Converting hank on to furling

[MINESAPINT2]

I am advised if I want to alter a headsail from hank on to furling the existing sail will be the wrong type/shape and will not furl correctly. Something about the hank on sails being fuller. I am looking for my next yacht which will be about 26 feet and am wondering about cost and complexity if I choose a yacht with hank on. Thanks Mike

 

[NPMR]

We did just this on a 27' boat. It worked fine. You have to accept that you will reduce the overall sail area to some extent but a tired older sail might do well to have a flattening effect created by the new luff etc so 'swings and roundabouts'.

On our boat, the slightly smaller sail area worked to our advantage, in that the boat was a bit more balanced; it felt vaguely faster overall. And much easier to reef.

 

[MINESAPINT2]

Thanks NPMR,

Just for clarity. Do I understand correctly you used the existing sail and fitted it to furler. Not much (no) experience in these matters, 30 years motor boating behind me. Does the sail need to go away to sail maker for modification? Mike

 

[merlin3688]

You will need a bolt rope fitted and sun strip, see this link that may help.
http://www.sailrite.com/PDF/Convert-a-Sail-to-Rollerfurling-Instructions.pdf
Not sure how many sail makers will offer to change a sail, guessing most will want to sell you a new one!

 

[Daydream believer]

Thanks NPMR,

Just for clarity. Do I understand correctly you used the existing sail and fitted it to furler. Not much (no) experience in these matters, 30 years motor boating behind me. Does the sail need to go away to sail maker for modification? Mike

I would guess ( it is a guess so a quote would be the sensible option) that a UV strip would be circa £ 120-00 & a new bolt rope £100-00. Even more if you have a foam insert fitted.
So bearing in mind the sail might be shot anyway there would be no point
In addition if the clew is a low cut one the sail may tend to bunch low down & not furl properly.
A good furling sail would have a higher cut clew so it sits nicer on the furler with cloth better distributed when part furled

 

[Seajet]

Hanked headsals should have a strong wire luff or boltrope aleady; it's when non- specifically designed sails are put on a roller they go to full when rolled, hence the need for foam luffs etc - old tricks to cope with this in the past included rolling in sailbags, jerseys etc - guaranteed to be forgotten then go over the side when forgotten and the sail is unrolled later !

Also why a separate storm jib on a different forestay / detachable clip on stay is a good idea for storm jibs.

It depends on the size of boat and sail; I know several owners of A22, 22' 7/8ths rig boats who happily dumped rollers in favour of the ' handraulic ' never jam reliability and better pointing to windward of hanked headsails - but when I had a big rigged 30' cruiser / racrer with masthead rig I'd have given dearly for a good roller system.

 

[Daydream believer]

Hanked headsals should have a strong wire luff or boltrope aleady;

Problem comes when the diameter does not fit the foil. the hanks sometimes go through brass eyelets in the sail that have to be removed & the wire goes onto an eye on the top that means the wire has to be cut & the eye altered & removed so the boltrope could go into the foil ( assuming it would actually fit). If the luff has a wire & it is cut the sail has to be attached to a new wire as the original would now slip

You are correct about bagginess re furling though. That is why I have a small jib & a genoa & have never sailed with the genoa furled. I do admit changing over is absolute hassle. But worth it.
Always think it is a pity seeing a yacht sailing with a small baggy triangle half way up the forestay in heavy weather making hard work of pointing up wind.
Even worse when the furling drum sits above the bottlescrew & is 15 inches off the deck to start with.
Add a blue UV strip & you have a trade mark for Westerley

 

[NPMR]

Others have answered but yes, the sail needs hanks removed usually cut off, and a new luff fitted to go in the foil of your roller furler. Original sail shape will have some bearing but as the sail you have is for your boat, hopefully? it will just be a bit like a lightly rolled version . We had no problems.

 

[lpdsn]

Cost me £235, IIRC, to have a new luff tape fitted to a headsail about 7 years ago. 16m luff, so you can scale down as necessary to get an idea of the price.

