marcot
Well-Known Member
I have a Selden hydraulic furling main.
Anyone experienced furling in high winds?
Anyone experienced furling in high winds?
In mast hydraulic furling
- Thread starter marcot
- Start date
WoodyP
Well-Known Member
I had a very unpleasant experience in May crossing Biscay when the Hydraulic (Reckmann) system for the headsail broke beyond repair and we could not reduce the jib sail in a force 8, and the Mainsail gearbox leaked oil all over the deck and mast area. There was nothing we could do but luckily managed to set a course for a Ria just north of Vigo, went round and round in circles to roll the headsail up and managed to anchor for the night.
The trip ended by motoring back to Coruna where the headsail had to come off first followed by the Forestay, followed by hacksawing off the furler to return it to makers.
If the Mainsail had not furled as well it would have been even more unpleasant. The skipper did not have charts for the area, and relied on the new Raymarine touch screen chartplotter, which objected to getting wet.
Dont mention the fact that the windex went titzup, and the compass was US.
If it is small enough to be manually handled then don't go to complicate things. IMHO
KISS.
Regards,
G.
The trip ended by motoring back to Coruna where the headsail had to come off first followed by the Forestay, followed by hacksawing off the furler to return it to makers.
If the Mainsail had not furled as well it would have been even more unpleasant. The skipper did not have charts for the area, and relied on the new Raymarine touch screen chartplotter, which objected to getting wet.
Dont mention the fact that the windex went titzup, and the compass was US.
If it is small enough to be manually handled then don't go to complicate things. IMHO
KISS.
Regards,
G.
wklein
Well-Known Member
You need to be extremely careful with it, you have an awful lot of power and won't have any feel until something breaks.
ghostlymoron
Well-Known Member
I have a profound distrust in any in-mast or behind mast furling. No doubt new ones are better engineered than the originals but they have many draw backs. For a start you can't have horizontal battens so sailing will be less efficient plus there's always a chance that they're going to jam a critical time leaving you more or less sail than you want. Keep reefing as simple as possible horns at the front and pennants at the back. I was out on a friends boat the other day, forecast was 5 - 6 increasing. I suggested putting a reef in before leaving harbour, the skipper over ruled me saying we can easily reef from the cockpit. When the wind reached F7 we eventually reefed but it took half an hour to winch down fore and aft pennants and skip had to go for'ard anyway to ease the sail down it's track. Make sure that everything runs free.
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fuss
Well-Known Member
I have a hood stoway hydraulic system... To furl in 35kts
Bow into wind and press button...
Watch it intently keep slight tension on the out haul and do not make any folds.
I love it, however I also like a little risk and I also like fixing things, so I loved the challenge of having it all work smooth as silk.
However, that's only after me fiddling with it and reconfiguring the hydraulic pump flow rates and pressure settings and other fine tuning.
The hood system was one of the best systems in its day.
Another tip is to make sure you furl it the smoother less angled way onto the foil... What I mean by this is that the boom is normally more to port or starboard... So make sure the sail is not doing a sharp turn through the mast groove before making its turn onto the foil.
In mast furling is for owners with good mechanical ability who like their boats systems functioning at 100% , and who have deep knowledge of all their boats systems' fixing most things themselves.... in my opinion
I should also add that it originally would only furl away when the wind was under 15kts... v dangerous!!
The first thing I bought for my boat was a mechanical override for emergencies... That was 8 years ago.
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marcot
Well-Known Member
Thank's Fuss. Where did yuo buy the mechanical override? Was it from Hood?
wilkinsonsails
Well-Known Member
For quite a few years I have never felt happy going to sea with hydraulic reefing .Last month sailed back to the UK from St Lucia on a Discovery 55 .
The main furling was a Selden custom system which proved excellent ,in spite of slight miss use !
It was a fairly full on windward passage and the reefing was carefully carried out to a drastic degree,only once not furling well.
This was when the out haul release was lagging behind ,so our fault.
Is particulary important to make sure that the sail was eased sufficiently for the drive to work.It did struggle if inexperienced users pressed buttons in the wrong order.!
Cindy
The main furling was a Selden custom system which proved excellent ,in spite of slight miss use !
It was a fairly full on windward passage and the reefing was carefully carried out to a drastic degree,only once not furling well.
This was when the out haul release was lagging behind ,so our fault.
Is particulary important to make sure that the sail was eased sufficiently for the drive to work.It did struggle if inexperienced users pressed buttons in the wrong order.!
Cindy
fuss
Well-Known Member
Yes, the mechanical override was part of the hood system, but it was missing from mine when I bought the boat.
I dont know the Selden system but I would think that it has a mechanical override for safety.
Jamesuk
Well-Known Member
The only problem with the furling system is when you need to furl when the sail is on the stbd side. We will furl the headsail start the engine and come up into the wind.
I know I know I know, for sure not a racing boat but it's cringe worthy pulling the battens around the lip even as they are on the port side of the sail.
I've furled in 45 knots.