Roller furling

[JRM]

I've just met with the rigger today who gave the thumbs up for my roller furling addition. Or I should say, he verified that I have purchased the correct equipment prior to scheduling his time...

A huge thumbs up to the guy at riggingonly.com who was more than patient as I described the bits I had, and divined the bits I would need. Especially my botched understanding of my riggers Australian accented descriptions of most things.

As of next Monday I'll have a new headstay, Profurl roller furling, and a tuned up rig.

I've been trying to love the hanked on genoa, but it doesn't much like me. It has tried to throw me off the boat one too many times.

It's very exciting and scary at the same time, because I'm rapidly running out of excuses for why I can't head out...

JRM

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[neilpride]

Congratulations , Profurl is a top furler..very nice...

[dohenyboy]

And why did you decide on Profurl? I am choosing between the Profurl C520 and the Harkin MKIV. Light racing, mostly local cruising. The Profurl is less $$. But pros and cons?


Sent from an undisclosed location on the high seas or from the lounge chair by the pool, you decide.

[JRM]

Originally Posted by dohenyboy

And why did you decide on Profurl? I am choosing between the Profurl C520 and the Harkin MKIV. Light racing, mostly local cruising. The Profurl is less $$. But pros and cons?


Sent from an undisclosed location on the high seas or from the lounge chair by the pool, you decide.

I spent so much time debating it felt like analysis paralysis. In the end I narrowed it down to those same two. I figured I really like and trust our local rigger, so I'd heavily weigh his recommendation. As luck would have it, he recommends either the Profurl or the Harken. I figure the price delta isn't much considering the overall cost of the project.

In the end, I liked the idea of the open drum and mounting of the Profurl more than I disliked the sealed steel bearings. Both came very highly recommended from multiple sources I trust. I think the final straw was that when I took an unscientific survey of my marina for mounting ideas, it was like a Profurl convention was in town.

I know a few of the local racers like the Harken because they can remove the drum. I don't ever plan on can racing our boat, so that wasn't worth much to me. Having had a furler jam at a most inconvenient time on our last boat (more or less leading to the purchase of this larger one) I was weighing more the reliability, and the open drum of the Profurl was a big draw.

JRM

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[dohenyboy]

just talked to a rigger, he said the Profurl is more durable and better for offshore but Harken runs smoother

[JRM]

Furler is installed. It turned out higher than I thought, but even at full length there's only about 4-5" of clearance to the anchor. After talking it over with the rigger, we went long on the link plates. I could maybe drop it three inches or so, but much beyond that and the anchor could hit it. The tack of the jib will be 7" higher than before.

I'm going to go to a bit longer anchor somewhat soon, so decided to err on the side of caution.

Now to the loft to get the sails cut and luff tape added.

JRM

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[FamilyVan]

So I have a roller furling Genoa, and it frequently annoys me. Especially in heavy winds. My boat came with the roller furler, as well as a wide selection of the original hanked sails. I'm thinking about switching back to my hanked sails.
My problem is in high winds I often have trouble controlling the roller furler. I only have two hands. I find one is necessary to control the control line, while the other is, one too few hands to operate my winch. If I just used conventional sails I could select the sail that best met the conditions.
Has any one else faced this dilemma?

[sandy stone]

On a 35 foot boat, you shouldn't need to use a winch on the furling line. Ease the sheet until the sail is luffing quite a bit before you try to roll it up. If it's really windy, turn down to blanket the jib behind the main. It also helps to have a ratchet block as the last turning block before the line comes to hand.

[FamilyVan]

Originally Posted by sandy stone

On a 35 foot boat, you shouldn't need to use a winch on the furling line. Ease the sheet until the sail is luffing quite a bit before you try to roll it up. If it's really windy, turn down to blanket the jib behind the main. It also helps to have a ratchet block as the last turning block before the line comes to hand.

Thanks!
I understand the principle. I don't use the winch for my control line, but for my Genoa. The result is in heavy winds I feel I'm often one hand short. My 35 rides like a cloud, but being a heavy (24000lb) double ended full keel boat, really does not tack well.
There are days when I'm out in dirty weather when I love my slow lumbering beast. Unfortunately, I need to run her up to at least 4 knots to pass through irons with a hard over.
The boat carries an unusually large headsail to accommodate for her poor hydrodynamics. There are days when I'm actually quite jealous of my friends light hunters and beneteaus. Just not in big seas and high winds.
It's entirely possible a better sailor could handle the boat with less hands then me, but I generally wear around when single handing and tack with a crew (one other person).

[FamilyVan]

I should qualify so I don't sound like a total dunce, I can manage most functions just fine single handed under 15-20 knots of wind or so.

[roverhi]

Not sure what the issue is with needing two hands. I let the sheet loose then pull on the reefing/furling line with both hands. The sail flaps a bit but can usually furl the sail before the sheets get to tangled.

Having done most of my sailing with hank on sails, would never think about giving up the roller furling. A lot easier to pull on a line than to drop a sail, secure it, lug another sail forward, hank it on, hoist it, run back to the cockpit and sheet it in. Then there is the issue of storing 4 headsails to have the right headsail for all conditions. With hank on sails was almost always late in making a sail change which greatly complicated the exchange. Quite often, as soon as I'd made the change, the wind changed significantly and had to go through the routine again almost immediately.

[JRM]

Having wrestled my giant hanked on Genoa in decent winds, I can't imagine, even with a down haul, how that could possibly be safer or easier than a roller. I got a lot of good advice here, much of which centered on "try it before you change it." I tried it, and now I'm changing it...

Our boat is a 40' true cutter with a high cut genoa. Going forward to tie it up, especially when I'm by myself, is an adventure. At least I know that, should the furler crap out, I am physically capable of wrestling and stowing the sail in brisk conditions.

The sail also interferes with the anchor deployment and retrieval unless I go fold or bunch it and tie it to the lifelines. Not going to miss that problem.

Since we have the staysail, our normal reefing is to reef the main, then drop the genoa as conditions build. The boat balances really well on reefed main and staysail. I'm really looking forward to just rolling and unrolling, as opposed to hoisting and dousing. I'm also running the reefing lines back to the cockpit, so soon I'll be able to do everything from under the dodger.

I'm also hoping it'll be more convenient in lighter winds to tack. I plan to partially roll the genoa, tack it through the slot, and then unroll it again. It isn't as big a deal right now to go forward in lighter winds and help it through, because generally those conditions are mellow. But it'll be nice to have the option not to.

JRM

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