Brands of boats sold with roller furling main and genoa from factory, Amel does who else?

[videorov]

I wonder today what companies are making their boats with roller furling on the whole boat?
I know Amel boats has been doing it for years. I wonder who some of the new companies might be that are doing the same. Its makes things easy solo sailing. I know people can have problems but most of the systems today seem to work well.

 

[jviss]

I'm sure if you purchase a new Catalina, Hunter, Tartan, etc. - you can order it with roller furling everything. It's like the pre-1980's American cars - everything is available, everything is an option.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

It might be a shorter list to name those which don't offer these options.

 

[videorov]

It might be a shorter list to name those which don't offer these options.

Might be

 

[videorov]

Boom furling seems to a good way to go. Singlehand sailing with furling like on the Amel. Delos on Youtube has been using furling for trips around the world.

 

[JRT]

Jeanneau has it as option.

 

[capta]

Boom furling seems to a good way to go. Singlehand sailing with furling like on the Amel. Delos on Youtube has been using furling for trips around the world.

I was curious about boom furling, so I began asking those who had it how well it worked. Every single owner or crew member I spoke to personally stated that much of the time it required someone to stand-by at the mast to ensure the cars went onto the track correctly. I'm talking of 40-foot private cruisers to the huge maxi-sailing vessels with the most expensive gear they could possibly put on a boat.
A few have come on the forums and said theirs work just fine, but I have no personal experience with any of them.
Sailing full time in the West Indies, I can say that in-mast RF is about 40 times more common than in boom, perhaps more, down here.

 

[videorov]

I was wrong about the Amel sailboat, it has in mast furling. They seem to work great on that boat. Delos hasn't reported any problems on their while sailing all over the world. https://www.youtube.com/user/briantrautman

 

[capta]

We have IMF on our main and after nearly ten years of sailing with it ourselves and talking about it with others who have it and have had significant problems, two things have become apparent.
If your sail is old and baggy, you must take extra special care not to cause a problem, because, #2 is that every single problem I've ever seen or heard about has been operator error. Perhaps the exception could be equipment failure such as bearings, but that is still operator error for lack of maintenance, IMO.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with or dangerous about IMF if the operator has the same situational awareness that he would have operating a winch under load or a windlass.
As for manufacturers who supply boats with IMF, I would imagine every single one would offer it, or even boom furling, as an option. I've seen plenty of Amels that don't have it.
However, to the best of my knowledge Amel is the only small boat system that has an automatic electric outhaul, and as it must be perfectly timed with the in-mast motor, that seems like a potential for a serious problem.

 

[BrianRobin]

Boom furling seems to a good way to go. Singlehand sailing with furling like on the Amel. Delos on Youtube has been using furling for trips around the world.

A member at our club has a Tartan with in boom, very large and cumbersome looking boom, it's electric winch driven but still not without it's problems, such as boom angle and slugs going up the mast

 

[Barnacle Bill]

There are pros and cons for each. Cumbersome and large are some of the cons of the boom furlers. Also if an after market item, installation is tricky. Also, they really need to be at right angles to the mast for smoother, less problematic use as if your boom outboard end is raised to accommodate a bimini, then that is an example. There are many new boat manufacturers that have in mast furling mains and in my opinion, /Selden Spar's system is the best. There is no installation if you buy the boat new (or used) with it already there. Selden used to offer an add-on system years ago, but the labor to install was hideous and it turns out that if you want to retrofit to an in mast furling main, it is almost cheaper just to buy a new mast manufactured with the system in it. I have sailed many boats with Selden in mast furling mainsails and they are great. Never had a problem and sail shape really is pretty decent for cruising - especially if the sail is new and built for that purpose. Some older boats have had behind the mast furling mainsails and I have found them to be a pain. But, I don't know of any new boats that use them anymore. Of course Hood was one of the first to offer the furling mainsail. It definitely is safer and simpler to release the outhaul and pull one line to furl the main. No sail cover to put on - no sail to furl, flake or tie in place. No lazy jack system required. They are as simple and straight forward as a furling headsail.