Choosing a headsail furler
 

My 1987 Cabo Rico 38 has an Isomat mast. As such, the masthead wire fittings are stemballs. Since a stemball headstay fitting necessitates using a stemball eye to toggles to permit enough headstay articulation for a furler, this results in the top of the foil being a little lower than a mast with a standard headstay with no stemball. What this boils down to is that I'm having trouble deciding on the best option for a roller furler unit. The local rigger likes (and likes to sell) Harken. From what I've read, unless I can maintain 7-10 degrees halyard to headstay angle, I'll likely have wrap issues (from Harken's manual). Schaefer allows parallel but would rather a small angle. Is a halyard restrainer my only option? My general feeling is that a restrainer is not optimal. Which leads to my final option. I could "deal with" and address the other issues of a Profurl in order to gain the benefits of their anti-wrap thing-a-ka-bob. Does it actually work? Or am I better off with a halyard restrainer on a Harken or Schaefer? On a related subject, if I were to go with Harken, on a heavy cruiser am I better off with a MK-IV or a Cruising unit? And now it looks like Harken is discontinuing the Cruising Unit and replacing it with the ESP, which just looks really cheap and of cheesy plastic.

My Beneteau First 38 also has an Isomat mast, and a previous owner went with a Schaefer furler, and they installed a restrainer in the form of a large bail bolted through the center of the mast that keeps all the halyards near the mast for about six inches below the blocks. My I/J is much more acute than yours, and without the bail, the lead to the furler is very negative, so removing it didn't seem to be an option.

I don't particularly like the look of the approach, but since I don't have a real spinnaker block on a crane, the restrainer also lets me fly a chute with a jib halyard (not wire) without worrying about chafe due to entering the masthead block at the wrong angle, since all three jib halyards are under the restrainer. It does induce a little friction in the hoisting and shortens the max luff of the genoa nearly a foot, but since I'm not racing, I can live without the minor sail area difference.

When I bought the boat, the furler was very stiff, and Schaefer gave me a very nice price on a new lower bearing since they had re-designed it to eliminate an engineering problem.

Thanks for the feedback. Interesting approach. Nice boat. Isn't a First 38 what the Copelands sailed RTW? I had heard that Schaefer was taking care of folks with the older bearings. It's always nice to hear about a company who takes care of and respects their customers. -Tom

BTW, perhaps I'm being too hasty in my judgement of the Harken ESP. I have not actually seen one in person. It just *seems* to be made to a price point not to a specific purpose. If the MK-IV and ESP are constructed to equal quality levels but directed to racing / cruising respectively, then great. If however the ESP is built to a price first and purpose second, I'm less interested. Nothing wrong with a good price, but robustness is my priority for my particular application.

Profurl anti-wrap thing-a-ma-bob
 

"I could "deal with" and address the other issues of a Profurl in order to gain the benefits of their anti-wrap thing-a-ka-bob. Does it actually work?"

I bought and installed a Profurl on my Bristol 34 in 2001. The wrapstop feature was a primary reason for selecting Profurl and I can report that it has worked flawlessly. I was a little concerned about the carbon steel bearings but have had no problems with them.

Jim Fulton

Thanks Jim. By "other issues" I'm referring to the many instances I've read of foil set screws backing out of their own volition. I've experienced this first hand on a buddies boat. I think it's a matter of proper use of thread locker on the set screws and fasteners. Lots and lots of folks seems happy with their Profurl units. -Tom

Options
 

Hi,
Any of the furlers you mention would be good; manufacturers that have survived this long have attended to engineering shortfalls. Of them all, I'd still favor Schaefer first, then Harken, then Profurl. Improper installation, these days, is what causes most of the problems.
Speaking of which, that halyard-gathering bail mentioned above sounds like a very, very bad idea. Is the angle of jib halyard to foil more than about 8 degrees? If so, in addition to limiting hoist, you are putting potentially dangerous lateral load on the foil, and doing it in an area where there is no bushing to support it. I've seen foils fail from this. A further issue is that much more tension is required on the halyard to achieve the same tension. Note that Schaefer's manual calls for 6" or less from the top of the swivel to the top of the foil.
Also note that, while it is possible to skip the restrainer, I think that it is never a good idea; some boats can go for years with no problems at all, and the next thing you know we are replacing a furler (and sometimes the stay) because of a halyard wrap.
As for the spinnaker halyard thing, I'd much rather have a nicely articulated block on a nice long crane, that could be used on both tacks.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss