Changing from stand alone furling gear to headstay

[John Jamieson]

Hello,
I'm considering purchase of a Cape Dory 28. The owner replaced the existing headstay with furling gear. I've always liked a simple headstay and hank on headsails. I do not trust such a rig and would want to replace the gear with a beefy headstay and the necessary hardware. Is this a difficult or expensive modification?

[Matthew Sebring]

No, it's neither difficult nor particularly expensive. Talk to a local rigger about replacing your furler with a standard forestay and a sailmaker about replacing the lufftape on you jib with a set of hanks.

[Brian Duff]

Whats wrong with the furler ?

Headsail roller furling and reefing gears have become safe reliable equipment , found on nearly every boat, and will function perfectly as long as installed and set up correctly.

What kind of furler ?

That said - my last boat had no furler, but that was becasue I couldn't afford one !

[John Jamieson]

Probably nothing. But then again, it adds complexity. And without redundancy, that could be a problem. There is no removable inner stay for hanking on a mule or worker when the wind pipes up. The owner on this boat has no other headsails other than the furling 140.

It's very difficult to get a sail to set properly once you start rolling her up in a breeze. Start rolling and the center of effort moves up, just when you need it lower. Tensioning the luff is another problem as is controlling draft. Foam luff pads help, but its still quite a compromise.

I have yet to sail on a boat where furling in a breeze produced anything close to the shape attainable with a hank on sail. Sailmakers design each sail to meet a specific condition. A small blade jib gives great windward performance in tough going. Not so with a half or 3/4 rolled up genoa designed for moderate air.

Furling gear is a wonderful invention and certainly has it's place. I prefer to keep things much more simple aboard my own boat.
Best - J.

[Ian McColgin]

Most furlers have the foil right over the stay and with the right directions you or a rigger can get it off. But you're looking at modifying your big jib and buying a smaller one anyway, so why not keep with the furler and just add a 100% jib?

G'luck

[John Jamieson]

This particular boats furling gear completely replaces the existing headstay. At the very least, I would add a removable inner stay for hanking on a jib or low aspect ratio lapper. Over the stay type furling systems make more sense to me.
Best - J

[allene]

I have had my boat for 19 years and had a furling setup for 17 of them. I removed it two years ago because it was old and became a safety issue. Perhaps I can add some comment on sailing with the two set-ups. My setup was a little unusual in that the sails were hanked on even when furled. That said, it was much easier to go out and sail and put the boat away with the furling system. However, it was much harder to change sails with the furling setup. This was especially true if the sail was too large as you have to put it out all the way to take it down, and then you have too much sail up. All in all, if I were in your situation, I would keep the furling setup until I got more comfortable with the boat, perhaps a couple of seasons.

Another thing to consider is a new sail made for furling. They make improvements all the time. A fellow with a boat near mine has a sail cut with multiple cloth weights so that the sail keeps its shape under various conditions.

[John Jamieson]

Appreciate everyones advice and insights. Best - J.

[Brian Duff]

your are right as Rayne by stating that furled sail shape comes nothing near as effective as a sail that is the right size.

That said, a good furler ( read not Profurl) with some padding on the luff, will produce an ok shape, great shape even when compared with foredeck work on so many of these aweful fiberglas glossboxes people use today. I would hate to have to get up forward on something like a Catalina 440 on a wet day in 25+ knots. I'd probably get hurt on that skating rink. Many boats are equally bad, that is not a particular tear into the catalina, but man is that 440 UGLY !

The cape dory, probably not so bad, but still glossy and slick !

[kristian]

Originally Posted by John Jamieson

This particular boats furling gear completely replaces the existing headstay. At the very least, I would add a removable inner stay for hanking on a jib or low aspect ratio lapper. Over the stay type furling systems make more sense to me.
Best - J

Is that an old Hyde unit then?