Plastimo Roller-Furling

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Babylon

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I'm considering fitting roller-furling on our forestay (and having a new 120% sail made specifically for it). The Plastimo kit looks very attractive, as it fits over the exiting forestay. (Rotostay and Furlex are both supplied with dedicated forestays but cost 2-3 times as much, plus the cost/effort of fitting the new forestay.) Another advantage, it seems to me, of the Plastimo design is that if the gear fails or for any other reason, it can be removed and the existing foresail (which I'd like to keep as a backup) can be hanked back on to the stay.

Would welcome advice on the robustness of the Plastimo kit.
 
Well I had a Plastimo furler for years, and it gave no trouble at all. spares are very easy to obtain as well, and as you say it's comparitively cheap.

I think that folk who spend megabucks on expensive furlers, are probably the same sort of folk who hang polished stainless steel anchors off their bow rollers? (troll) /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I have a Plastimo 609 system on my boat and it's been on there for many years .... I've re-riveted the sections, done repairs to it .. and it still keeps on going.

It does what it's designed to do.

If you want an "upmarket" system that also uses existing forestay is the Profurl - I fitted this to a previous boat and was very happy with it. But it costs more than Plastimo.
 
Yes the Plastimo gear if fine - I fitted it to my previous boat myself and it was very easy. worked really well and I had no problems with it.

I have just fitted a Harken gear to my new boat but that was only because the Plastimo gear wouldn't match my stainless anchor and goretex fender socks /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. (Actually I was feeling flush and needed a new forestay anyway.)
 
Not heard any serious complaints about the plastimo gear.

I have looked at them fairly closely with a view to replacing my old gear (which has the halyard returning back down the spar ... not the best arrangement) but not yet got round to doing so.

One of the obvious attractions is that the turnbuckle version can be fitted over the existing forestay and bottle screw without lowering the mast.

Worth looking at the installations instructions perhaps before you buy

http://www.plastimo.com/catalogue/ftp/Plastimo/echange-ftp/PDF%20WEB/reefing/s_series_GB.pdf

If you have the mast down and/or are thinking about renewing the forestay the Chainplate version which has shorter side plates and no bottle screw may be worth considering.

A couple of observations.
If you have the mast up you have no choice really but to use the wheel type of halyard deflector on the top. Fit it properly!
BUT
If you have the mast down well worth fitting the alternative guide on the front of the mast I would say instead.

Other than the smallest they have a special bent shackle for the halyard. Use it or the halyard can foul the swivel and you can end up unscrewing the top of the swivel


Correct courtesy of Searush:

Image021-1.jpg



What can go wrong courtesy of Refueller

DSCF2106.jpg


DSCF2109.jpg


To be fair on him it was not his fault ... previous owner to blame who compounded the trouble by bug-gering up the halyard diverter wheel.


Some recent pics showing the Plastimo gear. One with the short side plates (chainplate version) and one with the bottle screw retained (turnbuckle version) Also one showing an interesting adaptation with a bottle screw below the side plates.

Click to view
 
I fitted on last autumn and found the process quite straightforward, single handed with the mast in place. The whole thing performs perfectly.
Do however make very sure of the control line angles, as this IS critical as I found out when testing the system.
 
It must be robust Charles, or else it wouldn't last like it does.
 
Correct ... the previous owner had fitted the "doughnut" to push the halyard and straight shackle away from the castellated top nut. But it was useless and had to be discarded. He'd drilled it out and it used to jam on the foil when hoisting / dropping genny.

Replacement shackle is NOT cheap !! I had to sooothe the wallet after that !

My system to make sure all works nicely is a variation on the halyard re-routed via a block on front of mast. Mine has a second line, small 6mm is enough. Reason - halyard can stay at optimum angle and lead to hoist sail up the foil right to full hoist. The second line is at serious angle to top of foil to stop halyard swivel rotating and wrapping halyard round foil ... as here can be seen :

halyardssagenny.jpg


sprit.jpg


(ignore the second headsail / sprit - that's me playing about and trying to decide if fitting a sprit / second headsail will work ...)

As to anothers comment about robustness of the system ? I hit an overhead cable a long way upriver from my house, (whoever thinks about looking UP !!) - I had to cut about 10cms out of the foil and rejoin to take out the 'crease'. No problem ... 1 year later still all ok and working fine.
 
