Winch drum mystery

[Vancefish]

My 77 Peterson 34 came with six head sails, and at some point had a furler.

Well the foils are there, but the drum is gone.

Based on this picture, does anyone have any idea which brand this is?

[Suijin]

I suspect the boat was raced and never had a furler, just the foil. Six headsails points to that.

[admiralslater]

Originally Posted by Suijin

I suspect the boat was raced and never had a furler, just the foil. Six headsails points to that.

I agree

[Vancefish]

Well thank you both!

I've never had a boat with a furler, so I assumed this foil was part of an old furler. [emoji848]

I guess it'll be easy to decide what drum I want then (the one that comes with the full system). [emoji23]

[hpeer]

Might want to check the size of the slot and whats on the sails. Would be expensive to have to change all the sails

[Vancefish]

Sounds like a good idea hpeer.

I've inventoried and made notes of each sail. I basically have a thin light weight set, and a thicker heavier set. 100's, 120's and 150's. The heavier set is in much better shape. However they too will need a few repairs.

The main was shot, so I bought a newer used three reef Doyle off Ebay.

I just moved into a windward slip last week. So that'll make testing a bit easier too.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by Vancefish

I've inventoried and made notes of each sail. I basically have a thin light weight set, and a thicker heavier set. 100's, 120's and 150's. The heavier set is in much better shape. However they too will need a few repairs.

Yup, race boat lol.

You can probably use your existing foil with a new furler install although you may need to trim or add a section.

The height of your foil gate off the deck is typical of a racing setup, giving foredeck crew room to work and make for quick hoists and takedowns. If you add a furler, make sure the drum is high enough to not interfere with your anchor shank as it pivots on the bow roller.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Suijin

Yup, race boat lol.

You can probably use your existing foil with a new furler install although you may need to trim or add a section.

The height of your foil gate off the deck is typical of a racing setup, giving foredeck crew room to work and make for quick hoists and takedowns. If you add a furler, make sure the drum is high enough to not interfere with your anchor shank as it pivots on the bow roller.

Most racing foils are not designed to transmit torque. If that is what you have, don't count on using it to reef or even furl in a blow... even if you can fit a new drum.

Jim

[Vancefish]

Actually Jim that brings up a whole different question.

Can you "reef" a Jib/Genoa by furling it? Rolling some in, to reduce sail?

As I said before. I've only sailed small boats with no Furlers (Laser, laser 2, Hobie cats and 505's).

Heck, we didn't even have Reefing Main sails! lol

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Vancefish

Actually Jim that brings up a whole different question.

Can you "reef" a Jib/Genoa by furling it? Rolling some in, to reduce sail?

As I said before. I've only sailed small boats with no Furlers (Laser, laser 2, Hobie cats and 505's).

Heck, we didn't even have Reefing Main sails! lol

Yes, this is commonly done. As one rolls it in, the shape usually gets worse, becoming fuller and with the max draft further aft, neither of which is a good thing in stronger winds. Most sailmakers will put a pad of foam or rope near the luff of the sail which helps avoid the above, and it does help some. The more you roll up, the worse the shape becomes, so most folks limit themselves to something like 15 or 20% reduction when going to windward. Off the wind it matters less. This is one reason that some folks don't like or use furlers, preferring to make headsail changes instead. I too was once young and strong and foolish and followed that philosophy...

My point in my earlier post was that to accomplish the rolling up, the drum applies torque to the foil in order to overcome the pull of the sail. The torque is applied at the bottom of the foil and it then tries to twist along its axis. This is both structurally worrisome and helps contribute to bad shape, so furler foils are designed to be quite stiff in torsion. Racing foils, whose duty is simply to hold the luff of the sail along the forestay, are strong transversely but not in torsion. If you tried to reef a sail with one I believe it would wind up like a candy cane and be destroyed.

Hope this helps you understand what you have.

Jim

[psk125]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Most racing foils are not designed to transmit torque. If that is what you have, don't count on using it to reef or even furl in a blow... even if you can fit a new drum.

Jim

We raced with a Tuffluff double slotted foil on our forestay before we purchased a furler. As Jim suggests, such a racing foil is not designed to turn around the forestay. You would end up with a bunch of aluminum or plastic corkscrew pretzels. Furlers come with specially designed foils to withstand the twisting it takes to wrap up the sails.

Since we continue to race, we have not had sails made for using only partially rolled. We always unfurl the whole sail to use it, and furl it all the way up when we are done. If we need a smaller sail, we take down the bigger one and hoist a smaller one. (There are still two slots in the r/f foil to enable doing this without going 'baldheaded'.) "You makes your choices and pays your money."