Homemade Jib Furlers

[Greene]

Bob23,

As long as you are driving all the way over here to get the Honda fixed, would you stop over in New Hampshire and tow this along? 

http://nh.craigslist.org/boa/1636357503.html

Mike

[Bob23]

Consider it done! That's a nice 19! Maybe I should sell my 23 and buy it.
Bob23

[kickingbug1]

 yeah mike figured you would build your own-----guess i forgot how all cp owners love to create new things for old boats

[Greene]

Mounted the furler for a trial fit yesterday and took a few pic's.  It works perfectly except I still wish I could use the halyard to tension the luff.  If the halyard is attached it wraps too tightly around the furler/stay and binds things up.  I'm still trying to figure out a good swivel system.  Most of the other homemades have simply tensioned the luff onto the furler and left the halyard disconnected.  On the 16 it probably doesn't make all that much difference anyway.  I just used some cheap nylon rope to trial it and it seems to work just fine.  I'll need to put better line on it, permanently attach the guide roller on the bow pulpit and trim up the 1/8" Amsteel lines I used to attach the 155 genoa to the 3/4" schedule 40 PVC.  The 155 just barely fits on my stay as the luff is within a few inches of the same length as the stay, so I had to keep the furler as low as possible on the bow.

[Greene]

One other note;  I did want to use Kickingbugs method of slotting the 3/4" PVC and then feeding the boltrope into the slot.  I found that my 155 luff was a couple feet too long to slot one piece of 10' long PVC, so I had to use a coupling to add some more PVC.  It didn't look like it would work very well to slot through the coupling, so I went to Salty19's method of using the 1/8" Amsteel rope.

[Salty19]

Looks really good!  Really like the drum you made--top notch!!!

As for the halyard, I used a swiveling hook/clip gadget, not the traditional halyard retainer.  It was already on the boat so dumb luck there.  Guess it must have worked because I never noticed the halyard getting wrapped up on itself (or I just didn't notice that it did!!).   


However I vote to ditch the halyard and tighten the ends of the luff with zip ties instead, secured by Amsteel for good measure.  Just leave it tight and retighten when you notice some play.    I think I'm going to recommend that my brother (who bought Salty) ditch the halyard as it's one more thing to worry about and one more thing to troubleshoot should the swivl not behave.  As he's never put a hand on a tiller before, keeping it simple for him will be key.

Your boat is going to feel and perform a lot different this year.  Can't wait to hear your review of both mods.

[kickingbug1]

  very nice job mike. cant say i couldnt have done it better----cause i didnt. as to the jib halyard---took mine down and made a key fob out of the block. kidding aside. cant wait to see it in the flesh. blowing at 30 plus today on carlyle ----i stayed home and fished in the pond (well went to sleep on the dock).

[rwdsr]

Now, that's the way I like to fish.  Supposed to be in the 80's here tomorrow, and I'm off on holiday.  Sailing anyone?

[daryl81]

I have been reading this post since it started and decided to break out a PVC furler I had built and put on a Macgregor 25 I had about 6-7 years ago. I had built it to see if I even liked roller furling before I spent the money for a CDI. I used the original CP 16 plans off the internet from back then and used 3/4" pipe instead of the 1/2" because of the longer forestay on the Mac. I loved the roller furling and bought a CDI for it that same summer. My Seaward 24 has CDI furling on it so I decided to used the old drum I had built and split 3/4" pipe full length instead of routing couplers for the hanks to attach.

I used HPFE plastic for the drum cut circular and drilled for 1" pipe to fit through the plastic. I used 1" couplers above and below to hold the pieces tight to a coupler that became the actual drum in the middle. I reduced the 1" to 3/4" and split the pipe lengthwise with a short jigsaw blade while holding the pipe in an expansion joint in my garage floor.


