Furler questions for Dr Judy B

[HEINZIR]

I am loving the new Snapfurl 500 on my Montgomery 17. I chose it over the CDI for the ability to change headsails more easily. I have a 150 with foam luff, a 110, and a heavy weather jib. I have replaced my halyard deck turning block with a swivel block so that I can control the halyard from the foredeck as easily as from the cockpit. I also added a luff prefeeder. So far so good. My questions:

1. How and where exactly should the prefeeder be hooked up? Right now I have it attached to a short lanyard at the tack fitting. How close should it be to the furler entry slot? Should it be taped to the furler or left loose?

2. Luff tension: I used to tighten the luff to move or restore draft position as the wind increased. Is this done with a furler as well or is it more of a “set it and forget it” deal?

3. Backstay tension (masthead rig): full on with the wind forward of the beam and full off with the wind aft? Or continuously variable?

Thanks for your input.

 

[JohnShannon]

I am not Dr Judy B but I did have a pre-feeder to a foil on my boat. I don't think it matters too much the pre feeder just gets the luff wire lined more or less up with the foil groove and then nature just takes its course. The foil groove can tolerate some angular mismatch. On my boat I would guess the proffered was about 6" below the foil groove and just lashed to the forestay, worked fine.

 

[Jackdaw]

Go about 1.5x the effective length of the lanyard and you'll be fine. Under the tension of the feeding sail the thing will pull up to just below and wide of the feeder.

 

[DArcy]

Luff tension can (and should) be adjusted just like without the furler except you may find you need a certain range of tension to furl/unfurl the headsail. Sometimes too much tension can make it hard to furl.
The backstay should be adjusted to the wind conditions to control forestay sag. You won't get much (if any) mast bend on the Montgomery 17.