In mast furling mains - the good, bad and ugly

[Mojo31]

We are considering a 30 - 34' boat for daysailing and the ocassional weekend on the water on our inland lake in Texas. A good number of the boats that come up have an in mast furling main. I know you give up some sail area, and potentially some trim ability, but how are they really?

I'm interested in ease of use, especially single handling, and have read about some jamming issues. I'm not interested in racing the boat, so the performance hit is not that critical. I do anticipate vertical battens in the main.

what's the word from the cruising and drinking side of this joint?

 

[v-max]

If you're going to use the boat as you say, then a furling main makes alot of sense, with or without vertical battens. I have a Furlex system in a Seldon mast and it works like a charm. Some sail makers promise that vertical battens will not impact furling performance, but I'm just not sure about that. I'd write it into whatever contract what your expectations are. All my buddies with Beneteaus (40, 42 and 49's) seem to have a tough time getting their furling mains in or out. They require a winch handle both ways.

 

[Detoured]

Performance sailing - I'm a newbie. But we did move our boat from Maine to Florida for 4 years and were often traveling with other boats. It seams to me that the easier to use the main the more it gets used. We often saw other boats pop out the roller furling mains and jibs on a short reaches down the ICW and the boats with non furling mains make do with a jib only.

IMHO for day sails a furling main and jib is a great idea - you'll sail more and motor less.

 

[Hike Bitches!]

In mast furling sails suck ass...v-max is right that you generally have to grind them in and out from my experience (if you think grinding in both directions is better than flaking a regular mainsail). That being said, they are convenient. I do not see the need to ever have one my boat personally, but that is me. Good luck.

 

[Cruisin Loser]

I'm an ex-racer, and for family sailing I love the in-mast. Mine has worked very nicely for years. I have partial vertical battens on a new (last year) main, they work very well.

We'll roll the main in or out several times a day as wind comes or goes, use it to fine tune main area for balance, it's fine. My mast is a bloody tree trunk, very stiff. I don't believe the system would work well with a bendy spar.

It takes me less time to get under way or put the boat to bed in the evening than it did with my 12' beetle cat when I was a kid. It's also much faster than rigging a windsurfer.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

I have only used a couple of them, but really liked them. We did once manage to fold the headboard of the sail on a Catalina 309 as it furled. Did not even notice it when it happened, the problem became apparent next time the sail came (most of the way) out. A really big guy tugged on it VERY hard (after two of us tried and failed) and got it to unfold. I still can't believe it happened. Headboards fold like plywood, and it had to fold into an impossibly small gap. The boat was head-to-wind in about 20 knots apparent at the time.

 

[Raz'r]

If you're going for roller furling, why not the boom option? If it jams it can still come down, the weight is low, the sail can be full size and carry full battens.....

 

[Mojo31]

Thanks for the comments so far.

If I were constructing a boat from scratch, it would have no main furling. Moreover, it is not a question of sailing with or without a main - we always hoist the main.

I asked the question because there are a couple of boats available in this area that have furling masts. I would prefer they had conventional masts, but that is not something I can control. Believe it or not, there is not a lot of selection in this area. I don't really want to deal with shipping great distances either.

Keep the comments coming regarding problem areas, detriments to performance, etc.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Keep the comments coming regarding problem areas, detriments to performance, etc.

Well, OK, that Catalina 309 mainsail, with not a telltale on it, no battens, and reverse roach, was a weird looking thing, and it was hard to tell when it was properly trimmed. I'm sure a "real" main with full battens would perform better, but not sure by how much. Once trimmed, it was a pretty effective sail. I'm also sure I would not reef and unreef a "real" main by myself in dodgy conditions, let alone do it in the few seconds it took, so in a race of "me, alone, with 'real' main" vs "me, alone, with rf main" I'd bet money on the rf main in a lot of conditions because it could/would spend more time unreefed. I also liked the "infinite" reefing ability, as much or as little sail as you want, not dictated by a couple of rows of holes in the sail.

