Plastimo 609T reviews

[weustace]

Sadly the Hood Sea Furl jib reefing system I acquired with the boat is increasingly past it: the extrusion cracked during a brief moment of idiocy in a F8 last autumn, although it is still usable for the present with enough halyard tension on; the plastic cheeks on the drum have now disintegrated, so one has to be very careful to avoid furler jams.

We had a new jib made in late 2016, which has only done one season, and I am keen to avoid changing it; therefore I am considering buying a Plastic 609T (the twin groove version) as this has the requisite 5mm luff groove. Reviews I have found are all for the single groove model; if anyone has experience of (or views about) the twin groove version (for which the extrusion design is different), please advise your views!

Regards,
William

 

[rotrax]

Sadly the Hood Sea Furl jib reefing system I acquired with the boat is increasingly past it: the extrusion cracked during a brief moment of idiocy in a F8 last autumn, although it is still usable for the present with enough halyard tension on; the plastic cheeks on the drum have now disintegrated, so one has to be very careful to avoid furler jams.

We had a new jib made in late 2016, which has only done one season, and I am keen to avoid changing it; therefore I am considering buying a Plastic 609T (the twin groove version) as this has the requisite 5mm luff groove. Reviews I have found are all for the single groove model; if anyone has experience of (or views about) the twin groove version (for which the extrusion design is different), please advise your views!

Regards,
William

As you seem short of help on this one, here goes.

Fitted a single track foil 609 to a Hunter 27 OOD. It worked well and reliably once the lead to the drum was sorted with a twist shackle-a PBO magazine tip from a clever chap. I dont think the twin foil was available at the time, so cant help with that.

However, I cant see how the foil would make much difference to the furler in use. It certainly made no difference on a Harken twin foil set up.

It might if two headsails were permanantly fitted so as to allow downwind sailing in the right wind conditions.

 

[Channel Sailor]

Hi William

No experience of Plastimo but my yacht does have a Harken twin foil furler. Based on this experience would suggest look closely at the following:

Does the tack of the sail stay close to the forestay even when the halyard is eased for light airs. On my Harken the bolt rope does not enter the foil until a little too far up. I use a short small rope around the extrusion to hold the tack close to the forestay.

Does the drum hold enough turns for a completely furled Genoa, particularly if a masthead rig with large overlapping Headsail. I have to use a not so common 7mm sized furler line on my yacht to aviod the drum jamming up.

Does the drum have a large enough diameter so you can furl or reef in any wind without having to resort to using a winch. On my previous yacht the drum was too small, quite a problem when windy.

Look very closely at measures to avoid halyard wrap problems e.g. halyard lead angle, top (try to aviod) and bottom strop lengths (if any), top bearing design and size has to be very free running.

Sail tack to deck distance. If low then visibility from helm restricted if high then potential performance reduction.

Clevis pin size on stem head fitting, it needs to be the correct size for the holes. Could be metric or imperial sizes.

The furler rolls up the same way as existing sail to ensure the UV strip remains on the outside.

Does the shackle connection at head of the sail allow the sail to roll flat enough to not expose any non UV protected sail material.

 

[weustace]

Dear both,

Many thanks for your responses; I have reviewed as many of the points you raise as feasible, and have ordered a 609T from Ocean Chandlery (née SeaTeach). My greatest concern is whether the furling is in the same sense as previously—unfortunately everything is de-rigged at present and recollection of the "correct way" is rather complicated, because the existing reefing system could easily have its furling direction reversed. I will try and remember to post on here once I have put the thing together; we will see shortly whether it works or not!

Having investigated it, I think the worst case is that it needs sail modifications, which almost any other option in my price range would require anyway...hopefully this won't be the case. I must say I do rather like the Harken gear, and have sailed with it on other yachts, but I fear it's a bit too extravagant for my budget.

Thanks again!

Regards

William