So walk me through the in-mast furling mainsail

[Searles]

Had a lot of experience with a Tayana 45 ketch/schooner twin equal length masts with in mast furling multiple owners lots of trouble with old and new sails ,with the vsl in a marina berth and the wind at some angles Verry loud noise like blowing over not neck of a bottle,a thousand times louder ,not tunefull ,however horses for courses.⚓️⛵️

[JPK]

It seems that some of the more race-oriented racer/cruisers (X-Yachts, Arcona) go with furling booms rather than furling masts. I'm guessing that's in order to be able to go with sails with full horizontal battens, as well as reducing weight aloft?

[Rick Nordby]

We have a 1991 Beneteau that we have owned since 2000. It has in mast furling with no battens. We spend all summer aboard cruising and have cruised from our home base in the PNW to Mexico with it.


In all that time I have had 2 jams. The first time I hadn't figured out how to furl ours as we were brand new to the boat. The second time I didn't follow the procedure that I figured out after that first jam.


To furl our main I raise the boom with the topping lift about 8 inches (I have it marked with waxed thread on the topping lift line.) That seems to change the way the sail furls on the mandrel. Heading into the wind is also important if it's blowing.


We had no experience with in mast furling when we bought the boat and to be honest I was pretty concerned about it. In 21 years I have actually had more issues with the roller furling jib. I am totally sold on mine and would have no hesitation buying another.


One last thing, I have NEVER heard any kind of a whistle or other noise come from ours.

[Fullbore]

My last boat had non-furling main (furling mains rare then) and hank on headsails (furling jibs were very common).

Current boat has furling head and in-mast mainsail. Potential problems understood, but so far haven’t encountered any. Greatly enjoy the convenience, especially when solo.

[AlanT]

We lived aboard and sailed 6 years total with the Selden in mast furling system on a 49' boat, including two atlantic crossings and many ocean voyages.

The selden system was flawless for us once correctly installed (a wiring error at installation caused us some grief on our first voyage). We once had a batten poke through the top of the sail and prevented the sail from being furled, but it was easy enough to pull the batten out the bottom, thus solving the potential problem.

We sailed (as opposed to motoring) so much more because of the ease of (infinite) reefing than we would have had with a conventional reefing system.
We are cruising sailors and while I agree sail shape is not optimal with vertical battens, it was more than compensated for in our use by the ease of reefing/deploying/retrieving.

We did sail an identical boat with a boom furling system and found that system was far too dependent upon the exact angle of boom to mast for it to be suited to our use.

In conclusion. To each their own. Not trying to convince anyone but it suited us perfectly.
~Alan

[Hoodsail]

Ann, you two cant be over 80!!!
You sound soooo young!! Must be the outdoors and all that fresh air..
All the best...
Dave, the young whipper-snapper, at 66

[AiniA]

Originally Posted by Rick Nordby

One last thing, I have NEVER heard any kind of a whistle or other noise come from ours.

It must be brand-specific, Hood will howl and not in a good way.

[Eder]

A vertical batten jammed my main double reefed in a squall about 800 miles from Nuka. Replaced it with a non battened main...never happened again...still get some 200 mile days so who cares.


I like in mast but would take in boom as well any day.

[David B]

Originally Posted by Searles

In boom furling is a much better and more easily managed in every respect than in mast furling of any type ,plus the noise of the wind in the slot when the sail is furled in the mast will drive you off the boat ,your neighbours are an other matter .⚓️⛵️

In-boom for all I hear is tricky - and expensive.
As for slot noise, our Selden mast is silent - we have been in all sorts of conditions, including 60+ knots at sea and in a marina - no slot noise at all, since new in 2012.

[David B]

Originally Posted by James M B

So I have a Beneteau 373 since 2008 with in mast furling and here are a few tips.

Mine came with vertical battens which seem to add unwanted weight at the top of the sail causing a sag in light winds.
I have new sails coming without vertical battens and hope it is a better design.