 

[neil_s]

I adapted a hank-on working jib to my Rotostay E6 by replacing the hanks with plastic mainsail slugs and fitting a pennant on the head so that the slider could go to the top of the spar. It set well and rolled up fine. I didn't bother with a UV strip, but I was careful to take the sail below when I knew I would be away from the boat for some time. I replaced it after about 5 years when it developed incurable leach flutter. You would need to measure up carefully if you were going to do this with a genoa, since the wire luff does take up a bit more space and you don't want the sail to foul anything at the top of the mast. Another consideration is that the hank-on sail is designed to have a lot more luff tension than a roller and this does put more load on the bearings of the Rotostay. Mine seemed to stand up to it, though.

 

[William_H]

Also why a separate storm jib on a different forestay / detachable clip on stay is a good idea for storm jibs.

It depends on the size of boat and sail; I know several owners of A22, 22' 7/8ths rig boats who happily dumped rollers in favour of the ' handraulic ' never jam reliability and better pointing to windward of hanked headsails - but when I had a big rigged 30' cruiser / racrer with masthead rig I'd have given dearly for a good roller system.

Yes the OP is looking for a 26ft boat if he is looking for long distance cruising then he will need a furler. However perhaps due to most of our sailing being short duration here on the Swan and Indian Ocean, there are far more hank on jib boats than furlers. Indeed in racing, furlers are almost universally a go slow option. I have always (35y) had hank on, on my 21fter and would never have a furler. It does take some skill/ experience to know what the wind strength is and what it is going to do during the outing but if you get it wrong and have a good crew a change is relatively easy. I find I am much more likely to change to a bigger jib than smaller. But the preference for hank on are peculiar to my sailing style ie no more than 3 hr voyages with keen crew.
So don't rush to reject a boat with hank on. Likely you will get it cheaper because of hank on. Then try for a season using hank on and then perhaps budget for a new jib and furler. olewill

 

[Poignard]

I adapted a hank-on working jib to my Rotostay E6 by replacing the hanks with plastic mainsail slugs and fitting a pennant on the head so that the slider could go to the top of the spar. It set well and rolled up fine. I didn't bother with a UV strip, but I was careful to take the sail below when I knew I would be away from the boat for some time. I replaced it after about 5 years when it developed incurable leach flutter. You would need to measure up carefully if you were going to do this with a genoa, since the wire luff does take up a bit more space and you don't want the sail to foul anything at the top of the mast. Another consideration is that the hank-on sail is designed to have a lot more luff tension than a roller and this does put more load on the bearings of the Rotostay. Mine seemed to stand up to it, though.

I had been thinking of fitting slides to my existing furling genoa to make it easier and faster to take the sail off or refit it but I was told the foil (a very old Rotostay) being designed for a distributed load might not withstand the spot loads of the slugs. Obviously you have had no problems.

Can you please tell me how far apart you fitted the slugs and what type you used?

 

[aquaplane]

My Jag 25 came with a Plastimo furler fitted with the existing hank on sail. The hanks had been replaced with plastic sliders, similar to mainsail sliders but smaller to fit the Plastimo foil. I never used it reefed, it was either all out or nothing.

To answer Parsifal, each hank was replaced with a slider so the distances were as for hanks. The sliders suited the foil.

The sail was a couple of inches too long in the luff and had no sacrificial strip, cutting the luff off, fitting a bead and fitting a UV strip cost more than the sail was worth in hindsight.

 

[neil_s]

Parsifal - I was also a bit worried about replacing bronze hanks with plastic. I bought an eyelet kit and inserted new ones half way in between the existing ones - thus doubling the number of sliders. I used Bainbridge AO17 slides that have a slug a little less than 10 mm diameter. The slides were loosely seized to the eyelets using 5 or 6 turns of 3 mm line, so that they would articulate easily and allow the sail to roll tightly. Seizings were finished with a reef knot and two small tyraps to lock it.

 

[Poignard]

Parsifal - I was also a bit worried about replacing bronze hanks with plastic. I bought an eyelet kit and inserted new ones half way in between the existing ones - thus doubling the number of sliders. I used Bainbridge AO17 slides that have a slug a little less than 10 mm diameter. The slides were loosely seized to the eyelets using 5 or 6 turns of 3 mm line, so that they would articulate easily and allow the sail to roll tightly. Seizings were finished with a reef knot and two small tyraps to lock it.

Thank you, and Aquaplane.