Gordon wrote:
I'm debating adding roller furler reefing or staying with the basics.
What say you all for an old (65) single hander?

We had roller furling on our last boat and don't on our current one in
which we just finished a 2 year cruise around the Pacific. Before we
leave again on our next major trip, we will definitely have roller
furling on our jib and probably on our staysail. In addition, it will
save on the all too precious available storage since we won't be hauling
around 3 separate jibs. Finally, without the lowered jib to work
around, it will make anchoring a little easier.

There will be days in which it seems like you are constantly reefing,
unreefing or changing the headsail configuration. Some days (and
nights) are just like that. As far as the single handing vs. double
handing issue, they are basically the same thing since when underway on
long passages, unless you are willing to wake up or interrupt whatever
your mate is doing whenever you make a sail change, 9 out of 10 times
you are likely to be doing it alone anyway. Other couples may be
different, but that's how things are with us.

I note that at least you don't have a bowsprit. That does make the
headsail changes a bit easier, but if you can afford it, I would still
recommend adding the reefing. This will probably ignite a firestorm of
opinions, but when the time comes, I will be looking real hard at
Harken's new line of cruising furlers. I don't know anything about them
yet except the marketing fluff that's been posted on the net
(http://www.harken.com/press/Harken-C...gFurler07.php), but I had
Harken on our last boat and it served me well.

Hope this helped - Dan