Continuous loop roller furling

[Madwand]

The point is, that if you need to reef the headsail down to a tiny amount , you can't. This is a massive sail at 150%. I don't need this thing coming unwound in heavy winds.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[jag39]

I had CDI continuous loop roller furling. Mine would slip, but CDI has a kit to switch over from continuous to drum furling. Might check on that with your manufacturer. Solved my problems pretty easily by just switching over to a drum.

[AZUS]

From what I have seen, a "continuous loop" furling line is nothing but a double ended furling line that has been spliced together at the ends.

It make tremendous sense, if done right, because there is a significant amount of "line walking" that occurs when you furl and release over time. With a continual loop, this is not a problem.

Be careful, however. I have seen people who have shortened up the continuous loop too much and have a largely unworkable rigging. Keep plenty of spare in the loop, so you don't end up with too short of a furling line.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by Madwand

The point is, that if you need to reef the headsail down to a tiny amount , you can't. This is a massive sail at 150%. I don't need this thing coming unwound in heavy winds.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

I have a Fancor continuous loop roller furling system on the screecher and a more conventional Harken furling system on my working jib. I would not trust the continuous loop system to stay reefed in heavy winds. Mostly I single hand and have never had a problem. But on a day sail when I was taking out several friends I made the mistake of trying to have one person let go the continuous loop while another person was pulling the screecher sheet aft. Problem was the sheet was pulled out before the continuous loop was free to run. The result was that the loop jumped off the drum. I had to lower the inflatable and go forward to the end of the bowsprit to put the loop back on the drum. True wind speed was probably about 10 knots and maybe 2 foot seas; but it was a real job. While I was trying to get the loop on the drum someone on the fore deck was gently pulling the loop to take up the slack and get it back on the drum. If I was faced with doing that in heavy weather I would probably just lower the screecher halyard.

[Madwand]

I called Hood today to find out the price of the upgrade and was told that they no longer make it and haven't had that upgrade for the past four years even though they are still advertising it on their website. She offered me some newer version for my boat that goes for $1,900 and she said I could get it for $1,200. I'm sure that's a great discount, but my boat has been going for 30 years with a continuous loop furler , apparently without incident. I'm going to sail it for a little while to see if it justifies that kind of a price.

[Tetepare]

I had the same one on my 1990 Catalina and used it to reef all the time. If both directions of line are cleated off tight, it wouldn't spin and the sail would not unfurl in any amount of wind. In other words, don't cleat off a single line, grab them together and cleat the pair (yes, I know it's a continuous loop and there's only one line- I hope you know what I mean).

That said, I hated it and after a decade replaced it with a Harken, which I love.

[SeaBreeze-1]

I had a Hood Seafurl 800 on a previous boat and was able to reef the headsail in a variety of conditions with some pretty big winds. To make it work, you need to add couple of pieces to it:

At the stern end of the loop, attach a snatch block to a fixed point, in such a way so that It can be tensioned to pull on the entire loop; I used heavy shock cord. This will create good friction on the furling drum so that the line isn't prone to slipping. It also keeps the continuous loop nice and tidy.

You will then need to add a cam cleat or some other stopper that you are comfortable with, so that when you have the sail tucked the way you want it, the line can be secured and free your hands up for other stuff.

As mentioned by others, this still may not be as secure as a single-line drum system but It worked very well for me and I had very few surprises.

[basssears]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

That said, I hated it and after a decade replaced it with a Harken, which I love.

In the short time I used it I hated our Hood 810 continuous line, took advantage of Pompanette's offer for discount, they sold us the SL707 for $975 including shipping (cheapest I see it out there is about $1350 plus shipping), we've been very happy with the upgrade, easier to use and piece of mind that it's not going to slip just when we really don't want it to.

[Blue Stocking]

Hood is now Pompanette, in the Tampa/ St. Pete area. They may still offer a kit to change 800 and 900 series Line drive ( LD ) to Single Line ( SL ). I converted Bluestocking's LD to SL, and supported the torque tube and drum on SS tangs,a' la ProFurl. The synthetic donut only centers the tube on the turnbuckle. Works very good, and allows me to furl and unfurl double headsails using both foil grooves.

[basssears]

Originally Posted by Blue Stocking

Hood is now Pompanette, in the Tampa/ St. Pete area. They may still offer a kit to change 800 and 900 series Line drive ( LD ) to Single Line ( SL ). I converted Bluestocking's LD to SL, and supported the torque tube and drum on SS tangs,a' la ProFurl. The synthetic donut only centers the tube on the turnbuckle. Works very good, and allows me to furl and unfurl double headsails using both foil grooves.

Per the guy I talked to this winter they no longer offer the conversion kit just discount on new single drive... so you are looking at replacing foil, forestay etc

[Madwand]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

If both directions of line are cleated off tight, it wouldn't spin and the sail would not unfurl in any amount of wind. In other words, grab them together and cleat the pair

That's what I said I did in my original post to this thread. The sail unfurled easily.

[CarolinaCalm]

I don't think you did any harm.
We have a CDI continuous loop furler/ REEFER. It works great and reefs well,..but is not supported by CDI anymore (early 1980 vintage) and parts are unavailable. We plan to replace ours soon because the foils are bent from handling over the years and lack of parts,...but it works great. We found that you have to cleat both lines of the roller and with some tension, this seems to really "bite' into the drum and so it does not payout accidentally when secured or reefed. Ours is for a Flicka sailboat so it is not very big. Keep learning.