Furler Installation/ sail fit profurl c320

[Hermit Scott]

I received the parts to my furler today, everything but the extrusions. I read the manual and had a few questions.
All the furlers I have seen on the boats on my dock have the tack of the sail directly shackled to the top of the furling drum.
It is important to hoist the sail all the way to the top so the swivel will be close to the preventer right?. BUT it appears that my sail may be a foot or more from the top. Is it ok to hoist my sail to with in a few inches of the top of the furler and then tie a line from the tack to the top of the drum?
Should I make the furler fill the whole length of the stay OR should I cut the furler so I can shackle the tack to the top of the drum, AND the head of the sail will be close to the halyard preventer?
Also since there is a few feet of room up and down should I make my sail as close to the deck as possible or raise it as high as I can to see underneath?
My top life lines were angled down to allow a sail to be close to the deck and go outside the lifelines but I cut them and attached them to the top, and installed netting for dog safety.
How often will I have the jib or genoa outside the lifelines?
These are questions that only a guy who has never raised his headsail would ask, but that's where I am right now.

 

[Ed Schenck]

You should install the drum in its instructed position which is as close to the deck as the hardware will allow. Then when you someday purchase a properly sized headsail it will fill the headstay. All jibs go outside of the lifelines unless you only sail close hauled all the time. It is not a problem with the tack secured at the top of the drum. A line between the tack and the drum would work. I do not know your furler so do not understand about having the "swivel close to the preventer".

 

[Chuck Creel]

Hermit, This is my first install so im far from the expert. I can only speak from what ive learned having my old unit for 4 yrs. I am having to replace my headstay because of something called halyard wrap.
This im told is caused by the halyard running parralel to the foil and allowing it to twist.

Just be sure that the halyard is at an angle to the foill as per instructions and you should be ok.
BTW, ALWAYS consider tech support if in doubt. Might save you a costly repair in the future.

Fair Winds

 

[Maine Sail]

Hermit,

For cruising adding a line or piece of 7X19 swaged wire with eyes, at the bottom of the sail, is fine. It will also allow you to see better. For cruisng a deck sweeper can be a pita. If you're racing you'll want the drum low, with a deck sweper, but for cruising you may want it up and out of the way of the anchor. Mine is low and I wish I'd cut it a little higher. Even being very careful I have scratched the drum during anchoring..

It's all about how you will sail the boat.

 

[Ron20324]

You want some extra length on the furler tube to allow for stretch of the sail as time goes by. You'd want the tube a few inches short of the top of the forestay regardless of how far up the sail goes. You might someday get a sail that's somewhat longer than the one you have.

 

[Stu Jackson]

All the furlers I have seen on the boats on my dock have the tack of the sail directly shackled to the top of the furling drum.
It is important to hoist the sail all the way to the top so the swivel will be close to the preventer right?. BUT it appears that my sail may be a foot or more from the top. Is it ok to hoist my sail to with in a few inches of the top of the furler and then tie a line from the tack to the top of the drum? .

For your ProFurl, you MUST have the head of the sail as high up as possible, right below the top swivel.

Yes, you should add a pendant at the foot of the jib to connect to the D shackle on the drum. Maine Sail suggested a wire line, but I've found those cumbersome and never quite the right length - believe me, I've tried. Instead, I bought a yard or two of small (less than 3/8") super strong line and tie it to the drum shackle and then a few times through the jib foot cringle, which gives it a three or four to one purchase, raise the sail as high as it will go, and tighten the foot with the line. Loosen it up before furling. When you first unfurl the sail, go forward and tighten the line. At the end of the day I loosen the line before furling the sail.

Don't be tempted to put the pendant on the head of the sail. you'll get into foil twist below the Darth Vader that way.

 

[Hermit Scott]

Ed-The head sails are what came with the boat. 38'5" long head to tack. The stay from eye to eye was 42' and some change. On youtube I see some cruising boats that have the headsail way off the deck with plenty of room underneath for people and gear, but those are 35' to 45' boats. The furler came with these extentions to raise the drum up off the deck. If it doesn't matter I will mount the drum as high as the extentions will allow,which is about 7" higher than the lower stalock fitting.
I don't think I will ever do any racing. We really just want to be comfortable and cruise around.
I call it a preventer, it's really a piece that mounts on the stay above the furler that extends out to the sides to prevent halyard wrap.
Maine- I will make that 7x19 extention to raise the sail up.
Chuck- I think my boat has suffered a halyard wrap. The wire halyard I cut off was severly disfigured. I thought they may have wrapped it around a winch. the swivel at the top was seized, so I think they may have wrapped the halyard.
Ron-there was a spec as to how close I could get the top of the tube to the staloc fitting.

You guys have given me enough info to install it now. One other question though; the manual says to take the stay off and install the furler on the ground. When raising it back up while installed on the stay is there any danger of the furler getting bent somehow? Do I just have people holding it and walk it up as I pull it to the top?

 

[Stu Jackson]

Do I just have people holding it and walk it up as I pull it to the top?


Yes that's how to do it.

 

[Hermit Scott]

For your ProFurl, you MUST have the head of the sail as high up as possible, right below the top swivel.

