View Full Version : query about furling mailsails
Arie Nudel
03-02-2003, 02:54 pm
In the Hunters many have the option for a furling main sail. The advantages are obvious but I am wondering if there are and main disadvantages, I am currently looking at a Hunter 326.
Alberto Marty
03-02-2003, 09:25 pm
I am planning to install a Facnor (Sailnet catalog)mainsail furler on my Venture 25. After I do it I will let everybody know.
Bill O'Donovan
03-02-2003, 09:34 pm
1. They are a nightmare if they jam in the track. Yet I have never heard of this happening. Plus the screw thread is usually visable, so you can get to it. 2. Loose foot slows performance. It turns out just the opposite is true, enabling the main to be flown as a modified spinnaker. I don't have an in-mast furler, but they sound fine.
Brian
03-02-2003, 09:57 pm
There actually is performance lost with most furling mainsails. Mainly because of the lack of battens, slightly because of the loose foot. One of your other responses mentions the loose foot can be beneficial and the main can be used like a modified spinnaker. I don't know how much performance gain this will get. If there is any, it is only running downwind, when you would use a spinnaker. You will lose performance on other points of sail. Some sailors use in-boom furlers so you can use a sail with battens. A final thought- If you aren't club racing, all this stuff really isn't worth worrying about. If you sail short handed a lot, furling sails are great to have. Not having to leave the cockpit to go sailing is worth a slight loss in performance.
newly anonymous
03-02-2003, 11:37 pm
I just took delivery on a vertical-batten mainsail built by the UK loft in Sweden. It has roach similar to any full-batten main, which is a great improvement to the scalloped leach on the OEM main that came with the boat. Although I've only sailed a couple days with this technology, the performance boost is incredible. I have more power and yet am significantly less tender. The sail is easier to trim and has a wider slot in which it is "in trim." A buddy of mine with an h380 ordered his vertical batten main at the same time that I did, and we spent this past Saturday sailing his, waiting to try mine out until Sunday. Both boats showed similar performance gains. Part of this is that we replaced poorly built OEM sails made of low-grade dacron with well-built, laminate sails with a tri-radial design. But vertical battens are the way to go, in my opinion, whether you race your boat or not.