John,
I look at Catalina as the value leader when it comes to sailing. The first thing I'd look at is what is Catalina doing? You known that their choice is going to do the job right, stand the test of time, and not break the bank with fancy extras. They put on good solid and fully functional hardware. My brother is a cruiser and I'm a racer/cruiser so we have different sailing styles. I expect a high level of performance when I'm sailing but I'm not possessed by it either. On occasion he'll catch me looking at his sails and say "what?" and then conversation goes well if you. At that point I'll spend a few seconds trimming sails and his IP38 comes to life and typically picks up 20% in boat speed. It's a good thing an Island Packet is a masthead rig like a Catalina because it's a very hard transition from sailing fractional rigs to masthead and back. The neat thing is CY and IP buy the same brands of deck hardware so I've already handled his gear in a smaller size. I'd say stick with Schaefer Marine. Adjusting halyard tension for the prevailing wind is critical to proper headsail shape and a mast head rig is headsail powered. The critical element in the Schaefer design is a double swivel that allows your normal halyard to remain useful for sail trim while allowing the sail to roll up below it. We have a single groove 750 but a more serious distance cruiser should opt for a twin groove model that can be used for a twin drifter rig negating the need for a spinnaker to run effectively downwind. 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 John Wilson Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 6:01 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [IC27A] Inexpensive Roller Furling system Hi, Looking for suggestions for an inexpensive Roller Furling system. thanks, - John "Crab Pot" '76 Catalina 27 Trad. #2455 Sailing the great Chesapeake Bay from Rock Hall, MD ---------------------------------------------------------- John Wilson | 410-778-4686 | [email protected] <mailto:john%40rockhallcanvas.com> ----------------------------------------------------------
