Need jib furler reccomendation

[fried fish]

Hi guys,
I am exploring a new furler for my CP23.
My old one is a French brand and has the resin on the spool cracking
It is confusing what I need. I see CDI, Harken, and Schaefer.
Any pros or cons other than price? Inexpensive is good
Thanks.
-Fred-

[Koinonia]

having owned just about everything on the market except for the cheaper units on ebay now, my favorite is still Harken.  Like alot of things you get what you pay for, but imagine yourself with a sudden storm and your cheap furler that is now a few years old is getting more and more friction is either taking a ton of force to furl or wont furl at all.  I have never had trouble with a Harken, and even with age they furl easily and reliably.

[wes]

I agree that Harken is the gold standard, but they cost a lot of gold. Like a lot of other sailors here, I have a CDI FF2 that came with my (1988) boat. It has very few moving parts and has worked reliably for me. I recommend it if budget is limited. Try searching this site for "CDI furler" and you'll find some helpful previous posts.

Wes

[Bob23]

Hi Fred:
   I'll echo what Wes says. I have a CDI on my 23...never had a problem and it's easy to disassemble to check the forestay, something that should be done periodically. I don't know the cost- it came with my 1985 23/2 when I bought her about 8 years ago.
Bob23

[Koinonia]

Maybe on smaller boats CDI isnt as bad.  I had a CDI on a Beneteau 305 which was the worst P.O.S. I ever had for a furler.  Nice thing is that on the smaller boats the furler isnt as expensive.  If looking at buying a used furler it also helps with the Compacs having a stubby rig so there is room to cut the extrusion length down.  I picked up a brand new harken unit for a Ranger 29 I had for under $700.   Deals are out there you just have to keep your eyes open and know what your looking at as a furler that isnt complete will cost more after buying the missing parts than the complete NEW furler.   

[Salty19]

I've got the Harken type 00AL on my 19 and love it. I did want something a little better than the flexible furler after hearing some issues with them but didn't want spend a zillion dollars on it either, so it was a good middle ground..not terribly expensive and in line with quality of the rest of their line.

I believe it's rated for up to 27', so should be fine on a 23.

Something to consider.  If you're planning on more than one headsail, the Harken is way easier to allow this swap out on the water or at the dock.  It's not much different difficulty or time wise than hank ons with the Harken.  For me this is nice since I do swap out a 110% to a 140% depending on the weather. Most of the time I run the 140%, but some days I know it will be furled and will get beat up by strong gusts and sustained high winds, so swapping seems prudent, and certainly the boat is better behaved when doing so.

[jb]

used a CDI on my Alberg 22, under all types of conditions, for over ten years and never had any issues with it. This fall I cut it down and rigged it for my CP 16.

[skip1930]

Harkin 0-0 AL furler

skip.

[NateD]

I've got the CDI on my 23 (came with it). I can't offer any comparisons, but so far it has worked perfectly. It can take a little work to feed the head sail into the foil, and I've heard others complain about it as well, so if you've got multiple head sails and plan on changing them out often, then a different brand might be more convenient. Otherwise I'm very happy with my CDI FF2.

[brackish]

I also have the CDI on my 23 and if has worked flawlessly for the 8 years it has been there.  I've used other furlers on other boats and they have all worked just as well.  So far, I can't think of why I would want to spend more money to do the same job.

Folks have mentioned feeding sails as a potential problem with the CDI.  Technique is important with that.  You must have the sail aligned with the extrusion.  In other words it does not want to turn 90 degrees from a sail laying on the deck.  I generally do mine at the dock where I can pull 3' or so off the deck then feed it in.  If you are underway and want to change you have to kick a few feet over the side as you pull to get that alignment.  I also spray it with SailKote as I feed it.  Not a problem.  Keep in mind, one of the advantages of a furler is the ability to change sail size by rolling in a reef.  I only change the sail seasonally, 110 in the winter, 135 the rest of the year.  The 135 has a foam luff built in for best reefing performance.

If you have a spinnaker halyard set up you have to route it in such a way that the upper fitting can't catch it and try to wrap it with the sail. That may be with any furler.  When not in use I lead mine, both ends, to the bow pulpit for attachment and tensioning.  I suppose you can also use a cheek block on the mast to lead it out of the way.

You are limited in luff tension on the CDI because at some point you are trying to tension the extrusion instead of the sail.  However, I've never seen any wrinkles at the luff so it must be doing OK.