Replacing my Genoa roller reefing gear. Opinions please.

castaway

castaway

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My old Colnbrook Seareef gear is on its last legs and is probably at least 25years old.

Has any one got any recomendations and good /bad points to look for when I go out shopping?

The boat is 36ft and the forestay is about 41ft. Any input on performance, durability, price, suppliers and of course deals/discounts etc. all welcome!

Thanks Nick
 
We have a Sailspar continuous line system. Works well, not too expensive and nice helpful people to do business with
 
Furlex was our replacement for the same gear you have. We have found it a great improvement for the 5 years since we installed the Furlex. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I replaced my old Colnebrook with a Sailspar reefing gear. Luff is 40 ft sail area 350 squ ft.
Advantage is that you have less gubbins at tack of jib, so anchor handling is easier etc. Also more control of amount of sail reefed, not so reliant on reefing line strength.
They are also very helpful people to deal with. Very useful if technically challenged.
 
I also can recommend Sailspar at Brightlingsea. An advantage is that you have an endless reefing line(no lots of line cluttering up the cockpit), which will need to be measured and spliced endless with a snatch block at the stern end. Also fit a clutch on the reefing side and all you do is pull!
Saying that, my current boat has a Rotostay which works well, but with lots of string in the cockpit!
 
Which ever gear you buy, just make sure it isn't a 200 series Furlex.

I had two fail in 12 months, with identical faults. The second one was fitted by Selden USA's favorite rigger.

Fault 1: There is a discrepency between the English and the Swedish instructions: This leaves an English furler with a 3" gap between the jointing sections at the top, This fault neatly stops the top swivel from sliding down the foil. You have to go up the rig and unshackle the sail......

The cure is to spend a morning up the rig fitting it all back together again and then pin it with grub screws.

Fault 2: At the bottom end the entire torque load is taken by a bit of plastic and 2 torx screws. Given half a chance the torx screws will work loose and allow the foil to drop down and jam against the lower bearing unit. Not fun I had to rebuild one on these whilst 1000 miles out in the Atlantic. Also the torx screws make a right mess of the foil as they are not properly threaded together.

Cure 2: Take apart, apply Duralac and Locktite, plus self amalgamating tape for good luck.

After the second one failed I had extensive correspondence with Selden Sweden; they didn't want to know. I was going to take the whole issue up with Selden UK, but I sold the boat in the Azores on the way home.

You pays your money and you takes your choice. Personally I'd find out which are the favorite gears in the Vendee Globe, Route de Rhum etc. Their furlers must not fail.
 
I got a profurl system last year after a bit of research and I've not regretted it. Key issues for me were longevity / reputation amongst the community and the ability to replace the forestay without having to return to the manufacturer of the furler (on some systems the forestay is integrated with the furler).
A useful additon at the time was that Seateach (Emsworth) were selling off some Profurl systems at a v. good discount. Aftersales service from Seateach was pretty lousy ('oh, you are missing some bits, that's not out problem, I suggest you talk to the UK importer'), but the UK importer for Profurl sorted the issue very competently
 
My Furlex works well and I've no complaints about that ,but it was an absolute pain to install myself as it is engineered to very close tolerances and there is very little room for any variations even of a few millimetres in getting the forestay length right.
 
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