In mast furling

Malo37

Malo37

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In mast furling, Selden for sake of argument - assuming the mast fittings are in position, is it possible to rig an additional internal halliard for a chute for example. Would this foul the sail/furling mechanism or is there a seperate channel in the mast? Does anyone have experience? ---oops was being lazy and just checked the Selden website. Surprised to see that the rolled sail only takes up about half the mast cross sectional area with the front section being seperate. Oh well, learn something every day.
 
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If the mast section is Selden (for example!) then Selden do have full guides on their website showing location of furling sections and of the conduits etc...

Try...

http://www.seldenmast.se/page.cfm?id=5564

and you will see in the E, D, P and R sections (for example) the 595-557-E Low guide...

http://www.seldenmast.se/_download.cfm?id=5564&download=6593130&filename=595-557-E_Low.pdf

Useful mast section diagrams are shown. From this you can see the clear sections within the mast.

Rgds Martin.
 
Thanks - never owned an in mast furler although chartered a couple in the Med and they seemed to work ok. Just had a look at one on a Nauticat and there seems to be an issue with keeping tension on the furling line to avoid it slipping on the mast mounted drive drum ie with one end of the furling line on a winch, the other end has to be fed out under tension almost making it a two person job. Seems odd.
 
As Martin_j says - for current Selden mast sections there is full info on the web site, but I don't know about older masts.

I have a 2009 Selden in-mast furling mast and as I understand it, the furler is in a diifernt compartment from the halliards and wiring.

Also unfurling (setting) and furling/reefing the main is an easy one person job from the cockpit. It needs both hands, but not a second person. That's on my boat which is 38 feet, but I think that's how it should work on any reasonably set up in-mast system. If it didn't, it wouldn't be worth having.

The key point is that you are only ever hauling on one line - the outhaul when setting and the 'in' side of the continuous loop furling line when furling/reefing. The other lines are running free, and may just need a jiggle now and again to prevent them from tangling or snagging around each other.

On the cockpit coaming, I have three clutches (one for the outhaul and one each for the two sides of the continuous loop furling line) and a single-speed winch. I need to winch to unfurl/set the sail, but not usually to furl/reef until the point where (on a reef) I need to tension the foot of the sail with the outhaul. When furling I can usually do the whole job by hand hauling without the help of the winch as the foot doesn't need tensioning.
 
Julian - So on your boat the system works without the need to keep the continuous loop furling line under tension. How do you prevent that line from slipping round the furling drive drum? On the boat I looked at this drum was mounted horizontally on the mast.
 
Malo37 said:
Julian - So on your boat the system works without the need to keep the continuous loop furling line under tension. How do you prevent that line from slipping round the furling drive drum? On the boat I looked at this drum was mounted horizontally on the mast.
Click to expand...

Hi

When it's unfurling, it doesn't matter if the furling line slips round the drum. When furling, the small amount of drag in the 'lazy' side of the furling line is usually sufficient, or I just feed the furler line out through my left hand while hauling it in with my right. In practice the drag comes from the fall of the line from the drum down to the deck, then the blocks it runs through to the clutch. It certainly doesn't need serious tension like, say, winching a halliard or sheet on a non-self-tailing winch.

If I remember next time I'm on the boat, I'll get some pics and post them. I was down on Thursday and I'm sorry I'm not going down again for the next two weeks.

PS I've found some existing pics and posted them - not brilliant illustrations but they show the general arrangement:

Two of my boat
http://www.flickr.com/photos/julianbw/4567060185/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/julianbw/4567061557/

One of a similar boat
http://www.flickr.com/photos/julianbw/4567062923/

On both boats the cockpit winch is hidden behind the cover.
 
I've sailed on a school boat with that arrangement and I didn't like it. One arm to keep a little tension on the outhaul. One arm to "tail" the furler. One arm to actually pull in the sail. Don't know about you, but I don't have enough arms for that.

There is another system (don't know which spar manufacturer but I've seen it on Beneteaus) where the furling line lies in a spiral groove on the furling spindle. It functions much more like a normal jib furler.

"Beneteaus"? Should that be "Beneteaux"?
 
trapezeartist said:
I've sailed on a school boat with that arrangement and I didn't like it. One arm to keep a little tension on the outhaul. One arm to "tail" the furler. One arm to actually pull in the sail. Don't know about you, but I don't have enough arms for that.

There is another system (don't know which spar manufacturer but I've seen it on Beneteaus) where the furling line lies in a spiral groove on the furling spindle. It functions much more like a normal jib furler.

"Beneteaus"? Should that be "Beneteaux"?
Click to expand...

Beneteaus usually have Sparcraft furling masts. Very very easy to use.
 
trapezeartist said:
I've sailed on a school boat with that arrangement and I didn't like it. One arm to keep a little tension on the outhaul. One arm to "tail" the furler. One arm to actually pull in the sail. Don't know about you, but I don't have enough arms for that.

There is another system (don't know which spar manufacturer but I've seen it on Beneteaus) where the furling line lies in a spiral groove on the furling spindle. It functions much more like a normal jib furler.

"Beneteaus"? Should that be "Beneteaux"?
Click to expand...

I can see you would have trouble if you needed three arms. I have only two and regularly sail by myself.

Sounds as if the system on the boat you sailed was badly designed or set up, or perhaps you weren't using it in the optimum way? If it's a two crew job to use, I can't see why anyone would put up with it.

Incidentally my last boat had slab reefing and I regularly sailed that with only two arms. So although the in-mast is easier still, I'm not suggesting for a moment that it's essential for singlehanded sailing as plainly it isn't. I was just answering a question about how it works.
 
trapezeartist said:
I've sailed on a school boat with that arrangement and I didn't like it. One arm to keep a little tension on the outhaul. One arm to "tail" the furler. One arm to actually pull in the sail. Don't know about you, but I don't have enough arms for that.

There is another system (don't know which spar manufacturer but I've seen it on Beneteaus) where the furling line lies in a spiral groove on the furling spindle. It functions much more like a normal jib furler.

"Beneteaus"? Should that be "Beneteaux"?
Click to expand...

It is ridiculous to teach sailing on a boat with in-mast reefing IMO. Too many schools are using unsuitable boats these days.

- W
 
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