Top Down Furler for Spinnaker

[cabin boy]

Hi hoping some one can help, I have been looking at top down furlers for a way to fly a spinnaker when short handed. The videos make it look really easy! I have a symmetric spinnaker already, has anyone had any joy in using this sail on a top down furling system or do you need to invest in asymmetric?

 

[Tranona]

Welcome to the forum.

Won't work with a symmetric as one side has to be fixed to the torque rope, so has to be asymmetric. Whole range of different types of asymmetric available depending on what you are hoping to achieve.

Subject covered in reasonable depth in this month's issue of PBO. - or on regular threads here. Also worth looking on the websites of sailmakers as most provide information on the principles of dfferent types of sails and handling.

 

[Dave100456]

Welcome to the forum.

Won't work with a symmetric as one side has to be fixed to the torque rope, so has to be asymmetric. Whole range of different types of asymmetric available depending on what you are hoping to achieve.

Subject covered in reasonable depth in this month's issue of PBO. - or on regular threads here. Also worth looking on the websites of sailmakers as most provide information on the principles of dfferent types of sails and handling.

Whilst I agree with you that a symmetric won’t work successfully on a furler, you’re not correct when you say that .. “as one side has to be fixed to the torque rope.” On a top down furler the luff is free flying from the torque rope.

 

[Tranona]

Whilst I agree with you that a symmetric won’t work successfully on a furler, you’re not correct when you say that .. “as one side has to be fixed to the torque rope.” On a top down furler the luff is free flying from the torque rope.

That is semantics. The luff is still straight and in some cases (such as the Crusader system) the sail is actually attached to the torque rope, as are gennakers, but perhaps I should have been clearer by saying that the tack is fixed.

 

[ip485]

I have this sytem on a reasonably large yacht (55 foot) with an asymetric.

In case you decide on an asymetric, it works really well and makes the handling easy.

A few thoughts;

1. On a yacht of my size, the whole tackle is relatively heavy. It can be handled by one, but there are two chunky pieces of metal (top and bottom) swinging around, and since you will almost certainly need a short bowsprit, it is a reach to attach the furler. (You would not want to leave the whole system in place on passage),
2. It is surprising just how much furling the continuous line requires. The previous poster is correct the clews fly free and it takes a fair amount of furling to build up enough tension in the "rubber" for the clews to catch, then plenty of furling to recover the sail. I use a Lewmar 55 power winch - it could be done by hand, but it would be a pretty good work out and slow.
3. The whole system can be managed by one person, two a lot easier, but I guess with mine being a pretty large sail, you could easily run into some interesting issues, and for that reason I limit use with two up to 20knots.
4. It would be a great deal easier with a smaller yacht because everything would be a lot more manageable, but any sail of my size takes some effort and is on the limit when it comes to a spinnacker for two people.

On the whole a great system however. Is it better than a conventional snuffer - well yes, it probably is, but then with the advantages and disadvantages of a asymetric.

 

[SimonP85]

We have a Bamar Roll Gen:

http://www.bamar.it/en/products/rlg-evo/

As mentioned the whole assembly is quite cumbersome and a little heavy to rig but certainly not beyond the capability of one person provided it's been stowed in such a way that it can be hoisted and not tangle etc... I tend to stow it so that the head and tack are easy to get out of the bag so can be attached to the bowsprit and halyard and then the rest hoisted out of the bag keeping things tidy.

The first furl can take a while to start as the tension builds so you have to be a little patient and not panic as I first did thinking it wasn't doing anything. A good system though overall.