problem is more with the splice than the splicers. Regardless, I can't say that I've yet found the ideal rope for the splice. I keep thinking it ought to be a single braid, but can't find anyone in the boat yards to agree with me.

Thoughts?

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Normanby

I'm looking at buying a boat with one of these:

continuous line furlers on the headsail.

How do these things go if one wants to sail with the headsail partially furled, as a 'reefed' headsail?

Looks like it has only a tenuous grip on the line, i worry that the wind could overpower the grip and i could find myself with way too much sail up at just the wrong time, with the sail unfurled when it should have been furled, if you get my drift.

Do these grip the line okay?
What's the appeal anyway, how is this 'better' than a single line furler?

Can't be furled. When looking at the price find out if the lower unit on your roller furler can be replaced, or if you would need to replace the whole thing, and figure that into the cost of your boat.

I have roller furler that can't be partially furled in an emergency, even though the sail on it was designed for that. I hate it. I'm hoping that eventually I can afford to replace either the lower unit or the whole thing.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

Can't be furled. When looking at the price find out if the lower unit on your roller furler can be replaced, or if you would need to replace the whole thing, and figure that into the cost of your boat.

I have roller furler that can't be partially furled in an emergency, even though the sail on it was designed for that. I hate it. I'm hoping that eventually I can afford to replace either the lower unit or the whole thing.

I meant to say that it can't be PARTIALLY furled.

What I have done with mine is put a carabiner tied to my bow pulpit, and a loop on the piece of hardware holding the tack of the sail to the drum. On a day when we knew we were going to have rising wind, I partially furled the sail (small amount out) and clipped the two things together. The wind rose to 25 mph that day and the sail stayed partially furled.

I AM NOT RECOMMENDING THIS to anyone else. It's not approved by ANYONE I know of. My friend the naval architect wouldn't sign off on this one, but it MIGHT be a last-ditch option to try when wind gets gustier than I expected.

It would require going up to the bow, not the best thing in the world, but my bow is netted (whole boat is netted). What I'm doing bypasses the roller furling mechanism completely for controlling the size of the sail, and I would only do it with a very small amount of sail out.

Much better in my case to replace the bottom unit, but I just don't have the $$$ to do that right now.

You're in a better position than I was because I knew nothing about roller furlers when I bought this boat. My previous boat had had hank-on, but that's not practical on this boat.

[Dennis.G]

I had a somewhat similar continuous line furler, but mine was designed to also reef the headsail and inclued a regular foil around the headstay and had a larger diameter wheel. If no foil it is designed to only furl sail (all or nothing) and can be great with an asym spinnaker or similar downwind sail.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Dennis.G

I had a somewhat similar continuous line furler, but mine was designed to also reef the headsail and inclued a regular foil around the headstay and had a larger diameter wheel. If no foil it is designed to only furl sail (all or nothing) and can be great with an asym spinnaker or similar downwind sail.

Do you mean replace the headsail with an asym on the roller furler?

[Roy M]

For multihulls, what about mounting the asym on either of the bows? Then it could be carried clear of the headsails, and could be removed completely in the event of nasty weather, couldn't it?