Roller furling main question

[danstanford]

There is no question that furling mains are extremely convenient and easy to use, particularly reefing and stowing after your sail. If you take care furling and watch for a jam then act carefully you can avoid a disastrous situation through carefully moving it in and out to remove the jam.
If you want to go your fastest a conventional main gives you extra sail area through roach and that is faster. I race so I would be hard pressed to go back to a furling main.

[s/v 'Ale kai]

As pointed out, the OP is considering a behind-the-mast main furling system. I've never had one of those but have a few comments for consideration.



I had a Benenteau 393 with in-mast furling for 10 years, raced her and cruised up and down the California coast.



Granted, the 393 generally doesn't get a good enough PHRF to race effectively unless you switch to standard main rigging with battens, etc. The PHRF committee doesn't give you breaks for having in-mast furling.



But you say you only plan to cruise (anytime two boats are on the water, they're racing). My Beneteau furler jammed repeatedly the first 2 years and always in the worst conditions: 40 kt winds, incoming tide, rocks everywhere. That's when you wrap your main around the mast and turn on the engine.



However, the Beneteau in-mast furler is a screw drive mounted inside the mast and is as big as the inside of the mast. When the line jams, it's always in that small space between the furler screw and the inside of the mast. Obviously, you won't have THAT problem with an external furler.



Still, you should know I finally figured out that the furling line would flatten around the screw - especially if partially furled (reefed) in very high winds. The flattened line then was just small enough to jam between screw and mast. The repair involved removing sail and furler, then reinstalling them. It's about a 6 hour job with screws dropped inside the mast opening on a regular basis. That opening is about 4" above the maximum reach of your arm. But I ramble.


If you go with a mast furling system, be sure to replace the furling line about once per year, and more often if you find you've reefed in high winds. Keep in mind that you won't get decent sail shape, especially reefed. But if you're not racing, it's not that big of a deal. A furler is much nicer than climbing on the coaming and gathering in a big main.



All in all, I would have been happier with a standard main and lazy jacks. Loose the main halyard and let the main drop down onto the boom. Serve drinks and kick back. But that's just me.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by s/v 'Ale kai

...All in all, I would have been happier with a standard main and lazy jacks. Loose the main halyard and let the main drop down onto the boom. Serve drinks and kick back. But that's just me.

And I'm pretty happy with a standard main and no lazy jacks. Loose the main halyard and let the main drop down all over the deck for my wife to gather. Serve drinks and kick back. But that's just me.

Oh, did I mention? It's bolt rope too, so not only does it fall on deck but without her attention it is just as likely to blow right off the boat. (Never happened in 35 years, but we're getting older now. Can't say how long a 72+ woman will be willing and able to run forward and do that.)

[Slovak]

Originally Posted by Glenn.Brooks

Looking for pros and cons regarding roller furling mains.

Every boat is different, and many forum posts extrapolate based on what someone read, heard, or observed - rather than actual hands-on usage.

We have a Facnor behind-the-mast conversion on our 37', installed by the prior owner. We sail in the PNW. Convenience, virtually infinite reefing points, and ease of use make it a no brainer to use frequently. Shifty winds or calms interspersed with gusts? No problem to sail for 15 minutes and adjust as needed.

There are some nuances to using it - how to trim it reasonably well, how to furl without creases depending on wind strength and point of sail, etc. Maintenance is minimal, and if I or a future owner ever wishes to revert back to a hoisting main sail, it would take about 2 hours to disassemble the Facnor.

We may go 0.3 or 0.5 knots slower due to the sail shape, but we like being under sail. We use the furling main way more frequently than hoisting a sail or trying to reef and shake out sail constantly. Our next boat will have a furling main too.

[Tetepare]

There's two solutions, an add-on vertical furler and a furling boom.

Slovak's looks (I assume) like this:





I've also seen variations that are, how to say, independent of the mast and are effectively like a furling headsail, but straight up and down. Meaning, the sail does not store away into some tube, it's open to the environment. I can't say offhand who makes these, but I've seen very, very few.