All roller furling gears need to be fitted perfectly. The more expensive ones are a bit more tolerant of abuse. Plastimo foils tend to guillotine the rivets if the forestay is floppy. I have used roller furling for years but have never really felt confident in it since a cat I was crewing 20 years ago lost its forestay due to a jam. The top 2 inches of the forestay appeared to have been un twisted until it broke. Exactly what jammed I never found out because most of the top swivel and doughnut were lost 5 miles off portland.
 
[ QUOTE ]
All roller furling gears need to be fitted perfectly. The more expensive ones are a bit more tolerant of abuse. Plastimo foils tend to guillotine the rivets if the forestay is floppy. I have used roller furling for years but have never really felt confident in it since a cat I was crewing 20 years ago lost its forestay due to a jam. The top 2 inches of the forestay appeared to have been un twisted until it broke. Exactly what jammed I never found out because most of the top swivel and doughnut were lost 5 miles off portland.

[/ QUOTE ]

Plastimo stopped using rivets quite some time ago and is now self-tappers. Mine has rivets because it's near as ancient as the boat - mid 70's. It's working fine and no intention to change.
Further that considering that Plastimo is not only system to rivet or screw foil sections together - seems it may be a viable way of joining foils ? If not - then they are wrong as well ... doubt it.

I have seen many different makes of furling gear break, fail, jam etc. but one or two failures in the 000's in use does not mean a bad design or product. My Profurl failed after it pulled the forestay fitting out of the foredeck on previous boat - but does not mean I condemn Profurl. To the contrary I like Profurl and would have it again.


If I was to be looking at serious blue-water long-distance live-aboard and wanted reliability - I would have twin headsail / cutter yacht ... one with furling other without. Seems logical.
 
I fitted one to my first boat & was delighted with its performance over some 10 years of general neglect. I also modified the existing no2 genoa to fit to save the cost of buying a new sail.

So pleased, I put one on my Pentland over 12 years ago, again with modified genoa until a few years ago. I won't say they are perfect, but problems have generally been my own fault or poor leads and not hard to sort out.

I recognise that pic Vic!
 
[ QUOTE ]
I recognise that pic Vic!

[/ QUOTE ] So you should. It's a link to your Photobucket album. I did acknowledge that it is one of yours
Was searching for Refueller's/ sbc's pictures but delighted to find yours too.

The three pics at the end are all mine though. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
An assumption. Materials and price dictate it can't be as "fit-for-purpose" as Rotostay, Furlex or the others. Perhaps you'd conment differently if you tried using it for 3500nm a year for 15-20 years.

[/ QUOTE ]

An assumption maybe, but an assumption based on years of experience with the product. You are not the only one with a good few sea mles behind you, and I would suggest that the general concensus is against you. Price is not always the parameter of something being fit for purpose.

Plastimo furling has served very many sailors well over the years. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
An assumption. Materials and price dictate it can't be as "fit-for-purpose" as Rotostay, Furlex or the others. Perhaps you'd conment differently if you tried using it for 3500nm a year for 15-20 years.

[/ QUOTE ]

An assumption maybe, but an assumption based on years of experience with the product. You are not the only one with a good few sea mles behind you, and I would suggest that the general concensus is against you. Price is not always the parameter of something being fit for purpose.

Plastimo furling has served very many sailors well over the years. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

My wife has this fixation with Price, Name and supposed quality. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Wife convinced me to buy a particular Designer brand of shoes. Very nice - price to make UNICEF / Red Cross weep ....

They were only a few weeks into life .... was on the way to an important Client meeting ... heel fell off as I was entering their building. So there's me with mismatched shoes, a heel in hand ... and guess what - no wonder it made a hearty clack when you walked - it was hollowed out wood !! I shall refrain from naming the Designer Brand ... except to say that it was paris based !
 
I fitted a Plastimo 810S furler about a month ago and am really happy with it.
It replaces my old Rotostay which I was having big problems obtaining a replacement forestay.
I went for the Plastimo precisely because it uses a standard forestay......the fact that it is also relatively cheap was a bonus.
The Plastimo gear is manufactured to a price, but this doesn't mean that it's of poor quality, on the contrary, I think that it is very well designed and manufactured.........and I work in design and manufacturing /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I fitted it in situ which worked out to be fairly easy......just take your time........and try not to drop any screws /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I'll echo the warning about the special shackle being used......also make sure it is fitted the correct way around as I can confirm that this unscrews the assembly as per the previous photo's /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I would suggest checking everything first especially the fitting at the bow to make sure you have all the required bolts / fittings etc.

It's early day's in using it, but it seems very robust and works very well.
 
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