Furler Suggestions

Meriachee · Jan 14, 2016

I wouldn't consider it a wrench. At the end of the day, your boat, your choice.
Whatever unit you do get should meet one criteria - your need. An ff2 probably wouldn't be a good choice for the Volvo crowd, just like a custom extrusion would be some serious overkill for your boat. What is your real need? What do you expect to get out of it? I'd offer that the FFx will take a lot more abuse than an aluminum extrusion, and from direct experience with both, the FF is easier to deal with when stepping the mast. It's also easy to take a bag of tie wraps and lash it to the lifelines for travel. We seem to have 20 little pieces of carpet for the extrusion on the Catalina that need to be positioned. The Mac used to be able to travel in 20 minutes. The Catalina seems to take 2 hours.

justsomeguy · Jan 14, 2016

Then go for the Schaefer. You must attend to the proper tensioning of the control line in either respect.

jepomer · Jan 15, 2016

The Catalina 25 forestay is 30.85 feet.
The I measurement is 29.0 feet.

The CDI FF2 is too small.

http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=407

Joe · Jan 15, 2016

Kper said:
At a glance...

Catalina Direct doesn't even offer the FF2 on their site for the C25 which leaves me leaning towards the 4.

That's because the FF2 is not recommended for headsails over 170 sf. A 135% genoa for a C25 standard rig will contain approx. 202sf. While a 110% jib will have around 156sf, it is common for masthead rigs to run larger headsails.....

A sail's area is determined by multiplying it's luff by it's luff perpendicular and dividing by two. L x LP / 2 = A
A headsail's size is often expressed as a percentage... where the percent represents the sail area compared to the area of the fore triangle.

Here's a website that will give you real numbers to work with: http://thesailwarehouse.com/

Before you buy anything, or take anyone's advice... do a little research on the different types of furling systems... (Hint: it's all about how the luff is attached) You can still let budget make your final decision... but knowing the limitations of the CDI system when compared to other more robust systems may help you down the road.

justsomeguy · Jan 15, 2016

Joe said:
That's because the FF2 is not recommended for headsails over 170 sf.

I see where the Sail Warehouse states this, but I cannot find where CDI mentions this limitation!?

jepomer · Jan 15, 2016

Kper said:
John, you are exactly right. I thought the "I" measurement was the forestay length until you prompted me to really look at the sailboat data site.
I'm thinking I should have just purchased one and not looked back, I don't know enough to make an educated decision.

Thanks everyone.

Many people put a lot of faith in libations consumed in the name of mystical entities.
I prefer to put my trust into good equipment, training, and good information.

It is important to gather the facts and ask questions. When we bounce these ideas off others, we can get a better (and hopefully correct) solution.

Catalina Direct does a very good job in providing the appropriate items for the differing models. They are also very good at providing the correct fasteners in the price. If you are unsure of what to get, they are a very good choice. One can get better pricing on some items, but the low pricing often disappears when one has to track down all the little things. Just something to keep in mind since you are a new to things...

Meriachee · Jan 15, 2016

and they have a phone number and they are always willing to discuss what you're looking at.

Brian S · Jan 15, 2016

My understanding of a significant difference between CDI FF and Schaeffer SnapFurl is the halyard. CDI uses an internal halyard in the foil extrusion, where SF uses the boat's existing halyard. CDI will pretty much keep the luff as tight as the PVC foil extrusion can handle (which in my experience with smaller boats is not very much) where the SF would allow easier control over luff tension. One issue with the SF using the existing halyard, is that if you wanted to use a jib sock instead of sewed on UV protection (so the sail would be lighter for lighter wind) then you're stuck finding another halyard to hoist the sock. Perhaps a spinnaker halyard would work if you wanted a sock.

Joe · Jan 15, 2016

justsomeguy said:
I see where the Sail Warehouse states this, but I cannot find where CDI mentions this limitation!?

They won't..... but riggers and sail makers will... and they are the ones that sell them. You could look at it as another way of expressing the forestay length limitation.... because the sail's luff is the base of the triangle, it's length has the greatest impact on sail size....

Meriachee · Jan 15, 2016

Brian S said:
t's existing halyard. CDI will pretty much keep the luff as tight as the PVC foil extrusion can handle (which in my experience with smaller boats is not very much) where the SF would allow easier control over luff tension. One issue with the SF using the existi

the cdi uses an internal halyard, but not as a forstay. It's a halyard for the sail. The unit uses the same size and shape wire as original, just a little shorter.

Brian S · Jan 16, 2016

Meriachee said:
the cdi uses an internal halyard, but not as a forstay. It's a halyard for the sail. The unit uses the same size and shape wire as original, just a little shorter.

Yes, definitely, the Schaefer SnapFurl and the CDI both use plastic foil extrusions that go over the existing forestay. CDI is more a rectangular, with one side for the forestay, and the other for the luff of the jib. The SF uses a 2 part round foil that snaps together around the forestay. They both rely on the stiffness of the foil up the forestay. However, at the top, there's no further "support" for the CDI; thus the tightness of the luff depends on the compressive strength of the foil. I have seen them start to get a bit wavy-gravy when trying to put too much luff tension on with the internal CDI halyard. The SF has a collar at the head where the existing halyard clips to, thus allowing external luff tensioning, independent of the compressive strength of the foil.

nightowle · Jan 18, 2016

check out the Alado furlers which are recommended by Practical Sailor. they offer Ease of installation and cost effective. I'm considering a purchase for my boat. One of the local sailing schools swears by them.

Crazy Dave Condon · Jan 18, 2016

The Schaefer snap furl with the two half pieces have to be put together and move within itself or the two halves but that was when they first came out.

walt · Jan 18, 2016

I cant say which furler is best but I went with the Schaefer sf 500 for a Mac 26S and have been using this two to three times per week for the last almost three months now and its all worked perfectly. The one thing about the 500 is that it uses a smaller luft tape size (#5 or 4mm) than normally found on sails for this size boat but no problem for me since I bought the new jib and furler at the same time. The SNF 700 works with larger luft tape size.

I picked this furler between the different flexible ones (trailer sailed boat) because of the external halyard. Its an extra hassle setting up the boat for the external halyard (you have to be careful to prevent "halyard wrap") but I like having it. I thought I would be adjusting the halyard tension.. but I never do. However, I did mess with it and found what I thought was a good overall tension and the adjustment allowed for that.. The other reason I liked the external halyard is that it will keep the mast from coming down if the forestay fails at the top (but not at the bottom).

I had put a bunch of pictures of my install and tweaking for the jib tracks here http://analogengineering.com/sail/mac/110_jib.html Ive also been using this pinning stick idea (in that link) and its also been trouble free.

I think I would have been happy with either the CDI or the Schaefer however..