In mast furling

[poter]

Comment: I see the adds etc got deleted....... Well done to all those who persevered…..
Ok that’s my bit of humble pie!

Help. I am taking out a 38 ft Bav for 2 weeks with in mast furling, having never sailed with this system, are there any pointers/sailing tips that anyone can help me with.


Any help or references would be very much appreciated.


Poter.

The sailing area is Greece ... so say max 6 to 7 winds.

 

[Guest]

Don't count on it working well, either as a sail or a reefing/furling system.

Regards,

Peter
http://www.mistressofmourne.com

 

[Strathglass]

If it is working do not expect the same drive as you would from a slab reefed main, especially when reefed. The extra weight aloft will also make the yacht feel more tender.
However it does make life much easier and less hastle eg no folding up and puting the cover on and much quicker to reef.
On some systems you may require to head to wind and release the kicker.
Iain

 

[billmacfarlane]

I used one for the first time on a charter last summer . I had problems with the stiffness of it for the whole week I was on the boat but found that with kicker eased and the boom well out , I could just about roll it up. When letting it out , I had to keep bit of tension on the sail otherwise it would jam inside the mast. The whole thing was a pain , and coupled with the fact that it was impossible to get e decent sail shape , I resolved never to buy a boat with in-mast reefing.

 

[Aja]

Used in-mast furling for the first time on a Bav 32 on charter on a brand new boat.

Comments:

Very stiff to use - especially when furling away- needed the coachroof mounted winch - and you need to go head to wind to roll the sail neatly or it could jam.

When sailing needs constant attention to get the profile right. I found that I was constantly tweaking when wind strength/direction changed - this made the whole sail 'flutter' quite a lot, especially on the wind. On the boat I chartered the halyard was made off at the mast - with no direct access to a winch - which made halyard tension impossible (I suspect the main had been raised using a cockpit winch then made off at the mast and everything tidied up there.) Therefore the only way to affect sail shape was with the outhaul and the kicker. Took me a few days to learn how to stop the flutter - which could get quite severe - but once tweaked gave only a reasonable sail shape.

Overall I was very disappointed with the Elvstrom sail. A mainsail to me needs battens and a roach. Anything else is not worth considering.

In short, expect to spend a couple of days getting used to constantly adjusting the shape of the sail. The lack of battens will mean that you lose a lot of the efficiency.


Hope this is of use.

Regards

Donald

 

[sailbadthesinner]

Don't like them
It seems they get stiff really quickly and you have to really depower the sail and ease the kicker to haul in
On the whole really prefer slab.
They have the advantage that an inexpericed crew does not have to get on the coach roof to reef but i did have them let off the wrong spin lock a couple of times and all the sail came out so keep an eye on that.

It was like that when i found it

 

[Sinbad1]

They are absolutely brilliant!!! They need to be set up properly, ie a good luff tension on the halyard, but apart from that they are excellent. Mine is furled by hand from the cockpit without recourse to a winch and that is on any point of sail except dead down wind. Obviously you need to take the weight out of the sail to furl/reef and this I do be releasing the main sheet. It also sets better when reefed than my previously slab reefed main and it has added a huge dimension to enjoying the boats sailing abilities.

There will be differences between makes however tho the principal for all is similar. I would say that if you have to use a winch to furl, then you have a problem which needs attending to. (In the sail of course)

 

[allanf]

I've a Bavaria with Selden in-mast furling which took me a little while to get used to.
I always remember to release any additional tension in the back stay to take any bend out of the mast otherwise it takes some greater effort to furl. So long as the mainsail is slack you should be able to furl by hand with relative ease.
Make sure you've secured the furling lines well when reefed - it can lead to some excitement if the main decides to fully unfurl in a force 7! You might find there is a non return lever device on the gearbox.

 

[hugh_nightingale]

What boat would this be on?

Selfish me, I need some information on how to set this up properly