Talk me out of roller furling

[Ratty1978]

My previous boat, a Tartan Ten (10 meters LOA, 7000 lbs) had hanked on jibs because (1) nearly all of the racing competition had them (2) it's a lot faster for the bow person to get it down when hoisting a symmetric spinnaker at a mark rounding (3) there's probably other bow person magic that they don't tell us in the back of the boat. Rarely swapped jibs. Fractional rig. Current boat is a San Juan 24 (24 feet LOA, 3200 lbs) that has roller furling because (1) it has a huge masthead genoa, not a fractional jib like the T10 so there's a whole lot of sail to handle (2) it's smaller with less room on the foredeck (3) it can be safely, if highly inefficient pointing, sailed with partially furled genoa. There also isn't a one design fleet where I sail, unlike the T10. Depends on your boat and sailing plans.

Originally Posted by Ryban

I had a furling headsail on my last boat and loved it. Kept me off the foredeck at sea, made adjusting sail area for squalls very easy, and I never really cared about the performance hit.

On my new boat, a Westsail 32, we are cutter rigged with hank-on sails, and all my headsails are yankee cuts. Roller furling seems like a no brainer here, especially given that the forestay is at the end of a bowsprit, which is not a very fun place to be while pounding into seas.

So all that said, before I take the plunge and equip the boat with roller furling, are there any really compelling reasons to keep things hank on?

[nofacey]

Put roller furling on both forestays! When you have that easy to use foresail combination, you’ll optimize their set up more often.

Roller furling reliability is wayyy up there…..pay attention to how they’re working, and you won’t be surprised by failure. Over 30,000 ocean miles over a 6 year period, and we rebuilt both upper swivels in 5th year….but could feel the need coming in advance. Selden on forestay, Hood on inner.

Agree mainsail furling is higher risk……used lazy jacks with a built in sail cover, zipper on endless line to make it easy to close…..I figure the number one way to shorten your mainsail life is to not protect it from the sun whenever you can.

[IolantheSF]

The area I sail in has high winds and rapidly changing winds. I’ve personally seen several roller furling headsails come apart and shred themselves, a roller furling main that jammed in high winds forcing the skipper to cut the luff, and a neighbor hanging 30 feet up the forestay rewrapping his jib in high winds. I have hank-ons and slides, and have never had a problem other than having to move my rear end to the foredeck for a minute. If one sails in an area without high winds and drops sails when away from the boat, they can be safe, and convenient.

[nofacey]

Originally Posted by IolantheSF

The area I sail in has high winds and rapidly changing winds. I’ve personally seen several roller furling headsails come apart and shred themselves, a roller furling main that jammed in high winds forcing the skipper to cut the luff, and a neighbor hanging 30 feet up the forestay rewrapping his jib in high winds. I have hank-ons and slides, and have never had a problem other than having to move my rear end to the foredeck for a minute. If one sails in an area without high winds and drops sails when away from the boat, they can be safe, and convenient.

Like everything else, there is a bit of care/skill required with roller furling…..keep a bit of tension on the sheet as you furl, put 3 wraps of the sheet on the sail after fully furled, and it won’t unwrap in high winds (proven to 70kt) though I do agree with taking the foresails off if you’re leaving the boat for any length of time.

[rslifkin]

I see some people consider just a few wraps of the sheets around the sails adequate, but I do see others throw a sail tie or 2 around the furled jib as a backup once they hit the dock or drop the anchor.

[alistair]

Go for the roller furling, in-mast main as well if you can, its just so much easier and safer. I am 65 years old and have enjoyed the pleasure of owning 3 very different saiing boats. Trying to reef traditional sails on a pitching deck, maybe in the dark is no fun. We have just done an Atlantic crossing and had no problems with furling gear. If in the event you are caught out in a real gale, then all furling sails can be removed- no real difference between hanked on?

[Cynara]

We used hank ons on our Hans Christian 34. Cutter. We went cruising starting in 85. Saw to many furling failures. Our head sail had slab reefing. Never changed sails

Very stable boat never thought I would fall off.

Less moving parts the better

[Ryban]

I actually haven't been able to get in contact with the ReefRite guys yet -- they haven't responded to my e-mail inquiries, which admittedly makes me worried if I ever needed to source parts or more Kiwi slides.

