On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:26:31 -0700, "Capt. JG"
wrote:

Man, I hate them. Perhaps some are better than others, but the last
experience I had with them was that you have to be dead into the wind for
unfurling, but especially for furling. There's so much friction between the
sail and the track groove that I was concerned we would damage the sail.
Headed directly into the wind isn't always a problem, but it can be when the
wind is shifting constantly (an example is the hurricane gulch area on the
bay). In other areas, this is also possible, so it seems like it's a lot of
pain for very little gain.

I also wasn't thrilled with the outhaul and furling lines (a continuous line
that's got two clutches). We couldn't get the main all the way out (the clew
position is marked on the boom). At first I thought it was mis-marked, but
then when we anchored for lunch, I went up there and we examined it closely.
There was still a wrap or two inside the mast. Sitting at anchor, we tugged
and heaved and finally got it all the way out, then furled it back and
unfurled it a couple of times to ensure it was going to work when we needed
it. Maybe there's an adjustment, but not in the middle of a class.

The furling mechanism has a "ratchet" position, which is basically the
outhaul lock for furling, and a free-style position for unfurling. So,
bottom line, you still have send someone up there to switch it if you need
to power up or if you need to set the reef point. With normal non-furling
mains, you might need to go forward (or not, depending on your reefing
system), but I thought the whole point was to make things more simple.
Doesn't seem that simple to me, not to mention the position switch is none
too easy to use - it seemed to be pretty stiff.

Interesting as in-mast furlers are becoming more and more common among
the boats that I see here (and you got to sail quite a long way to get
here) and not to mention that Amel installs in-mast furlers as
standard.

I'm not quite sure what make/model of furler you are using as all the
manual systems I see use two lines, furling and outhaul/unfurling, and
both lines run back to the cockpit.

The system I built is not "in-mast" and of course doesn't have any
sail to housing friction but I furl and unfurl alone with no
particular problems. I do use a cockpit mounted winch to get the last
few inches on the outhaul, but then most slab furling systems use a
"furling winch" for the same purpose.

I don't believe that a furler is the theoretical "best" form of sail
reducing but I can tell you from personal experience that it does
result in more sail being up for longer periods then the old slab
reefing system. Mainly because it is easier physically to make or
reduce sail so I reef later and make sail earlier then I would with
the old system.

And talking about winches and difficulty in getting sail set, I defy
you to get the last few inches of main sail hauled up without a winch
on my boat with the old slab reefing system.

Cheers,

Bruce
(bruceinbangkokatgmaildotcom)