Furler for staysail

[irwinsailor]

I have been making myself crazy trying to decide whether to add a second furler for a staysail. Does anyone have this setup on their boat and if so what are the pro's and con's? Thanks

[Kanani]

Have you sailed with your staysail before??

I had a staysail furler (Profurl) on my Passport 45. After about 3 years and 20,000 miles of not using it, I found it more of a bother. It cluttered the foredeck and made it hard to tack my jib. I sold it.

However, I had a ketch. It just wasn't efficient on my boat. It may be different on yours.

[irwinsailor]

I used it for the first time this past summer and liked it very much going windward in 30 knot. It made me think that if it were up there ready to go on a furler I would use it much more.

[Frank, Southern Voyager]

Hi There,

Agree that a staysail clutters the deck, but when the going gets tough, i find it very neat to furl the genoa, reef the main and let the stay go.I have a stay sail furler installed on my Monte Carlo 43 and find it very convenient. The boat is Cutter rigged and i have a 150% Genoa. if i need to tack shorthanded, i actually unfurl the staysail, so that the genoa gets through smoother. I love it!

[Pblais]

I use the stay sail a lot. I also have a furler. The sheet runs to a 2 part purchase on a block attached to a traveler. At about 30 knots you need the winch to sheet it. Several times I've reefed the stay sail. I would not have any shape left were I to reef the Genoa that much. With a double reefed main and a reefed stay sail the boat handles well in a gale or at least better than I do.

Stay sails I think take a while to learn as they are quite subtle. They often don't add much (or seem that way) but in other situations they can be a blessing. If your rig is a true cutter with the main mid way then it helps a lot. I reef the main before the jib. If it is just a sloop with an extra stay them I can see where you could find them not useful.

My last boat had a club footed stay sail and the self tacking was OK. It was also hanked on so it flew better. The furler adds some additional adjustments and easy of use when it starts to get nasty out.

[Telekitr]

We have an inner forstay on our Passport 40 which is tacked up about 36" aft of the main roller furler. It connects in up on the mast at the second spreaders. This is the usual way of creating a staysail forstay. Now.....one could install a furler on this but as has been mentioned a bit on the thread, it does get in the way and when not needed can be a bother. If you make the inner forestay removable at the tack point of the wire and take it back to a point near the mast where it can live 90% of the time, then you would be free of the clutter. In order for this to work, you should then have a hank on staysail which you would put on only when you would likely use it. The rest of the time, it lives below in a sail locker. There are lots of removable stay mechanisms on the market...Forespar, Harken, Nicro Fico to name a few that would allow you to safely connect, disconnect and tension the inner stay when needed.
Staysail is a nice sail in heavy air....really balances out the boat. But when its not needed its nice to get it totally out of there for easier tacking and moving about on the foredeck.

[Joli]

On our sloop and I don't think we will add roller furler. The ability to change to the correct size sail for the job and the ability to disconnect the inner forestay is nice.

The one thing that would be nice about a furler is our halyard exits above the hound. I assume the rig was built this way to allow the halyard to remain clear when it is being used as the pole topping lift. If we fit a roller furler then the clearance issue goes away since the upper swivel does not care if the halyard exits above or below the inner forestay. Do you have this issue?

Long story short, if it is a sloop and you can avoid the roller on the inner forestay it is probably better.

[Charlie]

I have a Sceptre 41. I believe it is a true cutter but am not positive. The boat balances well with a 100% jib in 30 knots, (maybe even a little under powered) with a single reef in the main. When I have the 130% jib up and the inner forestay it is really hard to tack the genoa. I just leave the stay off. I have a hank on staysail. I think that at 30 knots or so I would go to the foredeck and hook up the inner forestaywith the hanked on jib ready to go up. Another option would be to put the staysail on at 25 knots and no put a reef in.

In writing this I realize that the staysail on a furler is a very indvidual decision and depends on 1) how big a headsail you have 2) is the staysail a storm jib 3) what type of sailing you do (i.e if you are in the ocean and you don't tack much then it won't matter that it is hard to tack thru) 4) How your boat balances in different wind strengths. and 5) where you are going to be sailing.

[Pblais]

Staysails seem to be rigged different on different boats. If you have a true cutter I think the staysail becomes more important as well as more usefully. With the main more toward the middle of the boat it changes things a great deal. The current and last boats were both cutters and I used the staysails a lot when blowing hard and with winds forward of the beam.

The first boat had the clubfooted staysail on a traveler but was pretty small. I know a friend that would use only this sail when single handiing in nasty weather. It worked. On the current boat the staysail is rigged with a traveler and a furler. The forestay attaches at the point of the deck while the headsail furler is on the end of the bow sprit. There is no clutter from the inner forestay. That makes a big difference.

I think you'll find a great difference on how the various boats balance with a staysail or without one depnding on the layout. I'm more of a mind that a true sloop with an inner forestay does not obtain as much advantage from a staysail in more varied conditions and so the removable stay makes more sense given the stay secures in the middle of the foredeck and gets in the way anyway.

[irwinsailor]

I am leaning toward installing a quick connect to the forestay and continue the hank on system that I have. A furler would be nice but I hate tacking went I have the inner stay in place.

[Pblais]

[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']I hate tacking went I have the inner stay in place.[/FONT]

With a 155 it's not easy. Get power winches and furl to tack.

I don't find it too difficult (back winding helps). Last boat I added a tacking line to pull the clew through the slot in light air. In light air it sucks. Current boat has a bigger slot!

[brian and clare]

if you put a furler on where will you put the hammock? Only half kidding here, if you are in the tropics you will want that hammock more than the furler. Hyfield lever is the quick easy solution but man do they cost a bundle. Turnbuckle is slower but works just as well. If you are really worried about it, or want to singlehand just rig a downhaul to dump it fast.