Roller Boom ?

[Wand]

Keep it and use it - it's a great system, especially for getting the sail down in a hurry. And if you're singlehanding without a motor, you'll find it so much easier than bringing down a slab reefed sail in an sort of wind. I used to bring down the sail on a 30 footer in about 10 seconds - then on with the sail cover and that's it. Now, the belly - that is the downside (ain't it always the case). I agree it's hopeless for racing but no big deal for cruising. Anyway, as someone else said, you could have your sail cut to suit; or even manually tighten the foot with a line from the leech in much the same way as with slab reefing if it really bothers you. But best of all, there is so little gear compared to all other systems; it's cheap and uncomplicated...and wins the KISS test.

[Blue Stocking]

Roller reefing booms harken back to the days before modern rock-hard synthetic sail material became the norm, and before spaghetti masts were bent all over the place, to control sail shape, by hydraulics and other mechanical gear.
Ways to control sail shape with a roll/reef boom was sometimes done by fitting the boom with battens screwed lengthwise along the boom, with a high point in the centre, and appropriate tapers to the ends, this increased the diameter of the boom wher needed to flatten the sail when rolled.
Another way was a full length zipper sewn in along the foot in a eliptical shape, which was un-zipped to allow good shape for a full main, but took up the excess material (baggy) when reefing.
I have sailed on both types of set-up, and have seen some really good, and some really bad.
The reduced size at the neck accomodated the luff boltrope.

[svHyLyte]

The old boom rollers actually worked pretty well provided the rig was properly arranged. An important aspect was a luff-ramp that angled away from the mast beginning a few feet above the boom to lead the sail's luff to a point above the throat of the boom, which was choked down to accommodate the bulk arising from the luff rope. A sail needs be fairly flat cut to avoid the "bag" effect but some round booms were made "fatter" in the middle to reduce this while others had shaped furring strips added to the sides and bottom of the middle 3/4ths of the boom. I first saw one of these booms on Eric and Susan Hiscock's Wanderer IV while they were wintering in a slip near us at Sausalito Yacht Harbor in the late '60's. Eric extolled the virtue of the infinately variable reef but disliked the fact that there was no outhaul ability on the shortened sail; and, fitting a vang was impossible. He finally refitted his boom to use slab reefing because of the foregoing but indicated that on his smaller Wanderer III--a 30 footer that he and Mrs. Hiscock sailed around the world--the system was quite sufficient.

FWIW...

[dreamer38851]

FYI

Roller booms are still used on some of the best built boats today.

They beat in mast on so many levels but the main reason I like them is they keep the center of gravity low.

Any good sail maker can make a proper sail for one. If they cant they are not a good sail maker anyway.

In modern boats they cost more than in mast so builders don't use them to save money.

Just my 2 cents.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by At sea

Keep it and use it - it's a great system, especially for getting the sail down in a hurry. And if you're singlehanding without a motor, you'll find it so much easier than bringing down a slab reefed sail in an sort of wind. I used to bring down the sail on a 30 footer in about 10 seconds - then on with the sail cover and that's it. Now, the belly - that is the downside (ain't it always the case). I agree it's hopeless for racing but no big deal for cruising. Anyway, as someone else said, you could have your sail cut to suit; or even manually tighten the foot with a line from the leech in much the same way as with slab reefing if it really bothers you. But best of all, there is so little gear compared to all other systems; it's cheap and uncomplicated...and wins the KISS test.

There is no way that a roller boom can get a sail down in a hurry, you need to stand at the mast with a crank on the gooseneck and coordinate the turning of the boom with the lowereing of the halyard all the time keeping the sail neat on the boom. this is not a modern rollerboom like a stoboom, I had one and it was not fast nor tidy.

[Wand]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

There is no way that a roller boom can get a sail down in a hurry, you need to stand at the mast with a crank on the gooseneck and coordinate the turning of the boom with the lowereing of the halyard all the time keeping the sail neat on the boom. this is not a modern rollerboom like a stoboom, I had one and it was not fast nor tidy.

