[alberg30] Roller Furling Considerations

[finnus505 at aol.com]

Another two cents on the viability of roller furling headsails;

for daysailing and fair weather cruising, of course the roller furler amkes 
life easier. The number one genny can be roler reefed to be a #2, or even a 
slightly large working jib.  Coming up to your mooring for the night, a pull 
on the reefing line puts the sail  away in seconds, so pulling a hanked sail 
down on deck, hanging on to your halyard so as not to accidentaly cast it 
adrift, flaking and bagging the sail, are all distant memories.

But...for rough stuff-winds greater than 20-25 kts or so, we find the limits 
of that versatile roller furling #1.  If you try to reef it to the size of a 
storm jib, a) it will have a terrible shape, bellying at the luff, thus 
heeling you over, and preventing you from pointing, and b) the windage of the 
furled part of the sail is signfcant in higher winds. It too will keep you 
from pointing high, and it wll heel you over.

If you go for roller furling, but have fun sailing in the rough stuff, then 
you must buy a storm jib that can be attached to your roller furling foil.  
When things get ugly, or good, depending on your point of view, you take the 
#1 off the foil, and hoist the storm jib in its place.

I've seen ads for storm jibs that have hanks as large as bales, and they are 
designed to be hoisted with these bales riding over the furled genny. 
Advantage;you don't have to take off the genny. Disadvantage; you will still 
have to deal with the windage of the furled sail.

In the early 80's my dad had a North roller furler put on his Islander 32.  
This was in Brooklyn, NY, where everything that is outside gets covered with 
a layer of gritty grime from the incinerators that every apartment house has 
to deal with their trash.  After a couple of seasons, the grimy grit got into 
the bearings of the furler, and that was it. The first time we could not furl 
the genny, somehow we got it down, and then tore apart the furler to clean 
it. The delrin bearngs had been scratched up, and the furler was always a 
problem after that.

I think the newer systems have improved in the design dept, and hopefully 
Brooklyn furlers work as they should now!!!  (the incinerator laws may also 
have changed since I left.)

Hope this helps,
Lee

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