Convert Hank to Furling Headsail

[quirozson]

Purchased a used Montgomery 17 that came with an unused 135 hank on Genoa. Would like to install a furling system that can be easily reefed. The 135 Genoa also has what appears to be #6 bolt rope luff tape. Will most furling systems that require #6 luff tape still work with the hank grommets? I'm hoping to be able to simply remove the hanks and install into furling system with #6 luff tape. Thanks in advance.

[Orion Jim]

Normally the hank grommets are removed along with an inch or two of the luff before the luff tape is sewn on. If the grommets were left in place it would be a hard spot liable to chafe the adjacent material and increase the profile of a furled sail.

[quirozson]

So in my case the luff must have been originally sewn with #6 luff tape. The grommets must have been added as an option. My guess is that it is a standard sail for a big production boat that Rolly Tasker makes knowing that most will opt for the #6 tape for a furling unit; then they add grommets for the smaller hank on market.

Aside from the possibility of chafing (maybe even less where the grommets protect from chaffing compared to where the tape touches the furling track directly) seems like it should be able to slide up the furling track and work effectively.

Anyone actually tried this?

[quirozson]

Originally Posted by quirozson

So in my case the luff must have been originally sewn with #6 luff tape. The grommets must have been added as an option. My guess is that it is a standard sail for a big production boat that Rolly Tasker makes knowing that most will opt for the #6 tape for a furling unit; then they add grommets for the smaller hank on market.

Aside from the possibility of chafing (maybe even less where the grommets protect from chaffing compared to where the tape touches the furling track directly) seems like it should be able to slide up the furling track and work effectively.

Anyone actually tried this?

Well I just looked more carefully at the bolt rope and it is at a minimum 1/4" diameter, possibly a bit larger. So not #6. Oh well, was hoping I could save some $ in my conversion. Guess I will need to have the sail altered for the correct luff tape regardless.

[Hene]

About twenty years ago, when we finally got a furler, we had several old hank-on headsails. I added Kiwi Slides, which are hard plastic slugs with short webbing tapes for sewing to both sides of the sail luff. At that time, Bainbridge carried them, and I was able to buy some in California from a local sailmaker. I'm getting an error message for the Bainbridge website--hope they are not a Covid casualty.
Kiwi Slides are made by Reefrite Engineering, reefrite.co.nz. The slugs come in different sizes for different furlers. I don't remember how we did it--probably just tied a sailstop from one side of the bow pulpit to the other to keep them from coming out of the furler one at a time--but it was easy to end up with a nice bundle of controlled sail. Much easier than changing headsails once we got "proper" new headsails with luff tapes to fit the furler extrusions.

[quirozson]

Originally Posted by Hene

About twenty years ago, when we finally got a furler, we had several old hank-on headsails. I added Kiwi Slides, which are hard plastic slugs with short webbing tapes for sewing to both sides of the sail luff. At that time, Bainbridge carried them, and I was able to buy some in California from a local sailmaker. I'm getting an error message for the Bainbridge website--hope they are not a Covid casualty.
Kiwi Slides are made by Reefrite Engineering, reefrite.co.nz. The slugs come in different sizes for different furlers. I don't remember how we did it--probably just tied a sailstop from one side of the bow pulpit to the other to keep them from coming out of the furler one at a time--but it was easy to end up with a nice bundle of controlled sail. Much easier than changing headsails once we got "proper" new headsails with luff tapes to fit the furler extrusions.

I did read about these. The only issue is that the smallest diameter they make seems to be 5.6mm. Wish there was a company that would make something similar that would slide into a 3/16 #6 luff groove, or perhaps someone has found this size to work?