Headsail furlers. Are they needed for cruising?

If you're sailing solo, hanking on the headsail is possible, but a furler will be safer and give you more confidence. You can't stow a hanked on headsail without going forward. If you drop it in heavy winds and it goes in over the side, with sheets tangled... Get a furler. I got an Alado for a 27 footer, relatively inexpensive, DIY installation, and bullet proof. Keep in mind you'll need to modify your existing headsails or grab a second hand one with bolt rope.

In addition to the safety reasons a furler allows you to 'reef' the headsail to suit conditions. If you 'drop' the headsail when you become over powered you will struggle to make headway.
You usually only become over powered when going upwind which is when you need the headsail.

Spend the money you won't regret it

OK, you guys need to remember a headsail furler and a reefable headsail furler are two very different beasts!!

If you want to effectivly reef your headsail you need a furler and headsail that are designed to do just that, eg. a tack swivels or foam in the luff, plus the sail cut to suit.

One of the cheap small furlers will leave you with very bad reefed shapes and make the headsail very inefficient for any upwind work.

How big is your boat SectorSteve?

Unfortunately most good reefing furlers (have a tack swivel) start a bit bigger than your boat needs, for something that is decently priced anyway.

IMHO these are the best furlers available but start for 1/4" wire and about $2k
www.almasts.com.au/the-system/

I have put one on a older 30 footer and it didn't look out of place.

From there your looking at the Harken MK1V unit but that's over $3k!!

Steve opinions are like arse holes everyone has one and as so many threads on here show people believe in different things.
Is it necessary no is it easier yes is it safer yes will a furled head sail preform as well as multiple sails no. As fof the comments about storm jibs you have two options you can get them withthe ability to just go over the furled headsail or if you have a baby stay use it for the storm sail.
as for the cost why do you need new? Gumtree has heaps of second hand furlers and get a second hand sail.

I have a very early almast fuller on mine. Was on a bit of a budget doing other work on the boat and new sails were not an option ( the old one was had it) so I got a good second hand hank on sail and used sail slugs to put it on the furler. Works fine, but I don't use it for reefing just for storing over night or at anchor. Will get a new one eventually, but I'm sailing again so I'm happy. Just saying you can do it a bit at a time

I agree with twodogs as far as opinions are concerned..........whoever.........

My yacht has a furler, but this is, how it was bought. Also got a cutter stay, so when it starts to blow l bend the cutter sail and furl the headsail. I only have to go half way to the foredeck when l must change the cutter sail to a storm sail. Very rarely and always clipped on!

In fact, all of the boats l was racing on had hanked sails and on some l was doing the foredeck. Never mind going forward, it is real sailing. I feel like a whimp when l am unfurling the heady on mine after a race on the other boat working the foredeck.

Imo, you would be better live with what you got. Why?

There is absolutely nothing wrong to go forward to handle your sails on the foredeck - if it is done sensibly, ment to be clipped on! - if one is up to it physically. You have no problem there as you ride an Enfield and you are relatively young, agile. A cruiser also could heave to, to change the rag up front, then have a cuppa and carry on music blairing. No rush there. Oh...fit a mesh to your life lines to stop the sail slipping overboard.

Racing people - a different breed altogether- want to squeeze the last possible fathom out of the yacht, so they are willing to spend big time on things what a cruiser simply does not need.
Cruisers listening to the racers cackling of better performance fall for the hype of raising performance with this and that, but really, they seldom achieve anything substantial. Might raise your speed by half a knot or give you an extra half of a point heading upwind, but so what? One is cruising. Hey?


The cost is going to be substantial as you must change from hanks to bolt rope which money would be spent wiser somewhere else (Solar panel, new batteries....) imo. If l had my boat fitted with hanked sails, l would have not changed them for a furler until re-rigging the boat would have been necessary, if at all.
One could change hanked sails quite fast, hanking the new sail under the working sail before pullin it down.
To bend the second sail under the one you use and store it on the fore deck ready to be used, could be another approach.
Also, one could fit a second forestay which would make one able to bend twins (No1 and No2 or an assy?) goosewinged for downwind work. A real cruising arrangement seldom seen this days saving the possibility of an accidental gibe as you drop the main when goosewinged. Similar arrangement could be achieved with double foil and a twin sail, if one had a furler.

I would change the hanks though, from piston hanks to Wichard hanks. They are much more handy, do not get rust or salt accumulated in the pistons, no maintenance. They are also much easier to work on with gloves on and cold hands.

Furlers are good, reliable most of times, maintenance free, no grease or lube needed like sail tracks, just flush them with fresh water once a while and Bob'sYerUncle.
As a cruiser, l do not mind to furl my heady half way and make it look like Mother Hubbard's washing. It might not draw as well as a hanked sail and look a bit untidy, but as l am growing older l learn how to live with compromises and so be it. After all l am cruising. Cheers!




Ps: l got no idea what happened here but three is better than one. Another compromise l have to live with. Struth!

www.seldenmast.com/files/1426855958/595-102-E.pdf

well its out on the table now to put it back together
Found this old thread while I was getting the PDF
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sailing/General/Problem-with-Furlex-100S/

Oh yes you need a stay loc thimble to replace the existing one
www.seabreeze.com.au/Photos/View/9916644/Sailing/furlex-3-002/?m=3&p=HG02
inside this fitting is the stay loc thimble for want of a better word.
It can be either purchase off some one like almasts or a stay loc dealer like
www.harboursidechandlery.com.au/catalog/stalok-wedge-1x19-p-15730.html v < wedge its called

With the greatest of respect to those who feel otherwise, I'll go with those who say that going up to the foredeck is not dangerous. Who can tell us the last time that anyone went overboard off a foredeck? When we are racing we run (literally) around them with no issues, and of course when necessary we crawl around them with no issues. As someone has already noted, you can always just lie ahull to stop the boat while changing sails.

You can also rig a downhaul line from the head of the jib, leading to a block at the base of the forestay, so you can pull it down from the cockpit. If the sheet is fairly tight and the boat is close enough to head to wind, the jib will normally fall inside the lifelines.

Personally I've had a racing style headfoil on my boat for (gulp) about 25 years. It's getting beaten up at the bottom but if it goes I'll just put another headfoil on. I find it actually more convenient than hanks because you just have to clip the halyard and tack line on; no playing with pistons. I know SS won't go that way but IMHO it just shows how many different but valid approaches there are.

For bigger boats I'm very impressed with my brother's fractional rig cutter - a roller furling genoa and a hanked on staysail for when it gets windy. Very simple and efficient, and you don't have the problem of trying to get upwind in big breeze with a big bag of rolled sail interfering with the efficiency of the headsail.