Anyone have an alternative contact for these guys?

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by Ryban

I had a furling headsail on my last boat and loved it. Kept me off the foredeck at sea, made adjusting sail area for squalls very easy, and I never really cared about the performance hit.



On my new boat, a Westsail 32, we are cutter rigged with hank-on sails, and all my headsails are yankee cuts. Roller furling seems like a no brainer here, especially given that the forestay is at the end of a bowsprit, which is not a very fun place to be while pounding into seas.



So all that said, before I take the plunge and equip the boat with roller furling, are there any really compelling reasons to keep things hank on?

It comes down to personal preference, I guess.
Anyway, you answered your own question.
Cheers

[argonauta1]

Circumnavigation, 44 foot Beneteau sloop/modified cutter rigged

RIG. Genoa 120 on a Profurl furler, inner forestay add-on, high cut hank on self tacking storm jib. Extendable mast mounted whisker pole designed to pole out genoa. Free flying Jenniker stowed within a sock. Oh yes, the main had slab reefing and fitted with a toe rail preventer to the boom.

Only problem with the furler in some 30,000 NM was failure of the titanium ring which parted and disappeared resulting in the genoa descending. Used another halyard forward of the mast plus a shackle for a quick fix.

By the way. always important to have three halyards forward of the mast and three at the rear. That way, no need to re-rig a halyard when offshore although fore of the mast gets pretty busy with staysail set, genoa poled out and Jenniker flying.

A hank-on 120 Genoa could have been dangerous to manage short handed in heavyish weather off shore. Stay sail/storm jib we just left up. On rare occasions when we failed to rig the hank-on stay sail, invariably we ended up regretting it!

[scherzoja]

Ann,

Why did y'all not get a Reef Rite for I-2? Having had both Reef Rite and Reef It, what is your opinion of the Reef Rite vs. ReefIt. I have a 36' boat that has an old Harken Mark I which I intend to replace once I put the mast back up.

Thanks

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

With I-2, our current "Insatiable II", we have two furlers, a "Reef-It", for the 120% headsail, and a Facnor for the staysail.

Ann

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by scherzoja

Ann,

Why did y'all not get a Reef Rite for I-2? Having had both Reef Rite and Reef It, what is your opinion of the Reef Rite vs. ReefIt. I have a 36' boat that has an old Harken Mark I which I intend to replace once I put the mast back up.

Thanks

Answering for Ann:

The main reason was price and availability for the Reef Rite. As others have mentioned upthread, they are pretty dear nowadays and delivery trans Tasman is not inexpensive or quick

The Reef-It is built here in Tasmania, only a couple of hundred klicks away, is well engineered and relatively easy to install... and when you call for info you speak to the designer himself, not an office flunky. It uses torlon bearings rather than the automotive designs that we liked in our RR, so the friction losses are less but ease of replacement is questionable. We've only had it a couple of years now and we are not sailing so much anymore, so no data about longevity.

Jim

[scherzoja]

Thanks Jim.

I suspect I might have to look beyond Reef Rite because I'm in the US and I don't know what the shipping cost will be. I'm waiting for a reply from RR. In the mean time, I've asked for info from Reef-It, which has a US distributor.

Thanks again for your input.

[JPA Cate]

Hi sherzoja,

The shipping costs are decided by international conventions, based on both ways shipping, and the costs of deliveries as well as shipping, so even with the US dollar being stronger than the AU dollar, shipping costs are eye-watering! Both NZ and Oz.

We were pleased with the Reef-Rite, but the Reef-It is a nice piece of gear, too.


Ann

[Ryban]

Originally Posted by scherzoja

Thanks Jim.

I suspect I might have to look beyond Reef Rite because I'm in the US and I don't know what the shipping cost will be. I'm waiting for a reply from RR. In the mean time, I've asked for info from Reef-It, which has a US distributor.

Thanks again for your input.

I have another thread on this topic here if you're interested:
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...-275290-2.html

I've been talking to Reef-Rite about shipping a furling unit to the US, and it is unfortunately not cheap at all. I think we got a price down to ~$850 using DHL -- notably, if this were a business to business freight shipment, it would be "only" ~$600. Probably won't get much cheaper than that without having a friend personally courier it for you.