Morning crew
After some advice re retrofitting a foam luff to my furling cruising genoa.
The sail is huge, a veritable deck sweeper and, anticipate I will be using it semi-furled for some of the time.
For being such a big sail, it has a beautiful shape and works extremely well in light airs.
I also sail solo most of the time so Prudence is my middle name in terms of reducing sail early.
What are people's feelings about foam luffs for maintaining the shape of a headsail when semi-furled?
Thanks 
I have a 3 month old 140% triradial Genoa with foam luff. So far I have only used it completely unfurled or slightly furled in . Works well, I have heard that over time the foam collapses and the partial furl degrades. I think my boat sails at anchor slightly more with the 140% with foam luff than if the 100% with no foam is fitted. The extra wind resistance forward of the mast from a twice as big cylinder is noticeable.
I don't know your boat but I will advise you to consider an alternative. Is it possible for you to have a staysail that is used in winds of say 16 knots and up? Do you have provision for an inner forestay?
Furling large genoas is problematic on two fronts - you move the CE forward as you reef both the genoa and main - giving lee helm. Also you can never get as good a shape as a nice staysail made for 16 knots plus. Plus the staysail gets the CE back where it should be when you reef. I don't like reefing headsails - furl them away by any means but consider putting the money into a nice hanked on staysail if you have the inner forestay.
I'll jump in on this one.
I sailed a 34 foot double-ender with three foresails (large jib, small jib and large genoa.)
Three of us aboard and the sails took up a lot of space below. Too much space!!
We would change down the sails when needed and then find that 45 minutes later we needed the larger sail again.
This happened really often. Lots of brief squalls in SE Asia.
Wet sails even in their bags ended up making the forepeak and bunk damp.
Sure. they did give us good sail shape but at a price. That being the time and effort to actually change the sails and the space that they took up.
Now, I sail a 25 footer with roller furling. When I bought the boat the sails (both) were OLD.
And the furler was in bad condition, so rolling and reducing the foresail was not as easy and convenient as I had expected, but there was no clutter below without the hank on foresails.
Two years ago I bought a new genoa ( with luff foam ) and a main from Far East Sails in Hong Kong. I reconditioned the furler.
I am more than happy with the shape and ease of using the furling genoa.
There are two flatish foam strips sewn into the luff. One goes from almost the top to about a metre and half above the tack.
The other goes from tack to about a metre and half from the peak.
As long as I move the block on the sheet track to suit the reduced sail size I am satisfied with the set and efficiency of my sail.
After some advice re retrofitting a foam luff to my furling cruising genoa.
The sail is huge, a veritable deck sweeperand, anticipate I will be using it semi-furled for some of the time.
For being such a big sail, it has a beautiful shape and works extremely well in light airs.
As for retro fitting, this would depend on the price and the age of your genoa.
Also very large ( and lighter ) "deck sweepers " will not reef to a good shape as well as a 110% genoa will.
I also sail solo most of the time so Prudence is my middle name in terms of reducing sail early.
In my view for a solo sailor a roller furling headsail that will reef reasonably well is essential.
What are people's feelings about foam luffs for maintaining the shape of a headsail when semi-furled?
In my view (again) a reasonably new genoa with foam added to the luff is about the best compromise out there.
And I think compromise is the name of the game.
I have never heard of the foam collapsing.
Is that a real thing? I Googled it and nothing came up.
gary
Select to expand quote
I have never heard of the foam collapsing.
Is that a real thing? I Googled it and nothing came up.
One of the quotes I got back from a sailmaker he advised using rope luff instead of foam luff. From the way I understood it it's multiple lengths of line parallel to the luff with sailcloth on both sides. The idea is using the sail partially furled the rope will crush less at high load.
Google rope luff vs foam luff.
Select to expand quoteEastCoastSail said..
I have never heard of the foam collapsing.
Is that a real thing? I Googled it and nothing came up.
One of the quotes I got back from a sailmaker he advised using rope luff instead of foam luff. From the way I understood it it's multiple lengths of line parallel to the luff with sailcloth on both sides. The idea is using the sail partially furled the rope will crush less at high load.
