Roller Furlers - again

[mikehoyt]

Just read the january thread on roller furlers (headsails). Some intersting thoughts came to mind.

1. Never had one before 2008 and never wanted one. With a roller furler boats typically choose a headsail by what is hanke on rather than by conditions and often have the wrong headsail for given conditions. Also a roller furler jamming in ad weather scares the crap out of me as then would be too much sail up and possibly not possible to bring down.

2. Bought a boat in January that came with Harken Code 0 fulrer with 150 dacron headsail. Boat also had non furling light #1, #2, and #3. First instict was to get rid of furling system and use soemthing like Tuff Luff twin foil in its place. Sailmaker suggested boat has more value with furler and to use for deliveries, etc.

3. First sail in new boat motor died in narrow channel 1/4 mile from marina in current of approx 1 knot. Had roller furl sail on and managed to roll out small amount and sail to fuel dock. Neighbour boat welcomed me to the Eighties.

4. Harken allows me to remove sail feeder to drop collar. All other headsails can be run and the drum on the bottom creates no problems with sail shape. We do this for more serious racing. Put the furler on for single handed sailing and day sailing usually.

5. Leaned that yes indeed you do need tension on furler line when unfurling sail. It jammed twice in a row.

Lessons learned Furlers not always bad. Ok if just sailing and not caring about right sail, etc... They do jam. They do not preclude use of racing sails. A very convenient lazy tool.

One caution. Any boat that requires a furler for headsail or main becasue there is not enough crew to man foredeck is an undermanned vessel.

Mike
Nut Case

[jbondy]

Spoken like a true racer. With roller reefing, the correct headsail for all conditions IS the one that is on the furler, with the exception of gale conditions, when you go with a storm sail.

I'm reminded of the stories I've heard of the early days of the automobile. Firefighters refused to adopt powered fire engines for years because they were not as reliable as horses. In my town this persisted well beyond the point when they were.

[capttb]

We used to joke about our FD motto as "200 years of tradition unimpeded by progress". Lot of fire engines still have 2 start buttons as a vestigial organ from early engines that had 2 complete electrical systems. It can be difficult to embrace change but often worthwhile.

[J36ZT]

mikehoyt,

My 4th of July weekend was the first time of sailing with a Harken MKIV (Unit 1)...on a J/36. I was using Tuff Luff before. With the winds in San Francisco Bay being 15+ knots on a regular basis, even flying a 70% jib can be sporting at times. Although I don't have a proper sail for the Roller Furler yet, I had no trouble flying a 110% headsail with confidence. When the wind picked up, I didn't have to point into the wind and scramble to the foredeck to change sails. In fact, I was able to be under sail when I might have otherwise been motoring in both ends of wind conditions...heavy and very light wind. I even tried sailing on a broad-reach under headsail alone without any problems. True, when partially reefed, the sail shape wasn't the best and I knew I was giving up some speed because of this. However, my purpose for reefing in the first place was to reduce the power of the sail. I found it easier to adjust the balance of the sails using the reefing ability as well. The MKIV gives the ability to remove the drum assembly; thereby providing dual-track headsail capability for racing. I had no jams, no halyard wraps, and absolutely no problems. I installed the MKIV myself as part of a mast refurbishment, following the directions provided by Harken.

I'll agree with you that any boat that relies on a Roller Furler is probably undermanned. But, I've also been on the foredeck in 14-foot seas and 35+ knots of wind trying to pull a jib down with the deck awash and pitching. After a couple times of that, anybody would be looking for a better system.

I guess it depends on your sailing abilities, style, crew, and budget as to which system is best for you. I don't really have that much sailing experience, have trouble finding more than one crew most of the time, and can't afford to have a full compliment of headsails. A Roller Furler seemed a good choice for my style of sailing. The MKIV also allows for converting to a racing mode, without removal of the forestay, should I choose to do so.

After one days worth of sailing experience; am I happy with the Roller Furler?...YES! Do I sail undermanned?...YES!...A Roller Furler helps me do so with added safety and confidence.

Just the thoughts and limited experience of a crazy man...

Skipper, J/36 "Zero Tolerance"