I have heard that from a number of sources. We have no battens, and at this stage, that's the way we like it - simple.

Out of interest, how much of a drama is it to remove the battens (and install again) when you are taking the sail down for end of season etc?

[David B]

Originally Posted by Muaddib1116

My experience is limited, but so far, I am liking it a lot more than I thought I would. I have a main with slightly negative roach and no battens, which definitely simplifies things. I have a Selden mast furler.

I find that it's easy to unfurl the sail on pretty much any point of tack, if it has been furled properly. To furl it well, I find that's it's easiest to be on a starboard tack with a little bit of pressure on the sail. This prevents any looseness or folds when furling the sail in. I just have to keep an eye on the outhaul tension and make sure I'm feeding the sail into the mast with consistent tension.

I think it would actually be worse to try to furl the sail pointed dead up wind with the sail flapping around. Because I have no battens, I don't have to worry about them catching on the mast slot. Getting the sail jammed partway is my biggest fear about the system, so I try to be very careful when I am furling it.

Prior to getting my boat, I had read a lot about in-mast vs in-boom vs slab reefing on this forum, and I was dead set against in-mast based on all the horror stories and theoretical downsides (various jams and no roach/horizontal battens). I was hoping to find an in-boom system, because it seemed (in my head) to have all the benefits with none of the downsides. This is despite a friend of mine who has a Schaefer system telling me how much he hates it. If you do some more research on boom furling, you'll find that it is sensitive to a lot of factors as well, especially boom angle.

After using it for half a season, I think it all comes down to if you are able to figure out the idiosyncrasies of the systems and what the best way to use them are. So many of the jam stories I've read seem like they are probably due to user error. While it's true that in-mast furling does have the undeniable risk of getting jammed and not being able to pull your sail down, I think it's not as hard as people claim to prevent against that.

All that being said, I've probably jinxed myself and soon I'll mess it all up and swear off in-mast furling forever.

Similar to us - would not have in-mast in a fit. No choice in the end, and love our Selden system. Seems from what I read, not all in-mast systems are created equal ......

[David B]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Almost everyone I know who has an in-mast furler has had problems with it. Some multiple times. For no other reason than that, I would never own one. Convenience is never a good reason to do something wrong.

We obviously don't know eachother then .

I was a convert within the first few days of taking delivery of our Selden system. That was back in 2012. Still love it!

[David B]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

In mast furling is easier to put the boat away.
I find no other benefit.
-They lack a roach, a huge deficit, but ok for daysailing with a big genoa.
-they can work fine in a perfect world ..until .. they dont.
-"You just have to keep the tension etc etc" Translated as "In a perfect world they work fine" Try that when the boat is wallowing with the main flopping around.
-Squall coming? "start the engine etc etc "? Nah, Just slip in a reef with slab reefing and carry on as a sailor should!
-Slab reefing is actually faster and bulletproof if you ask me.
JMHO

We have sailed in 60+ knots in a place "no one goes in that weather" (we found out once we were in port). Totally secure with a just a bit of main out.

In 14 knts true, we manage 9.8.

We sail more because of the convenience.

I can easily single-hand our 50' mono because of the in-mast. Out - 15 seconds, in - 20 seconds.

Very happy with our Selden system, and totally changed my hatred for in-mast.

[David B]

Originally Posted by Rallyguy

And I'll make the case for the inverse - I contend that set up and used correctly, IMF can be 100% reliable - and therefore is actually SAFER than going up on deck in building seas. With a nice side helping of convenience too. : )

I'll go with that too!

[David B]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

To state the obvious, any slab reefing or dousing a traditional mainsail can easily be done from the cockpit when properly designed to do so. The argument that it’s more convenient to reef an in-mast furler applies only when the owner allows a rigging arrangement to necessitate going on deck. Kind of ironic in a debate about convenience.

I would love to see how you stow your mainsail from the cockpit, all zipped up or covered?