Stack Pack vs. In-mast furling

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Jan 3, 2011
11
Catalina 309 Sarasota
We have a Seldon in-mast furling system with an original Catalina factory mainsail on our 309. We have found the system to be not as reliable as we would like it to be.

Further, we would actually prefer a Stack Pack main configuration (i.e., regular mainsail + lazy jacks + fancy zip-up sail cover).

We're not trying to start a debate between in-mast furling and Stack Packs.

Rather, we have two simple questions:

1) Has anyone changed out their in-mast furling system for a Stack Pack, and if so, any thoughts/regrets?

2) Has anyone replaced their original Catalina factory mainsail with a better mainsail and acheived better in-mast furling performance?

The crew of PHOTON (#54) thanks you for your comments/thoughts!
 
Apr 22, 2009
18
2 309 Ocean Springs
As a frequent singlehanded sailor, I love the roller main system and have not had any major problems with it in 5 years. The only issue I had when I first bought my 309 was a jam when I did not tighten up the main halyard. The new sails stretched some, as they normally do, resulting in the tack pulling out of the mast slightly. When I tried to furl, it caught and would not roll. The problem was quickly resolved with unfurling fully, and guiding it in by hand for first rotation. Since there is a winch right on the mast, this was easily accomplished singlehanded. Now, I have learned to check that halyard is snug after unfurling. My favorite covienence of the furling system is a quick pull on the furler to reef slightly will remove the weather helm that develops when the winds suddenly pick up.
 
Apr 22, 2009
18
2 309 Ocean Springs
Ooops. Sorry did not read your reply fully. I just meant to give some advice for a simple problem I had found with my system. I have not made a conversion to a traditional hoist/lazy jack system. I am curious though about the "reliabilty" issues you have encountered. Please share them with us.
 
Jan 3, 2011
11
Catalina 309 Sarasota
Thanks J in Mississippi, that it good information. I can confirm that we were have been able to resolve some of our jamming problems by tightening the halyard. But we also observed that the halyard on our boat seems to be too stretchy for the job, so we are considering replacing it with a line having much less stretch. Further, our main sail is not particularly stiff, and the luff tends to want to fold on itself sometimes as that portion of the sail is entering the slot. So our thought is that if we got a stiffer sail, the system would work better. Right now, I would not say that using the system is effortless. It needs to be finessed. My past experince with stack packs on other boats is that they are simple and work all the time and don't need finessing. We agree that being able to reef by small amounts to optimize sail area quickly is quite convenient, and we find ourselves doing this often. - JG
 
Jun 9, 2008
1,771
- -- -Bayfield
My experiences with a Selden in mast furling system is very good. If you have a good mainsail you'll be pleased with how it trims and performs on your boat. If you are having trouble with furling, I would guess it is not the Selden system, but operator error as I have experienced many of this product and found them to be excellent.
 
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