Roller boom furling

[steveh]

Our new (to us) boat has roller boom furling for the mainsail. Having read various reports about how bad the sail will set when reefed, should we ditch it and have reefing points fitted to the sail. The ability to wind the sail in the exact required amount to suit conditions looks on the face of it very useful.
Any comments please.

 

[billmacfarlane]

Steve , you sound as if you think the system might be useful . Why not try it for a season and see how you get on with it ? A season sailing with it will be worth a lot more than any opinion here. If you don't like it then you can arrange changes over the winter rather than trying to change anything at this time of the year when you'll miss out on sailing time. Suck it and see basically.

 

[halcyon]

Having had it on our Hurley 27, I thought I'll try as it's there, thought it can't be that bad, tried it again and yes it was. Luck had it that we also had slab reefing, so rapid change.
So try it, it may work on your boat, be it may not.
On the Hurley we had a oval boom with the main sheet on a horse shoe, when ever you tried to reef, the horse shoe and main sheet rolled up with the sail. The other fault was the kicker was attached to the boom, so had to be removed to furl, and could not be used in the furled state.

Brian

 

[jeanette]

Dig out a copy of Eric Hiscock's book Crising under Sail (I think). He describes boats from a different era where roller furling was the latest thing. He offers advice on its use and provides ideas about alternatives to the kicking strap.


Jeanette

 

[webcraft]

No kicking strap makes windward work difficult - which is when you are most likely to have a reef in.

You can roll a webbing strap into the sail to use as a kicker.

I have sailed quite a bit on a friend's 33ft yacht which has roller boom reefing - and I've only seen him use it once. It seems to provide him with a disincentive to reef; he keeps full sail up in conditions where I am sure he would reef if he had slab reefing. (Which he is now in the process of fitting).

But . . . try it and see - it works differently on different boats, and you might like it - and save quite a bit of money into the bargain.

- Nick

BlueMoment.Com
http://www.bluemoment.com

 

[steveh]

The boat is a Heavenly twins catamaran, so reefing is important. It does not have a kicking strap and the mainsheet and topping lift rotate on the end. Will have to give it a go and see as suggested.

 

[Guest]

Hi Steve, The old problem is not being able to tension the reefed foot of the sail when you need to depower by flattening as well as reducing the amount of sail area. A baggy reefed sail can be more of a handful than a tight, flat, full-area main.

I think I might have a Barton retrofit slab reefing kit in the shed which you can have for the postage and a donation to the RLNI... If you fit slab reefing make sure it pulls the leech reefing cringle well aft (for the above reasons) and not vertically down as it was in one boat that I bought!!

KCA

 

[PeteMcK]

Modified mine

Bought the boat (79 Moody 33) 8 - 9 yrs ago. It had done a lot of sailing up till then, with only round the boom reefing. The newish main had had been specified for slab reefing so, about three years ago, I fitted cheek blocks, cleats, and a rams-horn. Gain: we keep the kicker (for DOWNWIND, or off the wind - we don't need it upwind); the battens don't punch through the pockets when rolled tight, which was the biggest drawback and was really down to the sail's design. Loss: reefing is a messier, slower process. Neutral: apart form the loss of the kicker's effects, the sail shape was not significantly worse when rolled than we get with slab.

Bear in mind, the boat has a tiny main by today's standards, and all of it stays up to about 30 knots (but down to the working jib at the front by then). If you have a fractional rig and a big main, reefing is going to be much more frequent, and the sail setting relatively more significant.

I've a new main on the way, specified to have the battens parallel to the boom. I've figured that the hassles of a sub-optimal slab reefing arrangement aren't worth it and I'm seriously considering stripping the junk off the boom and going back to rolling. I'd need to sort out the kicker though, either by trying the webbing trick, or by making up a claw.

I'd try what you have for at least a season. It's actually quite a good arrangement.

 

[DoctorD]

Bill's advice is sound (below). You don't want to miss sailing time if you can help it. Having said that you can't beat slab reefing, and you can make it really easy on your boat, bringing everything back to the cockpit.

My neighbour in the marina has a Hunter Channel 31 and he had slab reefing at the mast (which worked fine) but he has brought it all back to the cockpit through some extra blocks and jammers he has fitted.

 

[ccscott49]

Had iot on an old Maurice Griffiths Kylix, wooden boom, Great for furling the main, not worth a shit for reefing! Try it you will see, Put slab reefing in for reefing much faster safer and more efficient, ours lasted two seasons, thenit was changed, good idea, doesn't work!

 

[Mirelle]

Good advice

I have sailed with some shockingly bad "conversions" of roller to points reefing done by owners keen to keep up with the prevailing orthodoxy. Keep it for a couple of seasons at least. Remember that as recently as the early 70's this was state of the art racing gear. It cannot be that bad!

Incidentally, I have it and like it, but my boat is a biggish gaff cutter, which roller reefing suits well.

 

[Gordonmc]

Linked question

I am in a similar position... a new set of sails with full battens and slab reefing points on a roller boom.
Would be happy to have a go with the roller (no kicking strap anyway) but I have no clue whatsoever about what happens to the mast sliders and batten carriages. Do they have to be taken out of the mast slot and fed back in when the sail is unrolled?
Seems a messy business, or is there a blindingly obvious solution I have missed?

 

[ccscott49]

Re: Linked question

Yes they have to be removed from the mast track and No, there's nothing blindingly obvious you have missed.

 

[janie]

We've sailed with ours for 7 years, with no obvious loss of speed when racing with reefed main - occasionally we use the claw, but marginal difference - we can control most of the shape with halyard, outhaul and mainsheet track.
Benefits when sailing with just two, or when the engine's not working (and all the control of area you talk about), are wonderful. The only reason we'd consider changing is so that we can get some roach into the main for racing.
It definitely depends what you want to do with your boat. Having borrowed a friend's boat for family holiday when engine not working, slab reefing is much more difficult when short handed.

 

[chas]

I am quite happy with my roller reefing. The only disadvantage I have come across is that it is sometimes difficult to operate if, for some reason, you need to reef with the boom out to port or starboard. My main is also made up for slab reefing but 9 times out of 10 I roll it!

 

[Guest]

On our Hurley 22, we have roller reefing, our main sheet is attached to the end of the boom on a rotating plate, so doesn't roll up with the sail, plus our kicking strap is located on the boom with a claw type connection with rollers. Works very well when there is only one of you to reef, where as slab reefing is heavy going for one. when none of the lines go back to the cockpit. One negative is that it doesn't seem right to have rollers which run over your brand new sail.

I would agree with giving a try for a season or too to determine how often you need it.