Should a Roller Furling Be on My 'Must-Have' List ?

[Mark1977]

Over the next year or two i am only planning on doing weekend or week trips along the coast. When i decide to go farther, longer should a roller Fuller be a must have. I know many people go without one but, what would you guys recommend. People go far and wide without radar , chartploters and cappuccino makers but i don't plan to.

[Southern Star]

If you are referring to roller furling for the headsails and, especially if you are sailing short-handed, I would say yes. If you have a sloop rig, you should however look into a galerider, or equivalent, for a storm jib.

Brad

[Khagan1227]

What Brad said.

Roller furling can keep you off the the foredeck during a storm, that in itself makes it a must.

Keith

[Mark1977]

Yes it is a sloop. I do have a storm jib, i also have a set of twin sails that i have never used before. could io still use them with a furling forward sail? I have never used a furling system before.

[MarkJ]

absolute must.

[foamcore]

Rollers are convenient but surely not nessesary. people have sailed lots of miles without one.

[Hud3]

If you do go with a furling genoa, and I highly recommend it, consider having a sailmaker sew foam or rope luff pads in the sail. They make a big difference in sail shape when you roll it partially in, giving you a much flatter profile.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Mark1977

Yes it is a sloop. I do have a storm jib, i also have a set of twin sails that i have never used before. could io still use them with a furling forward sail? I have never used a furling system before.

It depends on both the sails and the furler. Mine has twin foils, and can handle two sails with bolt-rope luffs.

Are you hoping to run your twins as a twizzle rig? If so, realize that you'll have to run them on a single hoist if you want to be able to furl them together. Otherwise you'll have swivel problems.

[Mark1977]

Don't plan on running a twizzle rig. But when the furller is installed, i won't be able to clip the other sails to the forward stay anymore right????

[daddle]

A roller furler has the wrong sail on it about 75% of the time. And makes shorthanded sail changes difficult. Otherwise it's a great idea.

[blgklr]

I sometimes think about retaining my hank on jib and genoa and adding a bowsprit with a cruising furling gennaker. Sail to be used on looong tacks in appropriate air and reach. The idea is permanent install and to tack furl it in go to other tack and haul it back out. All out or furled sail. Comments welcomed.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Mark1977

Don't plan on running a twizzle rig. But when the furller is installed, i won't be able to clip the other sails to the forward stay anymore right????

Mark we have a roller headsail, but also a spare wire halyard mainly for the storm jib, but nothing stopping me flying a second hank on head sail from it. Indeed I bought a really nice No 2 hank on sail last year on e bay to do just this.

When not being used, it and the spinnaker halyard are stored attached to a baby stay out of the way.

Pete

[thinwater]

I've had both: a roller furler (with foam in the luff--essential for the cruiser) and a bare stay with a good inventory. In neither case would I have switched to the other, because they are both compromises. I liked both.

In heavy winds, the stay wins out for better use of small sails. In fair weather, the furler for shear ease. Personally, I don't mind going to the bow in waves to set a sail that I feel better about. I also like KNOWING I can get the jib down in anything.

Furler +:
* easy
* keeps you off the bow
Furler -:
* one sail that sort of furls
* can jam if you haven't worked it out completely. MUST have good technique when the wind blows.
* not easy in a blow
* could be fighting with it on the bow in a blow
* must take sail off early to avoid the fight or worse.


Stay+:
* If a good inventory, always a good shape
* never jams
* easier to fit storm jib
* when it's bare, it's bare
* a down haul and a good provision to lash the sail on-deck can make it pretty easy

Stay-:
* lots of changes, sometimes
* on deck more. hazards very with the boat and how agile the sailor is.
* sails to store
* crew is helpful, though single-handing with auto is OK (jacklines!)

[Southern Star]

I agree totally with Hud's comment - the foam (or rope) luff pads will allow you to have decent sail shape, even when reefed to a significant degree. Daddle, I'm not sure that I understand your comment that roller furling leaves you with the wrong sail about 75% of the time; frankly, I think that the opposite is true (unless you like changing sails with virtually every shift in wind strength). Remember, a typical 135% genny with a foam luff will retain excellent shape, even when reefed down to about 85% (some suggest even more, some a bit less). That will cover a HUGE amount of the conditions that you will encounter when cruising.

Below 85% the shape may be less than ideal, although no worse than a slightly stretched working jib with a reef. Again, in really heavy air I recommend a galerider storm jib, which is pretty easy to hoist over the furled sail. In lighter air, you can fly a DRS/assymetrical chute.

If you have a 150 and a 100 (or 110), I would convert both and you have 2 sails that cover virtually all conditions except where a storm jib or specialized sails are required.

Brad

[barnakiel]

No one hard rule here:

- some people have no furler and want none,
- others have them and love them,
- there is some amount of converts (99% one way traffic: hanks > furler).

IMHO, if sail / deck layout allow, hanks are just as good as rollers. Rollers come in handy when short or double-handed and when sailing in conditions, or on boats, that are not conductive to safe sail changes.

b.