What kind of mast furling is this?

[Rockinar]

Never seen this before. An exterior mast furler. They still make these?

[sailormed]

Yes, it is a cheap furling retrofit to replace traditional sails. The advantage is the absence of in mast jamming.
Can’t remember the manufacterer, but I think they are still on the market.

Edit: I found this CF thread:
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ils-19216.html

[chrisr]

it's no real difference to a headsail furler...

cheers,

[Orion Jim]

Back in the early 80’s Hyde made a mainsail furling unit. Actually worked very well.

[boatman61]

Facnor's still make them I believe.. to order.

[MicHughV]

can't remember the last time I saw one of those....20-30 years maybe ??

[bullsails]

I have seen some of these adapted as a behind mast furler.
www.furlings.com

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by sailormed

Yes, it is a cheap furling retrofit to replace traditional sails. The advantage is the absence of in mast jamming.
Can’t remember the manufacterer, but I think they are still on the market.

Edit: I found this CF thread:
https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ils-19216.html

Nothing cheap about it I’m afraid.

[valhalla360]

I think they are a great option for cruisers.

In fluky winds (isn't that 90% of the time coastal sailing), we often just use the headsail as it was more hassle than it was worth to uncover and raise the sails...just to pull them back down and secure them. If it's as easy to deploy and recover as a furling headsail, I could see using it far more often.

Yes, you give up some performance as it's not the ideal sail shape but if you use it 4 times as often, the net benefit likely outweighs the downsides.

[bensolomon]

Yes, you give up some performance as it's not the ideal sail shape but if you use it 4 times as often, the net benefit likely outweighs the downsides.[/QUOTE]

That's a great analysis!

[malbert73]

I think they are these

http://www.sailcdi.com

Probably fine with a telephone pole mast with fore and aft lowers to prevent any pumping (and prevent any prebend to shape the sail)
I’m sure they work and I would not expect any upwind performance