Which Furling system

[david_e]

I need a system that will allow the fitting of a cruising foresail in the first instance, and later allow me to fit a number 3 for racing. Currently the boat has a twin groove luff foil.

Am I correct in thinking that a removable drum is the type of system I need and are they easy to take on and off? Is there a variety of different foils that can be used with this arrangement? Any other useful tips appreciated.

 

[Chris_Stannard]

If you wish to be able to take the foot of the No1 genoa down to the deck then you need a split drum, and the only one I know of is Harken and is expensive. I did discuss, with a sailmaker friend the possibility of having sail with a slot to allow the drum to stay in place but SHMBO stopped me racing before I got round to it. The major problem with this was putting strengthening in to keep the luff tight. I currently have a boat with a Selden furler and it has twin grooves. I know that Z Spars also do twin grooves with their system. I sometimes go out with a No3 furler up and if the weather is not too bad I shift to a No1.

hope you find something

Chris Stannard

 

[david_e]

Thanks Chris, since posting have had a look at the Profurl site and they do a range that accomodates racing/cruising set ups. I am trying to get away from the floppiness that a furler has when beating in a blow and with some reefs taken in.

 

[kdf]

Most furlers have split drums these days. You could try Harken but they are at the top end of the scale. Also try Profurl - theirs is again at the high end but a little less expensive. Schaeffer from the US, Nemo from italy (too big a section for racing) You've also got the French Facnor system which is failry good and very reasonably priced.

 

[Boathook]

Selden do a split drum for those alternating between cruising and racing along with twin groves etc.

 

[david_e]

Have found out Selden is the one.

 

[tome]

My Furlex also has a split drum

 

[david_e]

What is involved in converting from furling to forestay. Is it a simple and quick task or best left to professionals? Does the mast require additional support whilst doing the task or could you jury rig something with, say, a spare halyard?

 

[kdf]

Ease off the cap shrouds and the backstay, kicker (vang) and mainsheet. Take a spare halyard, attach it to the tack plate and crank the mask forward a couple of inches. This will give you slack in the forstay and allow you to push on the sections. Check that the fitting on the lower end of your forestay will slide through the sections of the foill - it they wont then you will need to get a new fitting.

 

[tome]

Conversion is simple (I'm told - I heven't yet tried). The drum is removed by undoing some screws and separating the 2 halves, so it's definitely not a job to do in a seaway. There's no need to provide any additional support as the drum is not part of the forestay tensioning system.

With the drum removed, the top swivel is brought down to the bottom of the foil and the twin foils and halyard are then used to bend on normal sails. Note that this is only necessary because the max luff of the furling sails is shorter than conventional sails. If your conventional sails were cut shorter, they could be set up on the furling gear without removing the drum, although you wouldn't want to do this if racing

 

[ccscott49]

With my furlex, you do not need to unscrew anything to remove the drum, just prise the two halfs apart and thats it, off! twin grooves aswell. For downwind sailing, I now just set two sails "flying" tacked down to each side of my bow roller, with their own dedicated halyards and leave the furling yankee in place along with the drum. But I guess you would want the strength and stiffness of the forestay, for your genny.

 

[bedouin]

I was looking at furling systems at SBS last month. As others have pointed out most furling systems other than the bottom of the range allow you to tack a sail down to the deck, either by having a split drum or in at least one case by simply having a slit in the drum to accommodate the luff of the genoa.

However IMHO it is only necessary for maximising the luff length when using a #1 genoa - with a #3 then the loss in luff length is not significant.

I think I am also right in saying that even with a split drum you still lose luff length (about a foot) when compared to hanked on sails since the furling gear doesn't hoist to the top of the stay.

 

[david_e]

Thanks to all, have learnt quite a bit here. Will get a better insight when I see the proposed system on Thursday. On my last boat racing in a blow was poor because the furled headsail slopped around alot losing ground to windward despite trying the cars in all different positions. The plan is to get good quality cruising sails for the most part and a No 3 for the times I need it, which will tend to be quite alot where we are. As long as it is stiff it should suffice, not hell bent on winning so the ultimate size is not mega important at present. Of course this is a compromise situation as usual!