Headsail Furling Gear

[Sam_Steele]

Hi

Apologies for the second post on this. I have now narrowed my search for headsail furling gear down to Rotastay Regatta, Harken Mk1V and Selden for my Rival 38. Harken and selden have independent head and tack swivels. I can't decide if this will really improve the performance of the sail or whether it is just marketing hype? Any views on if this is correct and any opinions between the 3 makes. I will be using a rigger to fit - so installation issues are not so much a problem. I saw a couple of previous posts about a problem with rotastay but unsure if this was a one off or not the regatta model.
Thanks in advance.
Sam

 

[sailorman]

my Harken is about 8 1/2 yrs old
came with a 7 yr warrenty
no probs to date

 

[Georgio]

Go for Harken, having both top and bottom swivels does help sail shape when partly furled as it removes some of the bagginess. Foam luff in your headsail will have the same effect. I fitted the Harken system two years ago because I can remove the drum for racing and re-fit in 5 mins and be back to cruising mode.

 

[doug748]

Harken on mine when I bought it over a decade ago, still going strong.

 

[charles_reed]

Strictly speaking it's reefing not furling gear - the old Wkyeham-Martin furling gear certainly couldn't be used for shortening sail

Independent head and tack swivels claim to reduce bagginess in the sail, but the same effect can be achieved with a foam + pipe luff.

The Rotostay regatta allows you to fit a foil-fed racing sail WITHOUT removing the drum, I use my solent frequently on the Rotostay I've had for 18 years, without any failure (that's about 60K nm).
I have profound respect for Harken's design and engineering but feel that Selden gear tends to be overpriced for what it is.

In the final analysis they're all good for purpose and I suspect the one with the lowest price will be your BEST BUY.