anyone used a Reef Rite Furler

[lamadriver]

Anyone used a reef rite furling system?


Looking for options other than a profurl. I have harken mkiv's and really like them but there are a few negatives.

LD

[Montanan]

In boom or head sail furler?

[lamadriver]

head sail

[JPA Cate]

We had one on our previous boat, and the furler went to the bottom of the Tasman in 1996, with the rest of the rig. We liked it very well, but of course, don't know if they're still the same. They used at that time, standard bearings that you could source from any bearing shop, which made replacing them really easy--no proprietary stuff to ship internationally. It had a little lever to lock the foil, so that it could not come unwound accidentally. Nice kit.

Ann

[carioca]

Have one on a 1985 Newport 41 on the headstay. It works well. I've been happy with it. Having the slugs allows you to lower the sail & it is still captive. I don't have a sacrificial strip on the headsails so the sail is kept in a bag on deck. The Unit is robustly built, was installed in 2007. The drum does sit higher than other makes of furlers so you might have to have the sails re-cut for the shorter hoist.

[goodoldwoody]

Hi Carioa

We had one on our last boat. And had it for 14 yrs. rebuilt it once when the rig was replaced. We’ve done many offshore cruises, not a harbour boat. Made in NZ very fast reply with spare parts. Good design never had issues with over runs on the furler line like many have. Also since the drum is not enclosed it would be easy to clear an over run if necessary.
By far the best furler I've used. Locking device is good.
Very smooth furling.

Woody

[Lazerbrains]

I don't but I have a similar one called a "SuperFurl" made here in California. They are made one by one by a very talented machinist and used a similar system of slugs - very nice if you wish to change the headsail while on passage. Mine has held up very well for 25 years - I recently rebuilt it and replacement parts were cheap - I can recommend it.

http://www.superfurl.com/

[Bill Robinson]

I have a ReetRite furler on my steel Ebbtide 36 cutter. It is a great bit of kit, rugged, reliable and, combined with the Kiwi slides, a game changer. I usually sail alone, and have 4 sails that that all fit on the furler. A 140% Genoa, a 100% working jib, a Yankee, and a Twistle sail. I never hesitate to change sails alone at sea. One just drops the sail in use, secures it with a few sail ties, then remove the slides from the foil. Then load the new sail and hoist. Without the gate, and Kiwi slides, it would be almost impossible to change sails in any sort of breeze at sea with a conventional furler using a bolt rope on the sail.

[carioca]

The Reef Rite I have has two grooves for the Kiwi slides so you can fly two sails simultaneously or have one up and the other ready to go.

[rocco lombardi]

Replace Harken with Reef Rite? Kinda like swapping a Bently for a Yugo! WHY?

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by rocco lombardi

Replace Harken with Reef Rite? Kinda like swapping a Bently for a Yugo! WHY?

Why? Because the Reef Rite is a more rugged unit, and it has several features that the Harken lacks: latching pawls to prevent excess loading on the reef line when reefed in heavy conditions and/or inadvertent unfurling, inexpensive and universally available bearing and seals, and the unique Kiwi-slide system that keeps sails under control when lowering or changing sails at sea.

Harken makes some great gear, mostly aimed at racing interests, but field repair and economy are not their main interests... things that cruisers find attractive.

Jim

[Kestrahl]

Reefrite is far far more robust than the new Harken furlers. For a racer/cruiser choose the harken, for a heavy cruiser choose the reefrite. I actually prefer it without the kiwi sliders ( which do break ) and the locking device which is good in theory but can be a pain in the butt. A good quality dyneema core furling line is plenty strong enough.

The Reefrite boom furlers weren't quite as successful

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Kestrahl

Reefrite is far far more robust than the new Harken furlers. For a racer/cruiser choose the harken, for a heavy cruiser choose the reefrite. I actually prefer it without the kiwi sliders ( which do break ) and the locking device which is good in theory but can be a pain in the butt. A good quality dyneema core furling line is plenty strong enough.

The Reefrite boom furlers weren't quite as successful

Interesting observations!

We liked the Kiwi slide system for our short handed cruising application. We had had a KZ racing foil prior to getting the Reef Rite and the similarities were attractive to us, being somewhat used to sail changes at sea. Worked well for us, and in the many sea miles of usage (prior to loosing the rig at sea) we had no Kiwi slide breakage.

The locking pawl seemed useful to me, but I'll admit to leaving it in the unlocked position some of the time. This was in the days before spectra cored line became routinely available, so that wasn't an option for us. Dacron double braid of a size that fit on the drum was kinda stretchy with all the chafe and shape change that results... thus my approval of the pawl system.

Bob Graham, the inventor of all the KZ and RR stuff was a very active designer, constantly changing the designs of his gear as new ideas came to him. Meant rapid improvements, but compatibility between models was sometimes compromised! But visiting him in his beautiful home/prototype shop in the Bay of Isands was always a treat. The view out the window as one stood at his larger lathe was breathtaking... i dunno how he ever got anything done!

I've lost track of how the company is run these days, so all my input is based on decades old experience, so do consider that when evaluating it.

Jim

[Kestrahl]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Interesting observations!

We liked the Kiwi slide system for our short handed cruising application. We had had a KZ racing foil prior to getting the Reef Rite and the similarities were attractive to us, being somewhat used to sail changes at sea. Worked well for us, and in the many sea miles of usage (prior to loosing the rig at sea) we had no Kiwi slide breakage.

The locking pawl seemed useful to me, but I'll admit to leaving it in the unlocked position some of the time. This was in the days before spectra cored line became routinely available, so that wasn't an option for us. Dacron double braid of a size that fit on the drum was kinda stretchy with all the chafe and shape change that results... thus my approval of the pawl system.

Bob Graham, the inventor of all the KZ and RR stuff was a very active designer, constantly changing the designs of his gear as new ideas came to him. Meant rapid improvements, but compatibility between models was sometimes compromised! But visiting him in his beautiful home/prototype shop in the Bay of Isands was always a treat. The view out the window as one stood at his larger lathe was breathtaking... i dunno how he ever got anything done!

I've lost track of how the company is run these days, so all my input is based on decades old experience, so do consider that when evaluating it.

Jim

Have replaced broken kiwi slides on around three sails, so maybe not common but it does happen. It depends on the situation, if using multiple head sails short handed the kiwi slide system is definitely handy.

They are quite common in NZ, when I was doing rigging work we fitted around 30 of them over three years. More recently I think they priced themselves out of the average boat market.

I heard the company has new owners now.

[Grattaway]

LD we have one on our Hartley 32 - its 15+ years old - we have used for 6 and never had any issues. Easy to use and definitely recommend. Its a robust unit with a bearing set up built to last.