I took the hanks off the sail I had bought this winter on ebay for $50 and cut it and re sewed it to fit the headstay length minus the drum height and the turnbuckle length. I routed a feed gate in the bottom of the pipe to lead the luff rope inside of the pipe. I tied the sail to the drum and to the coupler I used on the top of the furler pipe and know this is sufficient as the CDI tightens the sail the same way and it had worked fine on the Mac.



Trying to reduce set up time at the lake is always something I want to achieve and so I think with the addition of a sunbrella cover that uses twist locks and some ball end bungies, I can leave the sail on the furler and not have to tie on a sail before backing in the water.

Hopefully the sunbrella and my sewing will withstand highway speeds as well.
The downside to this type of furler is raising the drum and sail up on top of the turnbuckle although it does give you great vision forward with the sail unfurled..
Hopefully, I can give this new addition a workout in the next couple of weeks and report how successful it is.

[Greene]

Thanks daryl81,

I wish this topic was already around when I started my project.  It will be really nice for future furler builders to have so many ideas and pictures to plan and build their own

I have another PVC prototype that I like better than my current one. It is suited for a small (16' or under) sailboat which uses parts readily available at a hardware store.  I didn't like the small spindle size (1/2" PVC pipe) that I used because it didn't give enough mechanical advantage to easily spin the spool.  I am going to redo the prototype and post a description and some pic's here.

 

[Greene]

Test sailed the PVC furler today and it worked pretty well.  I ended up removing the brass rod line guide as it just wasn't necessary.  The line coils onto the drum just fine as long as there is just a little drag or pull on the sheets.  The first time I rigged it up in the driveway I secured the bottom of the furler to hold the bearing flange  from rotating.  Later I let it freewheel on a stainless steel washer and nylox stainless nut threaded above the turnbuckle.  Simple, inexpensive and functional furler for a smaller boat.

[Kimanaa]

I have been reviewing this thread w/great interest.I have a 23' cutter rigged boat.The question I have is,when it is stated that you cut a channel in the PVC for the bolt rope,I am assuming your ripping up through the entire length of the spar.??I assume also that this does not weaken it.Any updates (Greene) or modifications you have done.It looks like what I want to do for my boat.
Thanks
Jeff

[Greene]

Well the biggest modification was selling the boat with the furler on it.  Actually the only modification I would make would be to shorten the overall height of the unit by reducing the spool height.  You really only need about 2.5" to 3" of spool area for the little bit of line that wraps around it.  If you look back at the original Etch-A-Sketch drawing,  I used a long version of the 1 1/2" PVC coupling for part #5.  I would use a  standard length 1 1/2" PVC coupler which is quite a bit shorter.  Both items are readily available at the big box lumber stores.

I attached the sail to the PVC by means of 1/8" Amsteel rope as suggested by Salty19.  This worked well and I didn't have to worry about weakening the pipe with a slot. 

Let us know how your project goes.  I am still deciding whether to buy a CDI furler or make another homemade one for our 19. 

Mike

[odaymariner]

Obviously I am very new to sailing and need to make it as easy as possible. I have a question about your design. Is the lazy susan bearing the only connection joining the drum and above to the mount or is there something else that I am not catching about it. From what I understand of it I like the concept. I intend to use this design on my 19' oday mariner. I have also thought about maybe beefing up the 1/2' pipe on top to  1' or even possibly using light weight metal as is used on the top of chain link fence. (answers and opinions on my thoughts please)

James

[Greene]

Yes, the only connection between the two parts was the lazy susan bearing.  There is very little pressure (if any) trying to pull them apart.  There seems to be some downward pressure on the whole assembly from the weight of the furler, lines and sail.

As far as beefing up the "foil" is concerned, it is just a matter of preference.  I liked the idea of a small diameter as it is the leading edge of the sail.  I was using a 155 sail on my furler and it handled that much sail area without any issues.  If your sail has more square footage, maybe a larger diameter foil would be a good idea.

I still haven't started on a furler for our 19 yet.  The relatively cheap CDI FF1 looks like a nice alternative for our trailerables.

Mike