I'm interested in adding a furling jib to my 25 CD. Can anyone share their opinions about the best & most troublefree. I do alot of singlehanded sailing & would like to have the convenience.
w101746@aol.com
furling Jibs
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Bob B
Re: furling Jibs
Mike,
I have been a diehard hank-on man for a long time and do miss some parts of it with a roller furling jib. For my general purposes though, you will like the roller furling. Mine is on a 25D and is a Hood roller furling rig. It does have a continuous line rather than a drum. The drum type is better in that you only have one line to worry about. The looped line does slip some while sailing for long periods of time. Hood makes other types so you can go with what suits you. Harken, Hood and Sheafer all make fairly good systems. Get something heavy enough for you to feel comfortable reefing down to storm jib size. This is the one thing that I regret with roller furling is not having my storm jib.
Good luck with it.
Bob Bundy
CD 25D Tiva
Charleston, SC
BundyR@aol.com
I have been a diehard hank-on man for a long time and do miss some parts of it with a roller furling jib. For my general purposes though, you will like the roller furling. Mine is on a 25D and is a Hood roller furling rig. It does have a continuous line rather than a drum. The drum type is better in that you only have one line to worry about. The looped line does slip some while sailing for long periods of time. Hood makes other types so you can go with what suits you. Harken, Hood and Sheafer all make fairly good systems. Get something heavy enough for you to feel comfortable reefing down to storm jib size. This is the one thing that I regret with roller furling is not having my storm jib.
Good luck with it.
Bob Bundy
CD 25D Tiva
Charleston, SC
BundyR@aol.com
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Warren Kaplan
Re: furling Jibs
Mike,
I have a CD27 and I had a Furlex installed 2 years ago. Its a real heavy duty piece of hardware and it works just great. Its a little pricey but it comes with a new forestay to replace your old one. I'll tell you this. The only requirement for everyday trouble free use (with all the brands of furlers I suspect) is to make sure you keep a little tension on the lines when furling and unfurling or else you could get over riding wraps on the drum. Other than that, all you have to do is rinse them periodically and maybe grease them once a year. You may need to get your headsail modified to fit the furler unless you are planning on getting a new one, which is always nice. I got a new genoa at the same time and I had Doyle Sails measure the boat for all this, and then install the whole shibang.
Warren Kaplan
Sine Qua Non
CD27
Oyster Bay Harbor, NY
Setsail728@aol.com
I have a CD27 and I had a Furlex installed 2 years ago. Its a real heavy duty piece of hardware and it works just great. Its a little pricey but it comes with a new forestay to replace your old one. I'll tell you this. The only requirement for everyday trouble free use (with all the brands of furlers I suspect) is to make sure you keep a little tension on the lines when furling and unfurling or else you could get over riding wraps on the drum. Other than that, all you have to do is rinse them periodically and maybe grease them once a year. You may need to get your headsail modified to fit the furler unless you are planning on getting a new one, which is always nice. I got a new genoa at the same time and I had Doyle Sails measure the boat for all this, and then install the whole shibang.
Warren Kaplan
Sine Qua Non
CD27
Oyster Bay Harbor, NY
Setsail728@aol.com
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Larry DeMers
Re: furling Jibs
Bob,
Try to put some tension on the lazy end of the loop, while you are putting pressure on the other end to reef a bit..it works! That is why these continuous line units have the rep for slipping...they need to have both sides of the line tensioned so that the furling line stays deep in the furlers clutch plate. I just put a little backpressure on it while reefing..more pressure as the wind increases. We have been in 25-30+ kts with the genoa out, and then reefed it and without trouble, as long as there was some back tension on the reefer line.
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30 Lake Superior
demers@sgi.com
Try to put some tension on the lazy end of the loop, while you are putting pressure on the other end to reef a bit..it works! That is why these continuous line units have the rep for slipping...they need to have both sides of the line tensioned so that the furling line stays deep in the furlers clutch plate. I just put a little backpressure on it while reefing..more pressure as the wind increases. We have been in 25-30+ kts with the genoa out, and then reefed it and without trouble, as long as there was some back tension on the reefer line.
Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30 Lake Superior
Bob B wrote: Mike,
I have been a diehard hank-on man for a long time and do miss some parts of it with a roller furling jib. For my general purposes though, you will like the roller furling. Mine is on a 25D and is a Hood roller furling rig. It does have a continuous line rather than a drum. The drum type is better in that you only have one line to worry about. The looped line does slip some while sailing for long periods of time. Hood makes other types so you can go with what suits you. Harken, Hood and Sheafer all make fairly good systems. Get something heavy enough for you to feel comfortable reefing down to storm jib size. This is the one thing that I regret with roller furling is not having my storm jib.
Good luck with it.
Bob Bundy
CD 25D Tiva
Charleston, SC
demers@sgi.com
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Joel
Re: furling Jibs
I've recently installed the Cruising Designs (CDI) furler on my Ty and found it easy to install and use. All reports are that it's a reliable unit and more than suitable for smaller boats, up to about 30' (CDI claims larger, but be conservative). A friend had one on his Hunter 30 for years and thought it the best thing he ever did to his boat. There've been alot of posts on furlers in this board. Do a search and I'm sure you'll find lots of opinions.
Did I mention that they're EXTREMELY reasonably priced. I bought mine at Just Rigging.
Good luck and fair winds,
Joel
Pokey II
'73 Ty #549
Bayside, NY
bondy_joelNOSPAM@hotmail.com
Did I mention that they're EXTREMELY reasonably priced. I bought mine at Just Rigging.
Good luck and fair winds,
Joel
Pokey II
'73 Ty #549
Bayside, NY
bondy_joelNOSPAM@hotmail.com
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Andy Denmark
Re: furling Jibs
Hi Mike,Mike W wrote: I'm interested in adding a furling jib to my 25 CD. Can anyone share their opinions about the best & most troublefree. I do alot of singlehanded sailing & would like to have the convenience.
When I was with Banks sails we sold Harken Furlers almost to the exclusion of any of the others. Their engineering is top notch. Schaefer and Pro-Furl were the primary competition. Harken's big advantage was in their method of attaching sections together. They had no roll pins or proprietary rivets that eventually worked out and caused wear at the luff.
IMHO, more important than the furler itself are the considerations that need to be observed in installation. There is another post a month or so back that address these so I won't elaborate here.
Coming from hank-on sails there will be decided degradation of performance to weather. It will be impossible to get the forestay as straight as with just wire. Your sailmaker can do some reshape the luff curve within limits (if you are converting your older sails by replacing the hanks with luff tape) that results in improvement. Sails made specifically for roller furlers generally take this into account when they are designed. Foam padding helps when reefing (never more than 15% of total LP,)as do special patches at the reef points to take the increased strsss at the foot and leech.
If you want to increase the life of your furler, take the tension off the halyard every time you put the boat away after sailing. Taking the load off those bearings, particularly the top ones, will elmiminate the singlemost cause of furler failure.
Just a few ideas,
Good sailing,
Andy Denmark
CD-27 "Rhiannon"
Oriental, NC
trekker@coastalnet.com
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jim stull
Re: furling Jibs
I concur completly with Warren's comments.
We converted our CD25 to a Furlex system 5 years ago. We selected Furlex on the basis of a write up in Practical Sailor and a strong recommendation from our sailmaker, (we didn't buy the furler from him). When pricing a system be sure to get a total cost as Furlex comes complete and most of the others require additions to make a system.
We had a 135 made for the furler with the foam luff. I was very surprised to find that I was unable to notice any degradition in windward performance. (We don't race so may not be sensitive as these folks would be.)
Another thing we found was that we were able to "reef" more than the "books" talk about. With 2 reefs in the main and the jib furled down to about 40% we were able to do OK in a blow.
I don't really know how much of this was due to the furler vs the sail.
