Furlers

[Brainless]

Hi All,

I am currently looking into fitting Oberon with a furler and would like to know everyone's opinions as well as what brands you are all using and potentially what I will need

The main reason for this is just to make the boat quick and easier to jump on and go for a sail with the missus or with mates with no experience

[woodsy]

My previous yachts did not have one. I wish they had.
Mine was already fitted when bought. Looks like a simple one. I will check out the brand asap for you.
Sailing off the mooring or back in single handed is much easier. So quick to furl.
When leaving, I sit on the mooring, point in the right direction by walking the mooring line back, midship. Let go, unfurl the sail & go!
Returning, I close with the mooring, turn into the wind, furl the sail & glide gracefully into position.(sometimes)
My system is not perfect. Sometimes jams, so have to go forward to fix.
2 months back my wife left me waiting in the tender when she took off for Lion island in strong wind & big seas with a jammed furler sheet. 1 hour b4 she got back!

[Miker]

Hey Ryan,

Getting going as easily and trouble free as possible is a much better incentive to go sailing, than a boat that takes ages to set up and rig.

We used to take about 40 minutes to get going, and we already had a furler!

Now we can get in the car, drive to the bay, unload the dinghy and get out to the boat and be off the mooring in 40 minutes.

The benefits of a furler have always polarised those on this forum, and usually those who have them, love them and those who don't have them, hate them. I'm one of the former. We have a number 2 on ours, and can change to a storm sail, but never do. The drawback being that it takes a bit longer to change sails with the furler, than a hanked sail.

Mine is so old, I have no idea what brand it is, and it is rather large for the boat size, but works very well. Undo the furler line, pull out the genoa sheet and you're away. Don't even need to head to wind necessarily, either furling or unfurling, depending on the wind strength. One thing you should do is tie a small sail tie around the clew when it's furled on the mooring, just in case you lose a sheet and it starts to unfurl in the wind. I think ours may be a Profurl, but there is a website who list a few brands and prices. They're mostly pretty easy to fit as well. http://www.yachtmasts.com.au/contents/en-us/d4.html

For another good piece of kit, get a lazy jack/boom bag set up. Drop sail, zip bag, go home.

All I need now is a gennaker/asym in a sock to get me going downwind!

[storm petrel]

I replaced the 25 yr old Hood Furler on Storm Petrel with a new Furlex 100 a couple of years ago. The Furlex turns the ends one turn before the centre reducing the 'bagging' effect when the sail is partially furled. Even so I use a no 2 with luff foam so I can reduce it by about 50% and still hold a reasonably good shape. It takes us 2 minutes from time we clamber on board to being off the mooring and unfurling the headsail. In addition to the difficulty of changing sails, that Michael mentioned, I think you lose a little speed because of the furler disturbing the air flow onto the sail but it would not be much.

[Dolphin]

G'day Ryan,
I put a Profurl on Felicite in 93 and its been the best thing I've put on the boat besides my bum. Most of the commercial boats use them.

Most times you will want to sail to a point where you will eventually need to go head to wind and its a snack to furl and motor around the point and then keep on sailing. Sometimes you will unfurl the sail and just to try the wind. You will do a lot more sailing with a furler.

Take Mikes advice, put a preventer around the sail at the clew just above where the sheets are tied on to stop the furler coming undone in strong winds and sailing off. many boats have been seen doing that. Also you will need a UV strip on the outside of the sail to protect if from the sun. That will cost in the order of $350. I have padding in the luff and can reduce the No2 to a No3. you can't really reef much further as the sail shape is destroyed.

Go for it.

[Brainless]

Well im sold haha, does anyone recommend someone in the Lake Macquarie area to get one from?

Also what are peoples thoughts on Furlex Furlers?

And what is the length of my Forstay?

[Tales]

I agree with all that has been written above but admit to belonging to the other camp!
Having sailed with one extensively (on another boat) and repaired two of them I offer the following:-
Please use some of the time saved on doing regular maintenance.
Keep rig tight to minimize sag on the forestay lessening friction and working of the extrusion joints.

When a furler fails it can be a pain or a really big problem.
Good luck with it anyway!
Tom

[Ianb]

Bit of semantics. Strictly speaking, a furler only twists the lower end of the luff, and is for sail neat storage only. A jib reefer has a torque tube which turns the entire luff, and allows sailing with a reduced area.

[Brainless]

Furlex 50S Furler gets fitted first week in Jan, Oberon also gets measured up for a new Genoa and Main at the same time

[Troppo]

I can't recall on Windchaser the brand of the umm, ahh, hmm, [ok, has a tube thingy so must be a . . . .] jib reefer but it is very old.

Limited experience but: on another boat, hanked on jibs worked well for me, sit nicely, chose the size for the wind, however, I hated going up the front solo sailing when chop and wind had come up to bring down the jib and pack it away. On current boat have had furler jam out and I started heading back to safety as a squall hit but I got the furler rolled so turned back around and continued on. When the furler was working well, it was great to change the size of sail even though the shape is not optimal. Perhaps not so important for ocean cruising but I found in bays with lots of direction changes then the furler was great, such as in a channel that turns into the wind then roll up the jib without leaving cockpit, once around the corner, roll it out however far I wanted.

Question on furlers: The standard sail size is found in these lists but is that just for hanked on or also a sail on furler? http://www.tophatyachts.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1327&p=7375&hilit=jib#p7375

My jib is leech 8.9 m (28.5'), luff 9 m (29.5') and foot 4.6 m (15') which I guess is close to the standard for a MKII. Does this need to be different since it is on a furler?