Boom Furling - Do you like it?

capta · Jul 29, 2015

Though I don't have it myself, absolutely everybody I've spoken with who has it down here in the Caribbean says they must guide the slides onto the track or at least have someone standing by to insure it doesn't foul.
I have seen plenty of posts that say it works fine, but I've yet to meet anyone who has one that does.

Rich Stidger · Jul 29, 2015

Boom Furling: First impression - Great!

This spring I bought a Schaefer Gamma Boom Furling System and had my rigger install it. I have been out sailing with it on about 8 days. For a variety of reasons I have had a very slow start to my sailing season.

There is a learning curve. At this point I think I know all of the right stuff to do, but I just need to remember not to skip a step. Regardless, at this point the system is meeting all of my expectations.

Before choosing the Schaefer system, I also looked at the Leisure Furl system. I read the Practical Sailor evaluations of a variety of systems that was published in Feb 2011. I looked at the Leisure Furl system at the Newport Boat show last fall, and I went to the Schaefer factory (about 30 miles from my sailboat) and looked at their system. My rigger has installed about 10 Schaefer systems and 100 Leisure Furl systems. Leisure Furl has been around since the early 90's (I think) and Schaefer since abut 2006. My rigger liked the Leisure Furl but I decided upon the Schaefer. I believe that both of these systems are good and that anyone would be happy with either one.

However, I felt that the Schaefer had some distinct advantages vs the Leisure Furl. Probably the most significant feature of the Schaefer is that it uses an articulating track that is attached to the mast. This track rotates with the boom and is constantly aligned with the boom and sail. This means that the sail always rises straight up from the boom into the track even if the boom is swung out 90 degrees. The Leisure furl uses a fixed track so that the sail must rotate from the boom into the track unless the boom is centered. The Schaefer track is designed to separate the batten driving load from the luff tape so that the sail can be raised or furled with some wind load on it. Leisure Furl had issues with high wear on luff tapes and these issues are presumed to be corrected.

Another major difference between the Schaefer and LF is the location of the furling drum. Schaefer places it at the outboard end of the boom and runs the furling line inside the boom and back to the cockpit. LF puts the drum on the front of the mast and then drives the mandrel that the sail rolls onto by a 1" shaft with a universal joint that runs through the mast. The logic of that design totally escapes me, but with over 300 systems in the field, it is a proven design. I just didn't care for it.

The Schaefer system uses a fixed vang to hold the boom at precisely the optimum angle to the mast. LF uses a solid vang, but it needs to be adjusted to the correct angle before use.

Both systems feature a sail cover that slides into the opening in the boom. The LF appears to be an easier implementation than the Schaefer, but I can remove my Schaefer cover in under 1 minute and install it in under 3 minutes.

Now to answer the real question that the OP asked. Raising and furling the sail is a breeze. It does require an electric winch for the easiest operation. The sail can be reefed at any batten location. That is to say that the sail is furled until a batten is just on the mandrel. The batten helps to hold the foot of the sail tight and flat. So far I have raised and furled my sail 10x or more. I have put in one reef but I did that at the beginning of my sail for the day. Nevertheless it was simple.

I have lots of pictures of the Schaefer system and I can share these and more details of operation.

One advantage of the boom furlers over the mast systems is that if the furling mechanism ever jams, the sail can be dropped like a conventional sail to the deck. With a mast system you may have a disaster with a sail that cannot be moved in or out.

gettinthere · Jul 30, 2015

I produced a series of videos for Forespar's Leisurefurl.

Here is the testimonial series highlight video...

https://youtu.be/cGWaYMP58x8

If you'd like more detail, all the full interviews are on Forespars website and youtube page.

I was pretty inpressed with the Swan 53 with 30,000 miles on theirs.

MattObjects · Jul 30, 2015

BayMan said:
Im considering a boat that has a boom furling main. I am familiar with in-mast furling but not boom furling. Nothing jumped out at me from a search of past topics. So here is the question - what are the pros and cons of a boom furled main? Do you like it? Hate it? What do you say?

I think it depends on what type of boom furling your potential boat has-- there are several variations on the theme. I would particularly distinguish between the in-boom furling that is standard on some newer higher end production boats these days (in which the boom is like a trough into which the sail is spooled on a drum) vs. the on-boom furling that several boat builders tried in the 70s and 80s (in which the entire boom rotates and the sail wraps around it).

I've never sailed a boat with modern in-boom furling though I understand the primary criticisms of the system are poor sail shape, the need to guide the cars up the mast when hoisting the sail, and the possibility of jamming.

My prior boat, a Grampian 26, had on-boom furling. It was far more difficult to use than just flaking the sail on the boom and tying it down, and the sail never wound onto the boom evenly enough to permit us to use the on-boom furling to reef the sail. We eventually abandoned the feature on the Grampian in order to convert to mid-boom sheeting and then installed lazy jacks, a stack pack, and jiffy reefing for controlling the mainsail on the boom. My point being, if the boat you're looking at has on-boom furling, I wouldn't consider that a feature at all.

Rich Stidger · Jul 30, 2015

BayMan said:
Thanks guys.
How about sailing with it? As I understand it, you essentially lose the boom vang as a trim adjustment- is that so? Can you still adjust the draft with the outhaul?

That is partly correct. You do not have the vang to pull down and flatten the sail as you are accustomed. However you do have some flattening ability. All you do to flatten (or un-flatten) the sail is to tighten/loosen the furling line so that it pulls down on the sail. The sail is specially made for these boom furling systems and when you tighten the sail it pulls down at the middle of the foot and flattens.

To be sure, the flattening is not as much as you would have with a conventional vang, but it does work. I have done this action myself. However, if you have heavy air that you would normally flatten the sail, you are probably almost at the point where a reef would be desirable. So now you simply put in a reef- which is very easy to do.

What you do not have is an out-haul line. The sail is fastened to the mandrel at the tack and the clew. For me, that is a non-issue since I never adjusted the out-haul at all.

gettinthere · Jul 30, 2015

The shaeffer has a rigid vang but the forespar leisurefurl has an adjustable vang.
With Leisurefurl you do need to mark your setup so you can return the boom to the proper angle before furling.