Furling genniker

[AOWYN]

I'm considering installing a removable bow sprit and a furling light weight nylon fore-sail, genniker or whatever they are called. One sailmaker at Excel recommended a continuous line furler with a furling rope luff for the sail, another told me that I would have problems getting the sail to furl away fully and recommended a bulky rubber tube device designed to grab the sale and furl it.

Do any readers have experience of trying to add some light weather performance to a heavy cruising boat by adding a ghosting sail on a removable and baggable soft luff rope?
Should I mortgage the house to pay for a proper bowsprit and add a permanent furling light weight genoa, or just buy more diesel?

 

[simonfraser]

more diesel would be cheaper, but do you want to sail ?

i have build several furling asymetrics.

the luff needs to be TIGHT else it will not furl.

harken single line furler works fine.

i have had wire and rope luffs, the latest tight weave luff is the best so far.

they furl up to about 10 aparent unless shielded by the main.

if the sail is too full it will not furl at all, too baggy of course.

dolphin - harwich build my last laminated one, i'm well pleased.

 

[exfinnsailor]

Cruising Chute .. Great .. Bought one for our new Beneteau .. You need a Snuffer with it as there is a lot of sail .. All the Snuffer is is a long tube with a wide open mouth .. You haul the sail up and then when you are ready haul the Snuffer upto the top .. We managed ours first time .. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[exfinnsailor]

Ps .. We are in the process of fitting a SELDEN Bowsprit .. Very helpful with phone calls etc .. Dolpine made our Cruising Chute and supplied the Snuffer .. Cost about £1000 complete and £300 for Bowsprit .. Really looks great .. Bright Blue .. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[rwoofer]

Ordered one with my new boat and think they are great. No problems furling and contrary to other contributions to this thread, you do not need it wound up tight, in actually fact it is easier if only hand tight. Mine is the Elvstrom-Sobstad version.

Here it is in action:

The continuous furling line goes all the way back to the cockpit, which allows me to use the spinnaker singlehanded.

 

[photodog]

Can you tell us all a bit more about your set up?

Which gear, how mounted, who did the sail, etc...

Some guide on cost would be great.....

If I want one, who should I call!

ta

 

[rodwhite]

same make-set up as P b-strech- no problem`s and plessure too use in light wind

 

[rodwhite]

oops-pb-strech should read r b- stretch- apology

 

[rwoofer]

Everything, including the furler came for about £1300. Here's a closeup of the furling unit:

Was using it yesterday, with about 13 knots apparent (probably top end force 4 true) and was hitting 8-9 knots nearly all the time, with a maximum of 10.3 knots as we entered Chichester harbour. Here's a gratuitous wakeshot at about 8 or so knots /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[AOWYN]

Very impressed, but more details please.

was bowsprit an originbal part of the boat,

you mentioned the name of the brand, can you give contact details,

what wind range and apparant direction can you use your sail in?

Forgive brevity, late at night, v tired, but looking forward to more info

 

[rwoofer]

Bowsprit is original to boat.

Don't have the details, but Google "Elvstrom Sobstad".

Still working on angles, but so far have seen apparent wind of 70 degrees to 150 degrees through 8 to 14knots windspeed (probably 6-16knots true). Because of the boat speed, the true wind angle is sometimes out by 30 degrees or so.

 

[alan]

You may want to consider an MPG (Multipurpose genoa) rather than a Genaker. I have had both types of sail on my last boat and I used the MPG far more that the Gen. It is cut differently and you can use it at angles much 'closer' to the wind, but it is large enough and light enough to improve light wind performance significantly. These can also be used with furlers. I got both my sails for the last boat and also have just ordered an MPG for the current boat from Crusader and the quality and price are very competitive.
As regard the furler with the rubber tube (Harken?): it was explained to me that is so that it can be used with any sail even it does not have a luff rope; whilst the other type (Barton ?) that have just the bottom and top swivels can be used only with sails that have a luff rope. However, you can buy the Harken with only the top and botttom swivels and this changes the price from something like €1300 to €850.
In fact I was looking at the catalogues with ny local swindler a couple of weeks ago and the above was his explanation.

Alan.

 

[photodog]

Thats excellent, feel free to post any other gratuitous wake shots or otherwise...... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Thanks!