foresail reefing

[polo]

Have a 36ft steel yacht, cutter rigged. At present she has hanked on sails and want to install roller reefing. Want this reefing system to be as strong and reliable as the rest of this boat. Serious cruising people what experiences have you had with the different makes available?

 

[npf1]

Profurl tend to be highly recommended. BTW - looks like there's a Profurl system of maybe a suitable size on eBay right now, if you're happy to buy secondhand.

 

[ChrisE]

I'll second the vote for Profurl. It is well enginnered and simple to maintain. We've had ours now 12 years, with a transat and a fair few miles in highish latitudes and are just about to replace some bearings, the first work we have had to do on the gear since new.

 

[Salty John]

Another vote for Profurl which performed faultlessly on our 41' ketch on a two year cruise.

 

[michael_w]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Anything but Furlex 200 series.

 

[Guest]

[ QUOTE ]
Serious cruising people what experiences have you had...?

[/ QUOTE ]
You might get more responses on a German yachting forum?

Sorry, I know, useless response of the day

 

[FullCircle]

I have a Facnor S Series system on mine, with the twin luff groove. No issues yet, but only 2000 miles so far.
I had Facnor on a smaller boat for 3 years with no issue either. I like being able to dissemble the drum quickly to return to luff groove sails if required.

 

[Lee_Shaw]

[ QUOTE ]
cutter rigged....and want to install roller reefing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you intend to change both stays to roller? It might be a good idea to keep the inner one as hanked on.

 

[geem]

In the Azores last year. 200 boats that had all crossed the Atlantic were there. Most had Profurl. The ones that had problems wernt Profurl. I would go for Profurl.

 

[KellysEye]

To quote Fatty Goodlander.

Harken for fully crewed race boats, Profurl for cruisers. The difference is Profurl can be furled under load, if you try that with Harken it will crush the Teflon bearings.

Almost all the single handed long distance racers use Profurl. However Profurl offers a slightly poorer sail shape because the tack and head are fixed in relationship to the foil instead of being independent of it. Eventuallly (10 years?) salt water will get to the steel bearings and corrode them. Harken bearings almost never go if you always cast of your sheet and never put its reefing line on a winch.

 

[PeterGibbs]

Furlex doing fine for me, reliable in use and easy to self maintain. Bearings are nifty pieces of engineering!

I suspectd a lot depends on proper set up, as well as assiduous maintenance. In use, it's essential in my experience to have sufficient tention on the halyard at all times to prevent wrapping at the head of the foil.

PWG