Mainsail Furling/Reefing System by CDI

[delevi]

This looks cool You can download the manual for more details. Looks like a great system to furl the main and have limitless reefing configurations which can be done very quickly from the cockpit. A few negatives I have pondered however:

I wonder if having the sail a few inches aft of the mast would induce weather helm. Also, some flex on the luff? Vertical battens? Not sure about those and how effective they are. Also the stress points would be at the top and bottom of the mast where the furler attaches. I wonder if such a load distribution would have consequences.

Leon

[Scott]

I would love to have an in boom furler and a much better sail to compliment it. But the law says I gotta feed my kids and the wife says I gotta pay for their college.

[delevi]

Scott,

You're forgetting the 40' yacht to go with that in-boom furler & great sails

[Scott]

No Im not,



Wife still says I gotta pay for college so's they can learn to wear cool hats and get neat T-shirts like the "Farfrompuken pub crawl " T. (Honest, I wear it sailing almost every weekend and its a sanctioned sorority event!!!!!)

[RandyMoon]

Dang it delevi, I wish you hadn't posted that link to the CDI furler. Now I have to figure a way to buy one.

[Night Sailor]

I think this is going to be too much weight aloft, furled or set, for a tippy boat like a Mac, even with full ballast. And it would only be worse when you empty ballast and motor for high speed. And add to that, the additional windage created to slow you down and it seems to take all the fun out of it for me.

I sure wish I'd had something like that on some previous much larger deep keel boats on which I've wrestled mains and mizzens!

[RandyMoon]

EDIT - It looks like Gerald Gordon did something very similar in the "rigging" section on the Mod Page.

http://www.macgregorsailors.com/cgi-bin ... at=Rigging

[delevi]

It (the luff) isn't quite the same as the headsail furler. It is much stiffer and has a stay running all the way through it. The drum is also larger. The luff will bow somewhat when beating in heavier winds. I got this from CDI via email when I asked some questions. They were really good about getting back to me fast, but the more I think about it, the more I think that the performance downsides outweigh the benefits. My latest idea, which I think I will implement when I order my new sails by year's end is the Dutchman mainsail flaking system (see my other thread) along with jiffy reefing for the clews and tacks (separate lines, not single line.) With the dutchman, there should be no need to tie off the exess sail when reefed and with jack lines on the slugs, all reefing can be done from the cockpit. I'm even considering 3 reef points, but that is a lot of lines. May pay off in my sailing grounds, however.

[RandyMoon]

I saw your other post. So what sail are you thinking about buying? I have seen the Dutchman but thought that my sail is too stiff to flake like they show in the ad.

[delevi]

I'm considering 3 types of sails:
1.UK Tapedrive (silver series)
2. NorthSails Dacron 6.5 to 7 oz main with 110 jib which will have laminate sandwiched between Dacron
3. A combination of Dacron near the fore section and laminate towards the leech. I believe it was by Schaefer ??? not sure. I didn't bookmark the site and can't seem to find it again. Buying sails isn't easy.

Cheers,
Leon

[delevi]

Now looking at Sail Warehouse. The brand I couldn't remember is Haarstik (maybe incorrect spelling.) They offer a part dacron, part laminate with the laminate in the 40% trailing section of the main.

[RandyMoon]

Please keep everyone informed. I would like to upgrade next year. I am not happy with the stock sails.

[Terry]

Not sure if this is a dumb thought, but I have begun to wonder why the main has to furl into the mast. If it could furl into the boom one may still be able to have battens. But alas someone has surely thought about it already and found it not doable otherwise it would be available. I would just like to know why not.

While on the topic of sails, headsails to be more specific, I have noticed a number of sailboats with the headsail stored in a bag at the bottom of the forestay. It appears that they can be simply hoisted up right out of the bag but I wonder if they can be down hauled back into the bag easy enough. I still have my two hank on headsails and am looking for an easy method for single handedly bringing down my headsail without having it land in the water. I haven't quite resigned myself to a CDI furler yet and if I can do without one I will. Any good methods out there for bringing down those sails by yourself?

[delevi]

I have begun to wonder why the main has to furl into the mast. If it could furl into the boom one may still be able to have battens. But alas someone has surely thought about it already and found it not doable otherwise it would be available. I would just like to know why not.

In boom furling units are available and are often used on larger yachts. The starting cost is about $5k and goes up from there. They also weigh a ton. Not a real practical mod for the Mac

[wtelliott]

OK, now you folks have my interest. Why couldn't a person use a standard CDI furling system to make an "above the boom" furler? It really wouldn't have to be a whole lot higher than the boom. (I'm guessing). and should behave somewhat similar to a loose footed main. I am more than willing to admit that I haven't a clue about most this stuff. It just seems that a handy feller(and there are an abundance of them on this site) should be able to design and install something like this. If I'm off base on this, please feel free to let me know. I will not be offended.