Well, silly me. I must have been dreaming all the times I did it trying to beat my own record. And I was no orphan - most boats had the system and most managed just as well and just as quickly. And to confirm, this is the old wrap-around system I'm talking about where yes - horror for some I know - but where you stand at the mast and crank. Mate, maybe you shoulda given it more practice?

[boatman61]

Actually there was a version where you cranked the end from the cockpit.... uphaul led aft to the cockpit... better control of the 'Bag Effect'...

[Wand]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Actually there was a version where you cranked the end from the cockpit.... uphaul led aft to the cockpit... better control of the 'Bag Effect'...

I dinna know that! So how did that work; just with more luff tension shifting the belly aft, or am I on the wrong tack?

[boatman61]

If single handing then its easier to arrange the sail so the last couple of turns get the foot as tight/flat as possible.... one hand winds the other tugs the leach

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

There is no way that a roller boom can get a sail down in a hurry, you need to stand at the mast with a crank on the gooseneck and coordinate the turning of the boom with the lowereing of the halyard all the time keeping the sail neat on the boom. this is not a modern rollerboom like a stoboom, I had one and it was not fast nor tidy.

Then there are powered rigs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8czL-0mjD-o

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

Then there are powered rigs.

Mine didn't have battens, I had to take the bronze "cars" off of a bronze track on the mast, the luff of the sail would tend to bunch up at the gooseneck since the sail was cut to ride the mast, not 4" aft where the gooseneck was..........I'll still bet you can drop a sail and flake or bagrolltiefakeflake way faster than you can roll up on the hand crank roller boom......I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT THE NEW POWERED RIGS!!!!

[clockwork orange]

Corsair used a very simple roller boom on the F27 and F31 trimarans and it seems to work well. I did a few races on an F27 back in the 90s and liked it a lot, especially for putting the sail to bed at the end of a sail. A couple of things that help make it work are a full batten sail so you roll in a reef to a batten so foot tension is not such an issue, the gooseneck has a shaft which goes through the mast getting the tack closer to the mast,there is a crank on the front of the mast and it is direct drive so, much faster than the worm drive shown by the original poster. I suspect that a lot of the sail shape problems in the past stemmed from generally crappy sails,these things were in use in the days of cotton sails.The Gougeon brothers (west epoxy)use very simple home brewed roller booms on all of their own boats with a line drive drum made out of plywood cheeks and clamcleats at the gooseneck so you can roll it from the cockpit.
Steve.

[clockwork orange]

Sailmonkey, if you are talking about the poorly thought out roller boom system that you had then your probably right but a properly thought out system with boltrope and direct drive crank is pretty quick at putting the sail away. I currently have slab reefing and lazyjacks on my Aloha and when you drop the sail it comes right down,but it takes a few tugs to straighten it out and then throw on a few ties and then instal the sailcover around the lazyjack,it goes pretty quick but nowhere near as quick or neat as a good manually furling boom. Im planning to build a roller boom when i replace the main on my Lindenberg.
Steve.

[Sailmonkey]

The rollerboom I had is identical to the OP rollerboom, complete with the screw crank outhaul and the worm drive gooseneck fitting complete with the 5lb handle to slide onto the "ears" on the shaft. The same handle that interferes with the sail when the boom is halfway full.

I've used the rollerboom on a corsair before, and it's a different beast than the topic of discussion.

[ncarter]

I recently went to one of the largest used sail chandlers in the USA looking to replace the rollerboom main on my Vindo 40. The owner asked me why I wanted to go with slab-reefing, and I told him that I thought the process would be quicker without trying to crank the gooseneck round & round. He told me that the "old style" roller-booms are selling as fast as he can get them, and the reason is, that folks are using right-angle, chordless drills to drive the boom rotation. I`m going to try it.