What is this boom furler?

[dannrs]

Heres a couple more pics of the mast attachment

[Djarraluda]

It looks like a very common old fashioned roller reefing main. At a guess, there is a manually operated ratchet at the gooseneck, sometimes the handle is aft of mast, occasionally it is in front, sometimes the handle is removable, sometimes fixed.
Because of the ratchet, the sail needs to be cut away on the luff, near the tack. Result is pretty poor reefed sail shape. To ‘fix’ this, I have seen a very skinny pice of sail with a foil on it. This may be 2 inch fore to aft. It thus means that the main luff is now straight and misses the boom rolling ratchet when furled.
I never stowed my mains rolled around the boom like your pic, too much pain in the A to unroll. I simply flaked the sail over the boom.
You will probably have what amounts to 2 main halyards. 1 for the foil and 1for the sail. Alternatively, the foil is a fixed addition to the mast.

If sail jams when hoisting, first off, fully unroll from boom before hoisting and use sail lubricant in the foil.
Sadly, you will always have difficulty on your own, it often needs 2 people to hoist as you motor into a gentle breeze, because you need to feed sail into the track. Most cruisers use slides or slugs and keep sail bunched up On the mast at the luff, the continuous bolt rope in the foil is for well crewed racers who want the aerodynamics.
Roger

[Djarraluda]

Originally Posted by dannrs

Attachment 217981

Attachment 217982Heres a couple more pics of the mast attachment

Just seen these. Yes, as I had described. It is an old racing set up from 70’s era.
Roger

[jmschmidt]

Standard equipment on many boats in sixties. Had one on my '69 built Newport 41, which was a champion racing boat in Hawaii in the early seventies. Got rid of it and converted to slab reefing shortly after buying it in '78. Pretty simple conversion.

[dannrs]

So do you recommend scrapping it? Is a new boom required or can I modify.
Thanks for all the great comments

[Djarraluda]

I had similar on my old Nic 37 years ago. I simply added slab reefing blocks and lines then had a new mainsail made, to avoid the cut-out at the luff/tack.
The fact that the boom can rotate is not really a worry as sail is secured to the tack at the gooseneck and the clew outhaul so the boom doesn’t rotate anyway.
Soon after, the boom broke so I replaced it then and had the reefing lines inside the boom, but this is a nicer way to go, far from essential.
I would save money on the boom and spend it on the sail, with full length battens and luff cars with track on the mast
Roger

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by dannrs

So do you recommend scrapping it? Is a new boom required or can I modify.
Thanks for all the great comments

If the parts are all there and the sail is in good shape, I would be inclined to try to make it work. Get yourself hoisted up the mast to inspect and clean the luff track. Use a test tube brush to clean it, and make sure there are no pinches in it. The bottom of it has a hole that suggests it should have a feeder attached to it, or perhaps should is intended to have a line attached to reduce its movement. The bottom of the flexible track on my Leisurefurl has a dyneema cord that keeps it loosely anchored.

If you're planning on getting a new sail, then I'd lean towards getting a proper boom, with a vang, and positioning the mainsheets ideally. That could include a new boom furler, but they aren't inexpensive.