Roller Furling

[botelerr]

I'm thinking about roller furling for my 1984  19 , Got a quote from Sailrite for $678 using my existing head sail .. others in our marina have been happy with them .. Any commets or recommendations of other sources?? Used unit cheap?

[botelerr]

Thanks , I sent them a email to get details. I'll do some work to save money. Thinking of pulling the 19 in the next couple of weeks , so the sail can get sent in for furling and be back by spring,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, St Louis is getting a little cool .

[Bob23]

   I have a CDI furler on my 23. She came with it so I've never sailer her without it. It's great to be able to reduce or roll up the sail easily if the going gets rough. I've had no problems with the furler in the 4 years I've owned the ship. Highly recommended.
  Bob23

[Craig Weis]

Yep they are the best. Harkin '00' came with my boat. Works great.
skip.

[David V.]

If your interested, I just put a Furling Genoa up for sale on EBay. I bought it this spring and used it only three times. I have a Com-Pac 19 also, and use it as a daysailor, usually only for afternoons. My rigging time with the hank on jib is about 20 minutes, but with the furler it's closer to 45-50 minutes, much to long for the way I use the boat. Therefore the whole system will be sold. If you are interested just check EBay/Motors/Boat Parts/ Sailing Gear. I paid $550.00 for the sail and am hoping for somewhere in the low $300's. If you have any questions you can email me at Daval49@Yahoo.com. If you are located in the Northeast, the furler is also for sail, but difficult to ship. Let me know - you can't beat my prices.

David

[Bob Condon]

David,

Can you explain the diffeerence in time between furler and hank on rigging?
I only have a furler, it is one pin (as with a hank on) and then to string the furler line.

Raising the sail on the furler versus the forestay is also a similar operation (hank on versus plastic extruded tube).

. You could also just leave the sail wrapped on the furler and cover during transport.. Just curious where the
difference in time is...

Bob

[Craig Weis]

Good question. I see no difference 'tween raising the stick with a fuler on as opposed to a fwd stay with a sail that needs to be hanged-on.

With the furler why not just roll up the head sail, pull the furler pin and walk the stick down? The sail has the UV strip? What more sail cloth protection is needed? You can 'get to' the pin with the sail on right? On mine I can.

To be fair, I only put the stick up once a season and down in the snow. I have not had snow yet.

And I'm not sure if your selling the sail, the furler, or both to get her.

skip.

[David V.]

It surprised me too, that there would be such a difference. However in order to keep the furler straight, it needs to be supported every few feet along the mast while  in transit or whenever the mast is down. (Which is most of the time for a trailer sailor) If not supported, the furler ( CDI in this case, made of dense plastic ) will sag at each point that it hangs from on the mast, particularly when sitting in the hot sun. All the additional supports mean more straps to attach or remove at launch time. The furler line and jib sheets need to be carefully controlled in tansit, more straps or knots to tie. Additionally, raising the mast with the furler and sail added another 20 or so pounds to raising the mast, changing a job that I do myself from an awkward but doable job into a nervracking and potentially hazardous one. Using a gin pole just added much to much time to the process. As much as I liked the convenience of the furler while sailing, it isn't worth the rigging hassles to me.

The Furling Genoa is currently for sail on EBay and the furler will go up for sail when I figure out how to package it.

David

[Bob Condon]

I understand.

I do it all a bit differently but it is quick.

In transit, I take the furler line and just wrap it down the entire mast and furler together to support the
furler.

When raising and lowering the mast, I use the halyard under the bow spur to help me hold the mast
on the way up and down... explanation. I set up the mast, I cleat off the main sail halyard to the mast and
run the other end end of the halyard up to the bow and under the bow spur . I lift the mast to my shoulder,  and pull the halyard tight, next push the mast up to near vertical, and pull in halyard so the mast is being supported in the upright position with the halyard. Pull halyard tight, place furler into front chain plate and pin, release halyard and done.

I am not sure if there are different masts, but the 1984 is not that heavy and I have never used a gin pole.

The lowering of the mast is also true: Loosen backstay, Pull halyard tight, unpin the furler, now move back to cockpit, start to feel the halyard so the mast starts coming down. Be ready to catch the mast once past 45 degrees cuz itsa coming.
Set mast on back rail, unpin at mast base, put the furler on top the mast, and taker furler line and wrap from the base of the mast as high as you want to wrap to support the furler.

