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Roger Long Roger Long is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jun 2007
Posts: 739
Default headsail furlers -the good, the bad and the ugly...sound off!

"RichH" wrote

A furler usually cannot tolerate heavy luff loads, as would be
necessary to change the luff entry shape (the 'forward curve shape' at
the luff) of a jib/genoa; crank on luff tension to a furler with a
halyard and to *Jam*. ..... probably the prime reason that you'll
never ever see a genoa/jib furler on a serious racing boat.

This somewhat depends on halyard geometry. You see some setups where the
halyard leads at an angle from the foil. This is good for minimizing
halyard wraps but pulls the end of the foil against the stay. My halyard is
pretty much in line with the stay but short so no wrap problems or strain.
I get pretty good halyard tension with my rather unusual jib halyard
arrangement. The halyard cleat is on a track with a strong tackle that
hauls it down the mast and the fall led back to the cockpit. I had not
trouble rolling with good tension last year. The sailmaker recommended that
I release the tension on my new sail before stowing to preserve the shape so
this arrangment has proven quite convienient. I occasionally forget to
de-tension the halyard and have not noticed any difference in furling force.
I did work a good gop of Teflon grease down into the end of the foil before
putting the rig up this year and have my foil adjusted so the end runs on
the terminal swage sleeve.

So Roger, put your working jib back on board when travelling as your
can roll that puppy down to a 70% sail.


The shape of my new Genoa is pretty good at about 70% size. I had luff foam
put in which I'm told has gone out of style but does seem to do a good job
of increasing the amount that can be rolled up. I will probably switch to
the working jib if knowingly facing a long beat in 25 knot plus conditions
but I wouldn't make the switch just for traveling. With the third reef I
had put in the main and a touch of power, I should be able to handle
anything with the 135% that is likely to come up unexpectedly.

BTW I had a dock neighbor very interested in my fuel system yesterday. He
takes fishing parties out so is one of the few people still using much fuel.
He said that so few people are buying fuel that lots of people are getting
poor fuel because the long hoses are sitting out in the sun for much longer
periods. The fuel polisher in Portland evidently is no longer in business
this year.

--
Roger Long