We are purchasing a new Furlex 100S for the CD27 we are rebuilding.
Although we had a rigger install the unit on the CD25 we plan on installing the furler on the CD27 ourself. We watched the rigger do the '25 and it looked simple. Furlex supports owner installation and offers a video for the amateur.
Jim
jtstull@earthlink.net
We converted our CD25 to a Furlex system 5 years ago. We selected Furlex on the basis of a write up in Practical Sailor and a strong recommendation from our sailmaker, (we didn't buy the furler from him). When pricing a system be sure to get a total cost as Furlex comes complete and most of the others require additions to make a system.
We had a 135 made for the furler with the foam luff. I was very surprised to find that I was unable to notice any degradition in windward performance. (We don't race so may not be sensitive as these folks would be.)
Another thing we found was that we were able to "reef" more than the "books" talk about. With 2 reefs in the main and the jib furled down to about 40% we were able to do OK in a blow.
I don't really know how much of this was due to the furler vs the sail.
We are purchasing a new Furlex 100S for the CD27 we are rebuilding.
Although we had a rigger install the unit on the CD25 we plan on installing the furler on the CD27 ourself. We watched the rigger do the '25 and it looked simple. Furlex supports owner installation and offers a video for the amateur.
Jim
jtstull@earthlink.net
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Randy Bates
Re: furling Jibs
Bob:
Take a look at the "Gale Sail" from TN. It's made to wrap around the furled headsail. Looks very interesting
randy
randy.bates@baesystems.com
Take a look at the "Gale Sail" from TN. It's made to wrap around the furled headsail. Looks very interesting
randy
Bob B wrote: Mike,
I have been a diehard hank-on man for a long time and do miss some parts of it with a roller furling jib. For my general purposes though, you will like the roller furling. Mine is on a 25D and is a Hood roller furling rig. It does have a continuous line rather than a drum. The drum type is better in that you only have one line to worry about. The looped line does slip some while sailing for long periods of time. Hood makes other types so you can go with what suits you. Harken, Hood and Sheafer all make fairly good systems. Get something heavy enough for you to feel comfortable reefing down to storm jib size. This is the one thing that I regret with roller furling is not having my storm jib.
Good luck with it.
Bob Bundy
CD 25D Tiva
Charleston, SC
randy.bates@baesystems.com
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Will W.
Re: furling Jibs
Hi Mike
I read all the other posts before responding. I don't know all the brands of furlers available but I wonder if any got left out. It seems that everyone who gets a furler likes it no matter the brand. I bought the CDI FF4. It was less than $500.00. It works. I like it. It makes single handing (95% of my sailing) a lot less worrysome, especially if you also run the main halyard and jiffy reefing back to the cockpit.
It does require more work to change sails with the CDI vs hank on (and maybe other furlers, I don't know) but you have to change sails a lot less often as well.
I think if I had a larger boat I would consider other brands but for my 25 the CDI seems to be great so far.
One thing to consider when buying the CDI. The Luff; the long plastic like thing that slides over the forestay, comes as one piece. The place I bought it had them already straightened. This makes moving it a challange as it is 30+ feet long. If you are going a short distance you may be able to wrap it around your vehicle to move it. I chose to have them ship one to me. It comes coiled in a box. Follow the directions carefully. Straightening the luff is not easy and you will probably need 2 helpers, unless you can just let it lay out for a few days before installing it. Aside from that it was very simple to install.
Good Luck!
Will Wheatley
Suzi Q
CD25
Sailing from Chesapeake Beach, MD
willwheatley@starpower.net
I read all the other posts before responding. I don't know all the brands of furlers available but I wonder if any got left out. It seems that everyone who gets a furler likes it no matter the brand. I bought the CDI FF4. It was less than $500.00. It works. I like it. It makes single handing (95% of my sailing) a lot less worrysome, especially if you also run the main halyard and jiffy reefing back to the cockpit.
It does require more work to change sails with the CDI vs hank on (and maybe other furlers, I don't know) but you have to change sails a lot less often as well.
