another question I do not have a roller furling system and being new to sailing I have a well bodied son "14yrs" that could handle the jib set up and take down while I bark orders from the cockpit is the roller system a dire need if I already have a deck hand ???
jib sail
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In over 30 yrs of sailing, I never had roller furling until about 5 yrs ago. Once I got it, I thought "why did I wait so long." To me, roller furling makes sailing a lot easier, safer, and more fun. Reducing the amount of headsail in a blow, without anyone having to leave the cockpit, is a big plus. Rolling the sail up on the foil at the end of a sail is a lot easier, neater, and faster than dropping and bagging a sail. And, if I chose to race, I can drop the drum and fly deck sweeping headsails if I so chose. I think furling is the way to go....
Roller Furling Jib
On my first boat, a 23 foot North American Spirit (Glastron), I didn't have roller furling the whole 10+ years I owned her.. It was fine because the size of the jib/genny was small and they were easy to handle. After sailing a few boats with that feature, my "new" boat list had roller furling as a "must have".. if ya can't swing the cost of a new one, some consignment shops have used ones .. Your local sailmaker can usually modify the existing sails so that they work on the roller.. Like Warren says, you can sail a lot without it but the foresail is MUCH nicer to deal with at the end of a day.. Good Luck with it
On my first boat, a 23 foot North American Spirit (Glastron), I didn't have roller furling the whole 10+ years I owned her.. It was fine because the size of the jib/genny was small and they were easy to handle. After sailing a few boats with that feature, my "new" boat list had roller furling as a "must have".. if ya can't swing the cost of a new one, some consignment shops have used ones .. Your local sailmaker can usually modify the existing sails so that they work on the roller.. Like Warren says, you can sail a lot without it but the foresail is MUCH nicer to deal with at the end of a day.. Good Luck with it
To be blunt, the time will come, despite best efforts to avoid it, that you will be caught in severe conditions and the bow is the LAST place I'd want my 14 yr old, particularly trying to wrestle with a sail.
14 year old deckhand
My guess is that once your son starts to drive a car you wont have a deckhand. By all means if you can afford it go with a furling system. I never had one until I bought a Hunter 216, its the best thing since sliced bread. It wasn't so long ago I had a Cal 227 with a 155 genny and no furling system.I remember coming home on those hot summer afternoons and being hot, tired and ready for a cold one, or two, and having to drop, flake, roll and bag the headsail. By then I was sick of it and wanted off the boat and into some air conditioning. Like I said, if you can afford it go with the roller furling. Good luck. Ray T
what price range do these sell for "new" can they utilize the jib I have now or do I need a whole new setup?
If your existing jib has a bolt rope, it will fit most any furler drum - all you need do is remove the slides/rings. Not surprisingly, furler prices vary with size and since you don't mention what boat, a guess would be useless here. Take a look at WM or any other chandlery web site which will spec out various sizes for your boat.
Bad-com-pany, the price of any object on a sailboat is directly proportional to the size of the boat. go fill out your owner's profile and we'll be able to answer your questions. you'll notice that everyone who has answered your questions up to this point has a boat model listed under the name. there's a reason for that. until you're willing to tell us what boat you own, you're not going to get a whole lot of good information on this site.
oh sorry about that , wasnt to familiar with the site but wiill go fill out the details now kinda took it for granted that within four inches of this question where three more with my user name and all titled pertaining to the 1993 hunter 23.5 boat. thanks again
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