 

[Kenny Dumas]

I wouldn't take one offshore but for day sailing with the family it makes a lot of sense. I'd make sure and run it through it's paces with and without wind on a few test sails. One at our club on a 33 works very well, though it does require winch in / winch out. They put on a small electric winch and it's the old codgers favorite boat for drinking rum on an afternoon sail.

 

[v-max]

Keep the comments coming regarding problem areas, detriments to performance, etc.

Detriments to performance, I forgot about one other thing. If you're planning on having your furled main removed to put up a full battened racing main, you likely can't. I know you can't with the Furlex system, or the Harken one at least. If you do the foil will beat itself to death inside the mast and you'll have a nice assortment of parts on the deck that you'll have no idea what they do afterwards. The real downside to this is weight aloft with your furled main inside the mast when your racing main is being used.

 

[Becalmed]

I can't really see any advantages. The Selden works well, but they do have issues when not kept tensioned properly, or lubricated. On such a small boat, a track system is by far a better option with far less maintenance required. My 30m2 main goes up and down quicker than you can roller, and with few compromises.

 

[puddin]

IMHO, I'd give in mast furling a pass on boats the size you're looking at. A standard rig with track cars and some lazy jacks will give you better performance and much less complexity.

 

[U20guy2]

I would never have one just from a preference perspective and the fact that with a proper system the standard sail is just as easy to hoist and stow as a furled one only with much less gear and potential for something going wrong.

Our Bendy 323 in Croatia had a super slick set up with a canvas bag with the top edge on both sides held stiff by battents - then a zippered top all held up by a simple flaking system. I could hoist and douse the main solo easily right into the bag and if I was feeling really sailor like I would even zip up the bag. My next boat will have this for sure!!!!!!!!

This is what they look like all zipped up and stowed. http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/displayPhoto.jsp?boat_id=2179592&boatname=36%27+Dehler+36+CWS&photo_revised_date=1266507563000&photo_name=Photo+1&photo=1&url=&back=%2Fboats%2F1991%2FDehler-36-Cws-2179592%2FIstra%2FCroatia

The bag stays on the boom the main simply falls into it when you drop it.

 

[Raz'r]

Yep - I've got one one of those on the trimaran. Slick.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Things can go wrong with stack pack/lazy jack setups, and you generally can't retract the lazy jacks with one of those, so you've got lazy jacks and floppy sail cover hanging off both sides of your sail.

I never quite trusted the kind where a furling line goes into the mast. Furling lines can't be trusted, even if they have a cool barber-pole to climb.

I like the one in the 309 because there is a winch built in the mast, and the furler is a continuous loop that goes around it and back. You can crank the winch if there is a problem with the line, but I never had to.

How did we fold the headboard into this slot?

It didn't fold fore and aft, like flaking, as from inadequate halyard tension. That happens at the bottom of the sail on these. It folded in the vertical way, basically flogging the headboard enough to let a crease somehow get inside. In the "small world" category, the guy pulling the furling line on that occasion was the guy who owns the Multi-23 tri I sail. He's in good shape for a geezer, but it almost took the Incredible Hulk to get it back out.

 

[Keith]

No thanks....

Hate the mast howling sound at anchor..... and the potential for not getting it back inside, or having to use the emergency knife to reef, its expensive...

standard hoist for me......

 

[Hike Bitches!]

Tom,

Retractable lazy jacks are easy...it is about how you set it up in the first place. The key is to actually store them off the mast, just like you would any other vertical line on the boat to keep it from slapping.

 

[Cruisin Loser]

Hate the mast howling sound at anchor.....

]
I've never had my mast howl at anchor. The boat lines up to the wind, the slot is aft. I know a lot of them howl in a slip in a crosswind, but I haven't personally experienced that, either.

I do have a strip to plug the slot on board, hoist it with a flag halyard, I've put it up once just to be sure it works.

But for a 30'-er I agree - a main on a 30' boat shouldn't be that big a deal to hoist, drop, reef and furl. As boats get bigger the value of convenience grows. Hoisting a main on a 40-50' boat is a big deal, and the hassle can easily make the difference between sailing and motoring, especially for a couple. If I had a conventional main on my boat, I'd have an electric halyard winch.