[Craig Weis]

The furler; Let her sag but not kink when down. It won't care.
skip.

[David V.]

Using the furler line is an obvious solution that never crossed my mind. However what I don't understand is how you got the furler  to behave. The furler I was using is a CDI FF 4, granted it is about 25% heavier than necessary (the price was exceptional), but whenever the mast went up or down, the furler, with sail would pull either over the port or starboard bow. The results being that the mast and rigging would all head in the same direction. The whole situation definitely felt unstable to me. Anyway, the last time I tried this, using the halyard much the same way you do, I stopped the mast in the 45 degree position so I could climb off the cabin roof and catch the mast and the mast pulled to the side. I didn't loose it, but it did go far enough to pop two off the screws holding the tabernacle down out of the fiberglass. Since then I have replaced all the screws with SS bolts through the roof, but the whole episode certainly made me rethink using the furler.

By the way, for anyone who decides to replace the screws holding down the roof, remove the support post first. When drilling down through the roof I thought ether I would drill into the top of the post or miss it. There is unfortunately a third option. Drilling down and half hitting the post, creating a whole new project. I ended up using a router and creating grooves on the post and using SS cap nuts to cover the bolt ends. The whole thing actually looks like the factory did it. Certainly more work than I had planned on.

Skip, it sounded like you were saying don't worry about the sagging, however my experience was the the bends left in the furler showed up in the shape of the sail. And I must sail I was definitely not impressed with thel sail shape using the furler.

The hank on sail with a down haul line seems simple to me. I guess it isn't the most up to date way of doing things.

David

[Bob23]

David:
   I have a CDI roller furler on my Compac 23 and raising the mast takes about a minute for me and my sailing buddy and fellow prankster Dennis once we get the rigging arranged. Sure, the furler adds a little complication to the matter but I just let it lay on one of the side decks of the boat with no problem. I do not use it to raise the mast but rather use one of the halyards with a line tied to it to make it longer while standing in the bed of my pickup.
   True, hank-on seems outdated compared to a roller furler, but in it's defense it is very simple. I don't have one...been spoiled with the roller.
   I have had no problems with the CDI. Remember it is call the Flexible Furler. Just don't let it kink. I do remove the sail from the rig in the fall before decommisioning and I don't install the sail 'till the mast is up. But you are correct about supporting the furler while the mast is down. For winter storage, I use my mast as a ridgepole for the canvas cover. The furler gets tied off every 2 feet or so (like you said) to support it, and it stays happily that way all winter. I have never removed the furler from the mast...don't see a need to.
   It sounds like you raise your mast everytime you use the boat. I guess having a roller furler and going through that each time you want to sail would add a bit of work to the process. Maybe a hank on is better for you, David, esecially if you use the boat as a daysailer.
Bob23..once again adding my 2 cents, not accounting for inflation.

[Bob Condon]

Bob23,

I would be concerned using the mast as a ridgepole. It is not designed for that and if you are
in the northern parts of the country with snow, you can bend your mast. Hundreds of pounds
could be on your mast...

I used 3/4" EMT to make a simple frame which is abot 45 degree angle so the snow slides off
the silver cover.

Bob Condon

[botelerr]

David , your out of the water in NC already? I just got back from the River [ big one] here in St Louis, beautiful day,, but with my great strength I managed to snap an mast eyelet guide off the main when I was raising it. Where would you recommend I get a replacement ? WM?

[Bob23]

Bob:
   The mast is supported in 4 points but you are correct...that's not the load it's designed for. When I first put it up, I realized the potential for bending the mast so I designed some support posts made of a very rare and costly material - 2x4's- and it works just fine. Over the mast is a series of PVC hoops so the ship looks like a big covered wagon! Sheds water, snow, leaves, whatever. Plus it gives me a great working envinroment for the winter. After a fall wax and clean-up session, when I unwrap in the spring, she's looking good. Just a wash-off and some spring varnish, she's looking good and ready to go.
   I have some great photos, and if I ever get my butt in gear, I'll learn how to post 'em.
Bob23