I think if I had a larger boat I would consider other brands but for my 25 the CDI seems to be great so far.
One thing to consider when buying the CDI. The Luff; the long plastic like thing that slides over the forestay, comes as one piece. The place I bought it had them already straightened. This makes moving it a challange as it is 30+ feet long. If you are going a short distance you may be able to wrap it around your vehicle to move it. I chose to have them ship one to me. It comes coiled in a box. Follow the directions carefully. Straightening the luff is not easy and you will probably need 2 helpers, unless you can just let it lay out for a few days before installing it. Aside from that it was very simple to install.
Good Luck!
Will Wheatley
Suzi Q
CD25
Sailing from Chesapeake Beach, MD
Mike W wrote: I'm interested in adding a furling jib to my 25 CD. Can anyone share their opinions about the best & most troublefree. I do alot of singlehanded sailing & would like to have the convenience.
willwheatley@starpower.net
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Lou Ostendorff
Profurl not mentioned
Hello Will and Others;
Karma came with a Profurl R25...I don't think it's the cheapest furler available, but it seems to work OK. I had a problem with the 'wrap-stop' at the head, mostly because the installer cut the first extrusion too short and then placed the wrap-stop above the end of the extrusion...add to that the fact that when the jib (100%) was converted to the furler, it was cut too short along the luff...this prevented the halyard tang from engaging the wrap-stop. Soooo,I had to make an adustment in the wrapstop location and pendent length...it works fine as long as the installation instructions are(were) followed. One nice thing about the Profurl, is that it has hardened steel bearings in a totally sealed and weatherproof enclosure, so there's so real maintenance like greasing, only an occasional washdown...their website is listed below. Good luck with your search for the ultimate furler.
Lou Ostendorff
CD25D Karma
"navigare est necesse, vivere non est necesse"
louosten@ipass.net
Karma came with a Profurl R25...I don't think it's the cheapest furler available, but it seems to work OK. I had a problem with the 'wrap-stop' at the head, mostly because the installer cut the first extrusion too short and then placed the wrap-stop above the end of the extrusion...add to that the fact that when the jib (100%) was converted to the furler, it was cut too short along the luff...this prevented the halyard tang from engaging the wrap-stop. Soooo,I had to make an adustment in the wrapstop location and pendent length...it works fine as long as the installation instructions are(were) followed. One nice thing about the Profurl, is that it has hardened steel bearings in a totally sealed and weatherproof enclosure, so there's so real maintenance like greasing, only an occasional washdown...their website is listed below. Good luck with your search for the ultimate furler.
Lou Ostendorff
CD25D Karma
"navigare est necesse, vivere non est necesse"
louosten@ipass.net
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Neil Gordon
Re: furling Jibs
>>One thing to consider when buying the CDI. The Luff; the long plastic like thing that slides over the forestay, comes as one piece. The place I bought it had them already straightened. This makes moving it a challange as it is 30+ feet long. If you are going a short distance you may be able to wrap it around your vehicle to move it.<<
My sailmaker had mine on the floor of his loft, already straightened and fitted over the forestay. It wrapped easily around the car, although you might have to crawl through a window to get in and out. Mine was a short drive and wasn't a problem. Installation was a snap with the mast down.
Regards, Neil
s/v LIQUIDITY
Cape Dory 28 #167
neil@nrgordon.com
My sailmaker had mine on the floor of his loft, already straightened and fitted over the forestay. It wrapped easily around the car, although you might have to crawl through a window to get in and out. Mine was a short drive and wasn't a problem. Installation was a snap with the mast down.
Regards, Neil
s/v LIQUIDITY
Cape Dory 28 #167
neil@nrgordon.com
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Mike W
Re: furling Jibs
Thanks for all the advice & suggestions. Decided to go with Furlex on the advice of a couple of sailmakers & fellow sailors. Seemed like the most complete system for me. I should be out on the Great south Bay with it by end of july.
W101746@aol.com
W101746@aol.com