Hi Tony,
What you want is based on how you would use it. The big one is are you talking roller furling or roller reefing? Furling is to put it away, reefing is to use it partially rolled up. The next question is have you ever formally raced a sailboat? Do you normally trim the luff tension of a headsail for performance? You can comfortably cruise forever with a fixed luff tension, but it will drive even a retired racer crazy to look at an improperly trimmed sail. I do my best to conceal my thoughts on my brothers IP38 when it comes to sail trim. The last time he caught me with a little grimace he thought he was at hull speed. I tweaked three control lines and we gained a knot. Hull speed is very often under rated. The feature that splits furlers into two groups is a double swivel or the lack of one. Catalina only supplies Schaefer Marine units these days (with a double swivel). They offer a good bang for the buck without going overboard on cost. Harken also makes units with a double swivel and I'm sure I've missed one or two others. Harken also has a spilt drum feature on some units that allows the drum to be removed and the foil left in place for racing. Check the rules before you invest in this niche solution. If you are a cruiser at heart and can't ever recall trimming luff tension because you changed direction then a double swivel unit may be an extra expense without much of a benefit for you. Whether you can reef as well as furl is not so much in the construction of the furler, although I'd highly recommend a ball bearing unit, but in the design of the luff of the sail. There's a long tapered padded section near the luff that draws in the draft of the sail as it starts to roll so the sail is reshaped for higher velocity winds. Attempting to reef a non-reefing sail push the cloth forming the draft into the unfurled portion deepen the draft making unsafe in higher velocity winds. You actually heel more and have less boat speed until you are no longer making progress. Phil Agur <http://www.catalina27.org/public_pages/profile270.htm> s/v Wing Tip C270 LE #184 MMSI 366901790 From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of farrercove Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 3:48 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [IC27A] Self furling jib I want to install a self furling jib and would appreciate any suggestions as to best make of fuler and approximate cost for furler and jib.I am in B.C. and was wondering if anyone had dealt with any suppliers here. Tony Spence Vancouver [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
