Furler using a conventional bolt rope, not a luff tape.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

umm.... with a sail wrapped around it, the shape of the furler has nothing to do with noise generation. Perhaps you are thinking about some in-mast mainsail furling systems... they can do banshee imitations.



Jim

Geez Jim, stop bringing logic into it.

It’s clear that using a secondhand bit of boat gear is going to kill me, either from the mast falling on my head or the ultrasonic vibrations causing my head to fall off.

I’m off to get a job to pay for a brand new carbon fibre furler with Teflon coated titanium bearings and a NASA approved airfoil profile.

I should be ready to start cruising in 20 years.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by GILow

Geez Jim, stop bringing logic into it.

It’s clear that using a secondhand bit of boat gear is going to kill me, either from the mast falling on my head or the ultrasonic vibrations causing my head to fall off.

I’m off to get a job to pay for a brand new carbon fibre furler with Teflon coated titanium bearings and a NASA approved airfoil profile.

I should be ready to start cruising in 20 years.

Don't forget the infrasound from the other end of the spectrum. It's serious. Down in Victoria with it's wall to wall wind farms all the chooks have stopped laying, the cows giving milk and it's driving all the eagles to kamikazi into the blades.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

Don't forget the infrasound from the other end of the spectrum. It's serious. Down in Victoria with it's wall to wall wind farms all the chooks have stopped laying, the cows giving milk and it's driving all the eagles to kamikazi into the blades.

Ah... so you’ve met my dad then?[emoji23]

[GILow]

So here are some pictures of the device.

In summary, the base clamps onto a standard 10mm stay stud (or 3/8th I suppose).

The drum and furler profile rotate around the stay without any bearings or other supports, but they are supported by a big nylon bush at the bottom. The bush comes in two halves so can be replaced without removing the stay.

There was some very slight evidence of grease having been used in the past, but it seemed ancient and minimal, suggesting geese is not needed. Maybe silicone spray?

The lack of bearings worried me a bit but I also have the original stay that it was fitted to and there is no evidence of wear anywhere on the stay. The stay itself is coated in fine white powder which I’d guess is aluminium oxide.

The drum is configured to handle a sail in any of the four slots, however the head unit seems to limit the options as although it can take two pulley blocks, I cannot see how it could service more than one slot at a time.

At first it looked like there had been some wear on the head unit, like the stay had chewed out a groove, but closer inspection shoes the groove to have been machine cut, presumably to prevent this very issue.

I’d love to find out more about this thing if I can. It is kinda crude and clunky and probably won’t do a lot of good to my upwind performance, but it is nicely simple and feels like it will be trouble free for years to come.