What kind of roller-furling to use with a twinluff groove?

[Boreades]

Our old Beneteau 32s5 is one of the very few yachts in our marina that does not have a roller-furling genoa. Although my children are now quite keen crew, they're not strong enough to hoist or handle the #1 or #2 genoas. So I'm thinking of adding a roller-furling genoa (after all these years).

Has anyone any experience of converting a twinluff setup, or advise on what gear is the most suitable?

Thanks in advance.

 

[sailorman]

Our old Beneteau 32s5 is one of the very few yachts in our marina that does not have a roller-furling genoa. Although my children are now quite keen crew, they're not strong enough to hoist or handle the #1 or #2 genoas. So I'm thinking of adding a roller-furling genoa (after all these years).

Has anyone any experience of converting a twinluff setup, or advise on what gear is the most suitable?

Thanks in advance.

we have a Harken now some 11 seasons trouble free

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Our old Beneteau 32s5 is one of the very few yachts in our marina that does not have a roller-furling genoa. Although my children are now quite keen crew, they're not strong enough to hoist or handle the #1 or #2 genoas. So I'm thinking of adding a roller-furling genoa (after all these years).

Has anyone any experience of converting a twinluff setup, or advise on what gear is the most suitable?

Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve but my Plastimo furler has twin grooves.
I must admit that I have no idea why anyone would want twin grooves on a furler which is on a boat with only one halliard. Maybe somebody can explain?

 

[dt4134]

I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve but my Plastimo furler has twin grooves.
I must admit that I have no idea why anyone would want twin grooves on a furler which is on a boat with only one halliard. Maybe somebody can explain?

Dual use. Take the family sailing one weekend with a furling headsail. Race the next with a full suite of laminates. Often that sort of boat has below-deck furling gear. Single halyard was probably cost cutting.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

My Plastimo has is the twin version; have never used it with a twin headsail, but never had any problems with it

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Dual use. Take the family sailing one weekend with a furling headsail. Race the next with a full suite of laminates. Often that sort of boat has below-deck furling gear. Single halyard was probably cost cutting.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks. I've often wondered.

 

[angelsson]

Our old Beneteau 32s5 is one of the very few yachts in our marina that does not have a roller-furling genoa. Although my children are now quite keen crew, they're not strong enough to hoist or handle the #1 or #2 genoas. So I'm thinking of adding a roller-furling genoa (after all these years).

Has anyone any experience of converting a twinluff setup, or advise on what gear is the most suitable?

Thanks in advance.

Love my profurl, great bit of kit.

 

[barnaclephill]

Alado make twin grooved headsail furlers, and their blurb says it's for "ALADO has self-contained double halyard sheaves to allow fast sail changes and downwind sailing with twin genoas."
Here: www.alado.com Prices on the website say inclusive of freight and import duties (to Europe), it'll cost you USD$ 1220 for a 40-foot forestay system. They have no halyard wrap issues, as the halyard(s) come back down the forestay.
I've had mine 8 years and very satisfied with it.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

I have a Facnor that also has twin grooves. I have replaced the hanks on my old genoa with a luff tape so that I could use the second groove. I only use it when doing a long downwind leg, eg, during a passage. The second genny is only hoisted when the first one is already up. For a halyard I use the one that is meant for the asymmetric. One of the two sails is poled out and the mainsail is not used at all. I find that this arrangement provides the same downwind drive as a spinnaker but without any noticeable rolling. Luffing up in an emergency simply causes the windward sail to collapse over the other one. The only 'problem' is that you need to drop the second sail before you can roll up the first.

I have also thought of using the same swivel for both sails, adding a pendant or strop as necessary. This would retain the possibility of rolling up both sails in one go, at least theoretically, but I have not tried it out yet.

 

[minkysailing]

Our old Beneteau 32s5 is one of the very few yachts in our marina that does not have a roller-furling genoa. Although my children are now quite keen crew, they're not strong enough to hoist or handle the #1 or #2 genoas. So I'm thinking of adding a roller-furling genoa (after all these years).

Has anyone any experience of converting a twinluff setup, or advise on what gear is the most suitable?

Thanks in advance.

