To those of you who have made a roller furler:
What and and where did you buy the swivel for the head of the sail?
Dick
What and and where did you buy the swivel for the head of the sail?
Dick
home made roller furler swivel
- Thread starter letsail
- Start date
Are you talking about a PVC furler? Don't need one.
http://sbo.sailboatowners.com/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=viewlink&link_id=8063&Itemid=257
http://sbo.sailboatowners.com/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=viewlink&link_id=8063&Itemid=257
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Sail,
Caguy's link has a rather unique furler design & would probably be adequate on smaller boats. That being said, PVC is not the material I would prefer in this application to use for a few reasons:
1. PVC can & will eventually crack longitudinally from repeated torque under load.
2. UV effect over time can also lead to brittleness & cracking.
However, it may hold up on your size boat. Opinions will always vary & there's almost always more than one way to do something right. If you go with this design, take pics along the way so others can decide if they wish to go this route.
ps: I'm not always right all the time, sometimes it just comes down to personal preference. Have you thought about substituting aluminum thin wall conduit & fittings vs. PVC while keeping with the same design Caguy linked to?
CR
Caguy's link has a rather unique furler design & would probably be adequate on smaller boats. That being said, PVC is not the material I would prefer in this application to use for a few reasons:
1. PVC can & will eventually crack longitudinally from repeated torque under load.
2. UV effect over time can also lead to brittleness & cracking.
However, it may hold up on your size boat. Opinions will always vary & there's almost always more than one way to do something right. If you go with this design, take pics along the way so others can decide if they wish to go this route.
ps: I'm not always right all the time, sometimes it just comes down to personal preference. Have you thought about substituting aluminum thin wall conduit & fittings vs. PVC while keeping with the same design Caguy linked to?
CR
Caguy,
I fully agree with you about the 25 ft. however, UV will penetrate Sunbrella, fiberglass & also other materials.
What did you think of maybe substituting aluminum in place of PVC? The weight should be similar.
CR
I fully agree with you about the 25 ft. however, UV will penetrate Sunbrella, fiberglass & also other materials.
What did you think of maybe substituting aluminum in place of PVC? The weight should be similar.
CR
Sorry, but this has got to be the most hillbilly thing you can do to a sailboat.
I'm all for clever and cheap mods to make sailing better, but this goes too far. You always have to be able to take sail down while underway, and in almost any conditions.
I'm all for clever and cheap mods to make sailing better, but this goes too far. You always have to be able to take sail down while underway, and in almost any conditions.
I don't mean to be rude but (irony), I always find it amusing when someone apologizes for an insensitive comment and then makes it anyway. Not everyone can afford one Beneteau let alone two.
At the time spending $1000 on a new furler and headsail was out of the question. The solution seemed to work well for others so I gave it a shot, with some improvements along the way. I have had rave reviews from my fellow hillbilly trailer friends who have also made theirs.
While it might not be as Bristol as I would like it served me well for 4 years and the couple who had it two years after that.
CaptRon, I made the zippered cover mainly to protect the sail. There are many others in my yard who also use Sunbrella covers to protect their sails. I supposed that if it was good enough to protect the sail the PVC should fair just as well.
As far as using aluminum for a foil I had concerns regarding friction and chafing the fore stay. The PVC seems like a much gentler solution. The thing I liked about the PVC besides being inexpensive ~$12 is that it distributed the load along the length of the fore stay continuously and evenly. I currently have a commercial furler with an aluminum foil that has small 1/2" nylon bearings to prevent chafe. The load is distributed over six 1/2" points along the fore stay.
Well I'll apologize to all the hillbilly's I offended, but I stand by my comments on putting up any sail you cannot take down.
I am in the process of making a top-down furler from the smallest Ronstan "regular" furler for the kite. The furler is a continuous line unit, quite small, and will extend from the sprit that was installed earlier this year. The reason for constructing the top-down tack swivel is that a package of Harken Torlon bearings is about $10, the furler was about $400, and the cheapest full blown top-down units start at about $1200.
Oh, and the lathe paid for itself many years ago.
Oh, and the lathe paid for itself many years ago.
Attachments
Thanks to all of you. I plan to furl the sail on a separate stay inserted in the genoa, not on the forestay. At the base I am using a rear sprocket from a bicycle with a U-bolt fastened at the top and two small brackets attached to the center bolt at the bottom and then to the chain plate. The swivel will attach to the halyard shackle at the top. I hope to be able to tension the halyard sufficiently to avoid any significant sag. Since my Clipper Marine 21 is in a slip, I will either drop the sail and store it in a deck bag each time or have Sunbrella cloth sewn into the leach and foot so it will remain in place.
Stay tuned.
Yes, a Harkin furler at $1200 (the genoa already was prepped) for my previous O'Day 25 was perfection, but that was impractical for this older and cheaper boat.
Stay tuned.
Yes, a Harkin furler at $1200 (the genoa already was prepped) for my previous O'Day 25 was perfection, but that was impractical for this older and cheaper boat.
For a wire luff furler, on a 21' boat, I think I'd consider a small boat furling system such as a Selden Furlex 20S for $150. http://www.apsltd.com/c-1070-smallboatfurlingsystems.aspx
But if you want to do it yourself, here is some great documentation of what a guy did for his Welsford Navigator: http://navigatorjoel.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-build-roller-furler-for-under-40.html
Google is your friend, there are many other home built furlers out there.
But if you want to do it yourself, here is some great documentation of what a guy did for his Welsford Navigator: http://navigatorjoel.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-build-roller-furler-for-under-40.html
Google is your friend, there are many other home built furlers out there.
Thanks for the reference to the $150 furler system for small boats. I think my 21 ft keel boat would still fit under the 20 ft dinghy limit in the specs. I don't intend to sail under heavy air conditions to over stress the gear.