Google rope luff vs foam luff.
Yep I got two new tri radial sails made both 105% and the dacron one used rope and the other a higher spec black sail used foam.
I'm not particularly thrilled with either sail due to the UV strips causing the leeches to curl. The one with rope was done by an Australian sail maker who quoted me for foam then delivered it without anything then said he would use rope when he retro fitted it. Honestly being a fractional rig and just barely a genoa in the first place I almost never reef it despite sailing single-handed.
You may want to spec three rows of either foam or rope decreasing in length as you go backwards. The idea is to fill out the rolled belly of the sail thereby avoiding stretching of your leech and foot by the sheet when reefed.
Select to expand quoteKankama said..
I don't know your boat but I will advise you to consider an alternative. Is it possible for you to have a staysail that is used in winds of say 16 knots and up? Do you have provision for an inner forestay?
Furling large genoas is problematic on two fronts - you move the CE forward as you reef both the genoa and main - giving lee helm. Also you can never get as good a shape as a nice staysail made for 16 knots plus. Plus the staysail gets the CE back where it should be when you reef. I don't like reefing headsails - furl them away by any means but consider putting the money into a nice hanked on staysail if you have the inner forestay.
That's very good and interesting advice.
Thanks so much.
The boat is a Jarkan 10.5.
Some came with a removable forestay and staysails. Unfortunately, mine did not.
My friends with a Jarkan equipped with inner forestay and staysail use that option a lot...and sail very well.
Maybe another thing to consider??
Some good advice here, in my opinion (sailmaker of many decades). the foam luff is a handy addition to the sail if you reef regularly. It does not fix the issue of changing shape but does retard it. Rope or multiple foam strips are fine, one big lump of foam I have found often makes the first few rolls hard work.
Firstly make sure the sail is in good enough condition to justify the cost and secondly the more you furl the less the impact of the padded luff! So if you have a big deck sweeper by the time you roll it down to number 4 or storm jib size it will not be very good for working to windward, fine for sprung sheets.
lastly on the Jarkan, the heavy weather sails should be about 8oz in weight and I envisage a big genoa designed for lighter winds may be an issue strength wise. You need a reliable heavy weather to windward set up!
Select to expand quoteGalatea said..
Some good advice here, in my opinion (sailmaker of many decades). the foam luff is a handy addition to the sail if you reef regularly. It does not fix the issue of changing shape but does retard it. Rope or multiple foam strips are fine, one big lump of foam I have found often makes the first few rolls hard work.
Firstly make sure the sail is in good enough condition to justify the cost and secondly the more you furl the less the impact of the padded luff! So if you have a big deck sweeper by the time you roll it down to number 4 or storm jib size it will not be very good for working to windward, fine for sprung sheets.
lastly on the Jarkan, the heavy weather sails should be about 8oz in weight and I envisage a big genoa designed for lighter winds may be an issue strength wise. You need a reliable heavy weather to windward set up!
Thanks Galatea
Some sage advice there...thank you!
I'm starting to wonder whether the Jarkan is the best option for me. She's beautiful and I love her, but I need to be able to sail her and, yes, strength is an issue with me.
I always thought a fractional rigged boat with a big main would be too big to handle solo, however, now I'm pondering...
Would a fractional rig with a really efficient reefing system in place for the main be better?
Is it called jiffy reefing? With luff and leech reefing lines led back to the cockpit? No horn on the mast to worry about, just everything led back to the cockpit.
I had this reefing set up on my previous boat and it worked a treat.
Yes, jiffy or slab reefing is still the best, a lot of boats use single line which is fine, but a lot of rope.
The Jarkan is great go anywhere boat! But overlapping genoas are a pain for short handed sailing and an aging demographic. I recently was involved in setting up an S&S 34, we went for the biggest headsail we could fit in for triangle with vertical battens on a furler and a Asymmetric spinnaker in a sock. Main 3 rows of Jiffy reefing ( top one very high for extreme weather) full battens with Rutgerson Cars for easy hoisting and reefing.
Hassle free sailing as my dad would say "Manual Labour was a Mexican bandit"