Yes, you should add a pendant at the foot of the jib to connect to the D shackle on the drum. Maine Sail suggested a wire line, but I've found those cumbersome and never quite the right length - believe me, I've tried. Instead, I bought a yard or two of small (less than 3/8") super strong line and tie it to the drum shackle and then a few times through the jib foot cringle, which gives it a three or four to one purchase, raise the sail as high as it will go, and tighten the foot with the line. Loosen it up before furling. When you first unfurl the sail, go forward and tighten the line. At the end of the day I loosen the line before furling the sail.

Don't be tempted to put the pendant on the head of the sail. you'll get into foil twist below the Darth Vader that way.

Am I supposed release tension on the sail before I furl it? Or do I furl it under tension? Are the sails furled on the boats at the dock under tension? That doesn't seem like the right thing to do.

 

[Stu Jackson]

You just answered your own question, and reread what I wrote: tensioned when sailing, loose when not.

 

[Hermit Scott]

You just answered your own question, and reread what I wrote: tensioned when sailing, loose when not.

Thanks Stu.

 

[Ron20324]

Somewhat smaller, I know, but I was able to install a Schaefer furler on my B235 by undoing the deck end of the forestay and pushing the pieces up. Saved going up the mast and all that that entails. I was worried about bending the tubes, too.

 

[jibes138]

Another option is to raise the drum a little off the deck by using a couple pieces of stainless metal straps with holes in them to accept the clevis pin. You can raise the drum maybe 6 inches or so. Don't worry about your sail draping over the bow pulpit or lifelines, that is normal. As Mainsail noted about visibility I like to cut my sails a little higher on the clew to allow visibility below the sail. So the angle from the tack to the clew is a little higher than on a standard dimension sail. Performance suffers a little but who cares? A window in the sail is another option. Being able to see and obey the rules as a burdened vessel is a primary responsibility for a skipper on a boat.
To furl your sails the best point is to be on a reach, release your sheet and furl the sail while keeping just a bit of tension on the sheet to allow it to roll up evenly with the sun cover overlapping as designed.

 

[Hermit Scott]

Another option is to raise the drum a little off the deck by using a couple pieces of stainless metal straps with holes in them to accept the clevis pin. You can raise the drum maybe 6 inches or so. Don't worry about your sail draping over the bow pulpit or lifelines, that is normal. As Mainsail noted about visibility I like to cut my sails a little higher on the clew to allow visibility below the sail. So the angle from the tack to the clew is a little higher than on a standard dimension sail. Performance suffers a little but who cares? A window in the sail is another option. Being able to see and obey the rules as a burdened vessel is a primary responsibility for a skipper on a boat.
To furl your sails the best point is to be on a reach, release your sheet and furl the sail while keeping just a bit of tension on the sheet to allow it to roll up evenly with the sun cover overlapping as designed.

For sure I would rather have better visibility. I want to be able to relax and enjoy instead of craning my neck to avoid collisions.
It came with these ss straps to raise it up some.

 

[bffatcat]

furler hoist my 2c

In my experience: the preferred arrangement is to keep the foot as close to the drum as possible. Of course I dont know what your head sail looks like. If its a true deck sweeper
your probably going to want to raise it up off deck a bit. Dacron Deck sweepers date back to the pre furler era. They dont furl that well. It still boils down to a trade off. Visability vs
windward performance. The only deck sweepers I seem to see now a days are mylar, kevlar used for racing. These sails hardly ever get furled. They are hoisted on tracks before the race, and dropped after the finish.

 

[Stu Jackson]

In my experience: the preferred arrangement is to keep the foot as close to the drum as possible.

Yes, in general, but not for ProFurlers. They're simply built differently than oteher furlers which use halyard restrainers on the mast. The best thing to do with a ProFurl, especially one with long lap links that get the drum up off the deck, is to get the head of the sail up just below the Darth Vader above the top swivel.

No one knows how long the luff of his jib is compared to his forestay and drum location. Only the skipper knows for sure...:dance:

 

[Manny]

Jib foot cringle

Hermit, sorry about hijacking your thread but why does the jib foot cringle need to be loosened before furling the sail? Is that something specific to the profurl? I pretty much set and forget mine but I have a CDI furler...

Thanks,

Manny

 

[Stu Jackson]

...why does the jib foot cringle need to be loosened before furling the sail? Is that something specific to the profurl? I pretty much set and forget mine but I have a CDI furler...

Manny, Hermit hasn't installed his yet.

The reason that I recommended this is because when the jib luff length is shorter than the foil length you need a pendant, and with the ProFurl it's important to have the head up high with a pendant at the foot, or at least that's what I do, and recommended to hermit to consider.

And it's usually better to release tension from the luff before you furl.

My jib halyard is not led back, so I take the tension out of the luff at the foot.

You could also, if you chose, have a solid pendant at the foot, and loosen up on the jib halyard if it was led aft or you felt like going to the mast to do and undo it every time you sailed. It's simply easier to loosen it at the bottom.

 

[Joe]

For sure I would rather have better visibility. I want to be able to relax and enjoy instead of craning my neck to avoid collisions.
It came with these ss straps to raise it up some.

If those straps don't raise the drum high enough, simply call Profurl with the length you desire and they will hook you up.

 

[Ron20324]

I'm with Manny- set and forget. I don't see the point or need of going to the bow to deal with luff tension. That's one of the reasons for the furler- not having to be on the bow. Also, I don['t agree with raising the head as high as possible via a pendant on the tack, but everyone has their beliefs. Slack the pendant, and the drum/pendant/luff are not ligned up when furling... Back in the slip, maybe release the tension by the halyard. That's part of it's intended use.