Another option is the furling boom, and there are many options. All are heavy. One of the most popular is the Schaeffer



In talking to Schaeffer owners, probably 75% love them, and 25% hate them. Of the 75% lovers, oddly enough, at least half I'd talked to have had to replace it, or do a major refit (yet they still love them.)

I think you have a good real-world (i.e., a real owner) opinion with Slovak's post above concerning the Facnor.

There are plenty of the Schaeffer booms, so I'd think there would be real opinions. Good luck.

[Talbot]

I had behind mast furling on my last boat. I also had full length battens which significantly assisted sail shape, but made it easier to jam. The sail cloth was also very much lighter than original specification. Catamaran sails tend to be heavier sailcloth than mono as they and the rigging have to take the shock of wind gusts, which monos can spill be heeling.

I love the benefit of furling main. but the more I used the behind mast system, the less I liked it as a bad weather solution. I have already mentioned the lighter sailcloth, but another problem is that reefing this sail does not lower the centre of effort of the sail very much until significant proportion of the sail is reefed. Try comparing it to the reduced centre of effort of slab reefing.

What I would like to try is a good boom rolling system like leisurefurl or similar.
It appears to offer all the benefits, without the disadvantages. The biggest advantage is if you do get an unrecoverable jam, you can still lower the sail and wrap around the boom until conditions allow you to attempt to recover. inmast does not allow this.

[DeValency]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

A lot of modern boats are very headsail driven

Interesting... I thought it was the opposite these days - not necessarily "modern" boats but newer - I see more and more smaller headsails and self tacking - to make things easy on the day to day shorthanded or entry level coastal sailing - and a large main.

And it is a matter of the overall boat design and expected use, on how much of the performance is based on the headsails vs. the main.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by DeValency

Interesting... I thought it was the opposite these days - not necessarily "modern" boats but newer - I see more and more smaller headsails and self tacking - to make things easy on the day to day shorthanded or entry level coastal sailing - and a large main.

And it is a matter of the overall boat design and expected use, on how much of the performance is based on the headsails vs. the main.

When I bought my boat in 1986 the previous owner said it was 'head sail driven", which I took to mean that the headsail was the most important sail. However I found that as wind strength increases I am much better off, in regards to speed and pointing, to change headsails than to reef the main. We keep a full mainsail until we're over powered with it and a 85% jib, about 25 knots true when cruising, a bit higher when we have 10 people hiking the boat, maybe 28 knots. At that point we reef the main. So for me the boat is mainsail driven.

Ours is by no means a modern boat. Many newer boats have small jibs and they definitely need the main, especially in in lighter winds. Once the breeze comes up their full main and smaller jibs work well. Without an effective main these boats suffer. Roller furling mains are less effective.

Boats with large genoas are good in light air but the roller furling mains are not helping much. In heavier winds with rolled up jibs and poor mainsail shape they have to make do with "good enough" .

[DeValency]

Originally Posted by wingssail

When I bought my boat in 1986 the previous owner said it was 'head sail driven", which I took to mean that the headsail was the most important sail. However I found that as wind strength increases I am much better off, in regards to speed and pointing, to change headsails than to reef the main.

Boats with large genoas are good in light air but the roller furling mains are not helping much. In heavier winds with rolled up jibs and poor mainsail shape they have to make do with "good enough" .

All boats are different in their sail plan and performance in different conditions, including similar brand and models.

My Contest, is definitely a headsail driven, being ~35% in S.A. vs the Genoa, even before counting the 300 sf. cutter sail (also furled, like the genoa and in-mast main). The cutter is actually my most used sail.

So a smaller less efficient in-mast furled main acts, as I feel, more like a mizzen on a ketch from the driving point of view, although it adds a lot to the optimal air streaming and pointing/balancing stability. And like in your case we can reef much later, due to the relative sail area and being on the lower to medium displacement hull.

As for the OP, Alberg 37, has a more balanced main to genoa SA ratio with a large enough genoa, based on his planned use, if the retrofitted main furling system was well installed and in a good shape, he will enjoy it without much sacrifice on performance.