I think what you are asking is how to convert your existing twin luff to a furling system using a drum. I suspect that unless the twin luff is of a certain make and is interchangeable with a furling system of the same make, then I suspect you will need to replace the existing twin luff and install a complete furling system. In this regard many on the market come with twin luff groove on the foils.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Contact Seldon who offer the Furlex systems. As far as I can tell the twin foil on my system is no different from a twin foil on a standard forestay arrangement. I may be wrong but dimensionally they do look identical. At the end of the day the foil is just an aluminium extrusion with tensile forces taken by the tack and head attached to the furling drum or swivel respectively i.e. there is no reason for the furling foil to be special.

The existing forestay may be suitable as the furling forestay will be shorter by the drum fixing points between deck and forestay. Occasionally systems can be bought second hand.

This Google Search indicates that existing foils are converted to furling systems. I have not looked through the searches, just the search summary.

 

[KellysEye]

<>Has anyone any experience of converting a twinluff setup, or advise on what gear is the most suitable?

If you just want to fly one sail a twin groove foil doesn't matter, just use one groove. However it does have a benfit, it allows you to fly twin headsails down wind which is much easier/safer than a spinnaker for a family crew, you can easily furl it to any wind strength. You can also overlap them if sailing upwind but not reaching. If you intend to use it a lot a twin pole, with hinge, Twistle rig is the way to go, it cuts down rolling. We used a Twistle rig over the Atlantic and it works very well. Don't worry about sail shape two old matched sails will suffice.

When we were in the Caribbean we asked a number of riggers which furling gear they have to repair least. The yellow jersey went to Furlex, which given they are the largest sellers came as a surprise. Harken gear is mainly used on racing yachts, it doen't like to furled with pressure on the sail.

 

[Georgio]

<>Harken gear is mainly used on racing yachts, it doen't like to furled with pressure on the sail.

Absolutly not true, a lot of the development may have come from the racing side but Harken kit is just as suited to cruising.

My advice - Go buy a Harken Mk IV furler, fit it and then enjoy one of the best furlers you can get (in my oppinion).

If you want to save a few £'s they also do a single slot version, marketed as the cruising version but I believe they are functionally identical apart from the foil extrusion.

 

[Pagetslady]

The Furlex has two groves and the furling drum is very easily removed so that the foil can be used for different jibs etc and I guess one jib can be hoisted before the one in use is lowered. I have a Furlex 300 and although I have not used it without the furler it has done many sailing miles over the past 11 years.I have hoisted two genoa's using a block attached to the first genoa head and a halyard to haul the second sail up then made off at the foot on the furler drum, this makes it possible to furl both together, I only have one pole so poled out one and used the main boom to hold out the other, not really very good but it was just an experiment in light winds.
regards Mike

 

[KellysEye]

>Absolutly not true, a lot of the development may have come from the racing side but Harken kit is just as suited to cruising.

I mentioned that I asked riggers in the Caribbean which furling gear they had to repair least, Harken came nowhere near the Yellow jersey because of replacing the broken ballbearings, which I was told were carbon. I was also told it was caused by reefing a heavily loaded sail. However if you don't sail in heavy weather (which racing sailors do) I would assume you won't have a problem. There are a lot of big racing regattas in the Caribbean so they should know what they are talking about.

 

[Boathook]

<>Has anyone any experience of converting a twinluff setup, or advise on what gear is the most suitable?

If you just want to fly one sail a twin groove foil doesn't matter, just use one groove. However it does have a benfit, it allows you to fly twin headsails down wind which is much easier/safer than a spinnaker for a family crew, you can easily furl it to any wind strength. You can also overlap them if sailing upwind but not reaching. If you intend to use it a lot a twin pole, with hinge, Twistle rig is the way to go, it cuts down rolling. We used a Twistle rig over the Atlantic and it works very well. Don't worry about sail shape two old matched sails will suffice.

When we were in the Caribbean we asked a number of riggers which furling gear they have to repair least. The yellow jersey went to Furlex, which given they are the largest sellers came as a surprise. Harken gear is mainly used on racing yachts, it doen't like to furled with pressure on the sail.

I have a furlex. No problem so since 1998.