Leisure Sail By Forespar - Boom furling system

[Rich Stidger]

I'm looking for likes/dislikes about this system. Most new sailboats have in-mast furling for the mainsail, but this boom furling system appears to have several advantages like allowing full length battens, keeping sail shape at any reefing point, built-in sail cover, and not requiring a mast replacement.

I'm at the point where I need to do something to make handling and sailing easier. My h40.5 currently has the standard sail with Dutchman system and two single-line reefing points. I do have an electric halyard winch, and that is just great. I've added blocks at the leach for each reef but it is still a troublesome issue, so I reef only when absolutely necessary. Putting on the mainsail cover with the Dutchman control lines and working over my bimini and dodger is also becoming harder for me to do.

I am finding that if I have a 3-5nm leg that I could easily sail instead of motoring, I won't bother with the mainsail because it's just too much of a PITA. And that's not good.

So at the Newport Boat Show I looked at Leisure Sail. Other than a big price tag, it looks like it will solve all of my problems and allow my wife and I to continue to sail into our 70's.

Comments please.

 

[Sailor Sue]

Last summer we bought a J/32 from an elderly gentleman who had installed a Leisure Furl boom and an electric halyard winch. The first thing I asked before we even looked at the boat was if he still had the original Hall boom, figuring we would swap booms as soon as possible.

The boat was in Maine and we sailed it back to Lake Erie. By the time we got back into the Great Lakes we were beginning to see some of the benefits of the Leisure Furl system, and now a year and 2500 nautical miles (the delivery from Maine, summer sailing, and a 5 week cruise to Green Bay and upper Lake Michigan) later we have no plans to swap back to the original boom.

As you mentioned the sail has full battens and more area in the roach. You can also reef to any size you want, though Forespar suggests that you roll up the sail so one of the battens is inside the boom. The mandrel and sail attachment system is designed to give the sail adjustable shape. You can make the sail flat for beating, or have fullness when sailing off the wind. You don't have to leave the cockpit to raise or lower the sail once the halyard is attached and the sail cover is pulled back. This is a really nice safety feature in big waves or other crappy sailing conditions. If for some reason the furling system did malfunction or jam it is still possible to lower, or raise, the sail the old fashioned way. You would end up with the entire sail on the cabin top or deck, but I would prefer that to a jammed in-mast sail which would be flogging in any sort of a high wind situation.

The boom is considerably bigger than the original Hall boom and a few of our friends kid us about the "rain gutter" look. It seems to take a bit longer to raise or lower the sail, but I think that might just be a function of the constant speed of the electric winch. The boom is also considerably heavier than the Hall spar which makes it bit harder to deal with in the spring and fall when we remove or step the mast.

In summary, we like the furling system as it allows a full sized, shapeable sail, while not having to leave the safety of the cockpit to reef or raise or lower. It is not a system that we would have added to a boat, but now that we're used to it we like it. Also, several of our friends have mentioned it is something they wouldn't mind having on their boats.

 

[Rich Stidger]

Thanks Sailor Sue. Can the sail be furled or reefed if you are not head to the wind, or do you really need to head up for these adjustments?

Is there anything that you don't like about the system?

 

[Sailor Sue]

Supposedly you can reef on any point of sail, but old habits die hard so we always head into the wind when raising, lowering, or reefing. It would seem that side loading the sail when not heading directly into the wind would put more load on the sail and the mandrel/furling hardware.

The boom looks rather large compared to the mast section, and I already mentioned the weight when the boom is off the mast in the off-season. It also takes a bit of tweaking to get the attachment points just right so the sail shape has decent adjustment, but it's not a major problem. You have to have the boom at just the right angle - we have a mark on the topping lift - to get the sail to furl properly. A friend of ours with a Catalina 40 has the Shaefer furling boom system. He has a huge rigid strut to maintain the precise furling angle so he has no ability to use a vang to control sail shape. Adjusting our topping lift seems a small price to pay to be able to change the boom height using the vang while sailing.

We were looking for a 34 to 35 foot boat when we bought the J. Buying a 32 foot boat with the Leisure Furl boom and the electric winch is our "geriatric" boat - most likely the last big boat we will buy.

 

[WindLass]

We have a LeisureFurl on our Catalina 320 (2 years experience w/ it now).

We didn't look for the boom-furl option, but now that we have it we like it alot. It did take some work on our part once we got the boat to tune the rig a bit, as the previous owners didn't sail alot and didn't maintain it well. For example, we had to replace the rotted built-in sail cover, replace the luff tape (it goes in a track on the aft side of the mast), retie the outhaul and tack onto the mandril (spindle).... all done with advice from the fantastic customer service folks at Forespar.

We usually raise/lower pointed into the wind, but have done so at 30 degrees off the wind with little problem.

Pros:

- full battens (helps re: sail shape/performance)
- reef pretty much anywhere, but we follow forespar's recommendations to minimize pressure on battens
- built in sail cover is awesome!
- we don't have electric winch, but mastering the right amount of tension to put on the furling line while furling was pretty straightforward.
- Forespar customer service. They helped us before we even bought the boat... commenting at pictures we sent them of the condition of the rig... and afterwards, even though we weren't the original owners/warranty-holders

Cons:
- fixed vang (holds the boom at the prescribed angle for best furling/unfurling performance), affects sail trim options, but can tighten furling line once sail is raised to flatten sail a bit.

 

[tommays]

I own the original hood Stoboom which has no battens



It rolls with a combo of this hand crank and the main halyard



It works well for us and we would never go back



While you do have to follow the instructions it does roll to most any size

 

[capta]

I have spoken to many of the professionals sailing the larger yachts with the in boom systems, and to a man, they have all stated that they must station someone at the mast to insure there are no hang ups when the sail rolls into the mast track. Perhaps this does not happen on smaller boats, but I do see it as a weak point in the system. Unless you are a gung ho racer, the bit of sail you lose with inmast furling and no battens really doesn't affect the sailing ability of most boats. The difference in sail area can easily be more than made up for on your head sails.

 

[Scotty C-M]

My brother has the Schaeffer system and is very happy with it. (Brian, if you read this, please chime in!). The system works very well in several points of sail - especially in light air. It works great head to wind in heavy (more than 15 knots) weather. It's a 38 ft boat and has no problem feeding into the mast when being raised. Yes, they need some getting used to - but that is true of every boat system, don't you think? One thing that I believe is important is that because of the heavy boom, a boom brake to inhibit crash jibes is very important. His boat does have one.

 

[Bryce22345]

I've had a furlboom system for 12 years. works great. reef on most points of sail. I have the sail serviced/repaired every year with never more than some stitching issues and the like. friend Gary has the Schaffer system. likes it also. my discussions with a fair number of sailors is modern in boom systems all work well. sail maker needs to pay close attention to the boom manufacturers sail making instructions.