Hank On vs. Furling

[alitaptap]

In 1991, as a newbie sailor living in Hong Kong, I crewed aboard a Herreshoff 47 with hanked-on jib, I did not know what a furling jib was. We always had enough crew for two-at-the-bow for sail changes, even on the San Fernando and China Sea races. Since, 1997 I have only sailed dinghies & Hobie 16s with a hanked-on jib; all others have been furler rigged. I would go with a furling jib system over hanked-on every time but, and it is a big BUT, two things to watch out for:

1. always make sure the furling line is appropriate for the purpose (halyard type material, minimal stretch) and in good condition; and,
2. never believe in a “zero-maintenance” furling system, which most of them claim to be.

Regarding 1) in January, 2000, I was delivery crew on a Yamaha 36 from Busuanga to Manila (about 160NM) and we sailed into 35-knot winds around the NW tip of Mindoro Island, we put reef #2 in the main and furled the jib to about a #4 size; 10 minutes later the jib furling line parted company from the furler. Our 135% jib was now in play and the yacht was on her ear, with reefs and islands on three sides. Muggins got the job of going forward to pull down and secure the jib, then dismantle the furling gear (because we could not hoist the storm jib past the furler assembly – design flaw). For about 20 minutes, screw driver and Allen key alternating between hand and mouth, I became a semi-submariner on the bow. We eventually took a much longer route to reach Manila (out around Golo and Lubang islands) with just the reefed mainsail and storm jib, finally making cellphone contact with Manila just before the search & rescue plane was to be readied for take off. Upon investigation we found that the furling line was polypropylene and had stretched too much with UV exposure and use, and with a bit of abrasion through a guide-roller it simply gave way.


Regarding 2) in 2019, while on a round-the-islands regatta race out of Puerto Galera, aboard a classic Sun Kiss 47 with a “zero-maintenance” furler, we had the 1st reef in the main and needed to reduce the size of the jib because the breeze was besting 25 knots. We pulled on the furling line, nothing happened, we put the furling line on a winch, it agreed to half a turn and then stopped. We eventually dropped the jib and continued with just the staysail. It took a couple of weeks to find a machine shop willing to dismantle the top and bottom furler assemblies and rejuvenate them. Upon investigation we found that they had fully seized because the factory-installed lubrication had dried out over the years. The furler now has a lubrication point for both assemblies, so the owner anticipates no further problems provided he administers occasional lube-maintenance.


As for an in-boom furling main. I have only sailed with one - aboard a Tayana 58, during a Raja Muda Regatta (2003 from memory). The trick is to get the boom exactly perpendicular to the mast when furling, otherwise it will fail to fully furl. I imagined this may be a challenge if encountering big seas but we were fortunate that the sea-state was always quite flat during that week-long adventure.

[lyl]

Are there any 30 ft or longer sailboats that come with hank on jib among the new sailboats nowadays anyway?

[sailingdutchboy]

I'd say a roller furler is by far the easiest.
Get a cutter rig, and you can have both.
On a larger boat, a self-tacking jib (possibly with a boom and reef points) could be interesting also.