Which furling gear?

[NormanS]

My present jib furling gear on a 36ft ketch is a Rotostay, and while it works fairly well, it is getting on, and I have had some problems with it. I am contemplating fitting a new furler, and would like to have the benefit of the wisdom and experience of the people here.
What would you recommend? And which would you reject?
Thanks in advance.

 

[pvb]

I think you get what you pay for. I'd look at Harken and Selden.

 

[Boo2]

My present jib furling gear on a 36ft ketch is a Rotostay, and while it works fairly well, it is getting on, and I have had some problems with it. I am contemplating fitting a new furler, and would like to have the benefit of the wisdom and experience of the people here.
What would you recommend? And which would you reject?

Only from what I've read and not through personal experience, I would be looking at the continuous line furling systems from Sailspar. I believe the maximum forestay length these support is 15.5 meters, would that be enough for you ?

Stop all those pesky issues with how tight to roll the line on the drum anyway,

Boo2

 

[nimbusgb]

I removed the dead, 25 year old Goiot and replaced it with a Selden Fulrlex ( 208s ) on my 38' benne last season after asking the same question here.

Furlex gets consistently good reviews in terms of reliability and maintainability and is backed by one of the big names in rigging.

BTW I did the job myself including cutting and fitting the new forestay. The instructions were superb. Within weeks of fitting it I got caught out in 40 kts and it's all still together

 

[merlin3688]

+ 1 for Furlex, go to the boat show and you may get a discount, 10% is normally on offer. Allspars or one of the popular sailmakers will be able to help you. If you have a Rotostay your luff will be larger then any new gear so a sail maker may be able to offer you a package for either a new sail and gear or to change the the bolt rope to a smaller size and gear.

 

[Rossynant]

Rotostay was a good piece, if not so efficient, unless it's not the oldest model is worth repairing if still can be. I am going to this (gear close to 30 years, worn on bearings) as its better constructed then is now common, but buying another at the same time
Simplest is best. Like the idea of halyard on the gear itself (not to the mast) as this avoids some problems.
Any other comment I can make is to keep away from those with metal bearings relying on greases for lubrication, complicated with lots of small parts, and such.

Harken was nice, Furlex I'd say close second - but I am not current with newest models. Harken is fitted over existing forestay with no hassle IIRC.

Continuous line - maybe good as less messy, but technical problems in long run. Still newer models may be improved - this will show in years to come...

 

[sailorman]

My present jib furling gear on a 36ft ketch is a Rotostay, and while it works fairly well, it is getting on, and I have had some problems with it. I am contemplating fitting a new furler, and would like to have the benefit of the wisdom and experience of the people here.
What would you recommend? And which would you reject?
Thanks in advance.

Harken or Harken
mine is now 12 yrs trouble free

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Go for the Rolls Royce of furlers.... Schaefer...

 

[sailorman]

Go for the Rolls Royce of furlers.... Schaefer...

I thought you were going to say Reckman

 

[Rossynant]

Do You mean carbon gears? Nice, but somehow metal and generally heavier stuff keeps longer, like russian tank producer put this: bends, not breaks

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Go for the Rolls Royce of furlers.... Schaefer...

or for the reliable Plastimo furler

 

[AndrewB]

On the advice of this forum I fitted a Facnor, which was significantly cheaper than other makes. It wasn't really tough enough for full-time ocean cruising, and gave up (lower bearing worn out) after 5 years of good service. On the whole I thought that wasn't too bad, and would be happy to buy one again for a weekend yacht.

 

[VicS]

Rotostay was a good piece, if not so efficient, unless it's not the oldest model is worth repairing if still can be. I am going to this (gear close to 30 years, worn on bearings) as its better constructed then is now common, but buying another at the same time
Simplest is best. Like the idea of halyard on the gear itself (not to the mast) as this avoids some problems.
Any other comment I can make is to keep away from those with metal bearings relying on greases for lubrication, complicated with lots of small parts, and such.

Harken was nice, Furlex I'd say close second - but I am not current with newest models. Harken is fitted over existing forestay with no hassle IIRC.

Continuous line - maybe good as less messy, but technical problems in long run. Still newer models may be improved - this will show in years to come...

Causes a bow string effect though that limits the luff tension. You also end up with a 2 part halyard because when the sail is up there is no place to coil away the tail .

Mine has the halyard running back down the spar. If I were to have to replace it the new one would have the halyard coming back down the mast.

 

[Rossynant]

Yup, good point.
Getting a good tensions is not as easy, true. This may be a problem with some sail, haven't notice though. Interestingly there is bigger diameter luff rope on the sail, bigger and tougher profile too. So there is no problem with getting proper tension and once set it stays OK. This for my Rotostay, models were a few.
But for some new gear it was too much, luff line of my genoa wouldn't fit. This shows that a sail itself should be taken into consideration when selecting the gear type. Sorry, can't recall which make this was that my sail couldn't fit in but luff diameters are given usually and standard - maybe OP should check this with his sail, just in case...

Don't know what the OP has, but he already has a roller. Saving some money is - well - practical for boat owner
On mine it's two part halyard, indeed - wire. Not so convenient for taking he sail down in a hurricane - the tail of halyard is stowed on the gear, no problem with that, but it's thin necessarily and hardly any excess length; the work must be done on the very bows.
For big genoa like 150% being the only foresail - yes, good tension is important, some are too elastic and need adjustment (or some halyards are stretchy) and this should be taken into consideration.

Sorry, VicS, You probably noticed I'am biased - forgive me the notion that most important quality for deck gear is it should not fail when hard times come
I'am also devoted reader of Your posts and advise here - many thanks

 

[cmedsailor]

Facnor SD version could just be fine.
Quite simple to instal and to maintain.

 

[wilkinsonsails]

I have a sailspar gear which has been excellent and I recommend these to our clients.No probs in 20 yrs.They are British too.
More than I can say for Plastimo ,and Rotostay ( no longer available now).
Furlex we have replaced due to being worn out,well made gears provided the correct one is fitted.Had probs with the drums breaking due to misuse.
Schaefer .Harken also good gear..
Facnor been called out to deal with line jams and parting joints.In fact during the course rounding the Fastnet was drilling and tapping the button joint on one .
Cindy

 

[NPMR]

I asked this question some years ago. I got lots of responses and sorted them out into two groups - those who said theirs was good and those with reportrd problems.

The only furler that reported NO PROBLEMS out of any of the respondees was Pro Furl. That's what I bought about 5 years ago and it,too, has been completely trouble free.

 

[NormanS]

Thanks for all the responses. Quite a lot to think about here. In this instance price is probably not the main decider. What I need is a unit which will not let me down in the often boisterous conditions that we meet on the West Coast. You have suggested the main candidates, and I thank you all for that.