BYYB Forums

I think I may have come up with a workable solution for a main sail roller furling. I'm going to tinker with it some and I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Here is the basic sketch.

Kevin
That will work for your sails but I don't think it work with a gaff.

Kevin, do you plan to combine this with a headsail furler? My concern would be you will also need to reduce the headsail with the main or the boat will become very unbalanced and want to constantly fall off because of the large headsail.

What happens when you currently partially furl the main, in a reefing situation? I haven't had any experience with furling mains so am wondering if having more sail along the luff rather than the foot, when the wind is really piping, is still going to push the rail down or give you much more weather helm since the CE is much higher than with a traditional reefing set up.

Yes, the headsail is already on a furler that works great. I've always liked the idea of a roller main and with the problems I've been having with the sail track cars binding up I decided I would give it a try.
I Like the idea of being able to deploy or retreive either sail with the simple pull of a string. I should be able to route the lines back to the driver seat as well so passengers dont have to move out of the way whenever I'm rasing or lowering the main.

Sounds to me like you have it figured out. I see it on bigger boats and was on a delivey where the boat had a furling main but I was simply crew and the Captain called the sail change. It was a big ol Bennateau and a hell of a ride.... very safe all the way and I learned alot by just being there. I constantly had splashes on my glasses and my ass remained wet for three days.... as soon as it got dry; it got wet again, from me pissing myself or just another little breaking wave.

It can get pretty BRINEY out there.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Interesting idea but what do you do about mast hoops. Don't you need to secure the sail to the mast somehow?

No mast hoops required. the cable running through the middle of the pcv will be tight, there will be a small gap between the mast and the sail but it shouldnt be too big of a deal. if it is then I'll use some kitchen border to take up the gap, just like the plans say to do between the rudder box and rudder.

This is exactly how in mast furling systems work. These systems have been tried, though I don't think many gaffers have done it.

The few general advantages I see are, single line reefing and possible removal of some minor tackle in the conventional reefing accommodations (slab).

Typical problems with this arrangement are: mast bend, dramatic increase in mast column compression, difficulty getting reasonable furled sail shape (particularly in building winds) without some kind of foot insert, lose of efficiency along the luff from the larger mast/sail gap, developing enough power (using a simple drum) to reef a sail, considerable additional weight aloft and complexity added to the rig.

I had mainsail roller furling, on a Choy Lee I owned years ago, which was difficult to use to say the least. Okay, the luff was 35' and better systems are available, but the rolled up main is a difficult sail to make set.

Also, the mainsail should be cut differently then a conventional sail.