Looped Furling Line

[jerry10848]

I need to replace the looped furling line on my Hood furler. It's a 7/16" x59' line on my ODay 28. I know West Marine will join the line to make a loop, but I don't know what type of line is best for this application, i.e. polyester, polypropylene, nylon etc.
Could someone please provide some guidance as to what type of line is best for a looped furling line?

 

[Warren Milberg]

I had a Hood Continuous Line furler on my H28.5 when I bought it (since replaced with a Furlex 200). I needed to replace the continuous loop furling line in the first season and, being a decent splicer of 3-strand and double braid, set out to learn how to do a "Constant Diameter Splice," which is what is needed. BTW, I found that on my boat, the line would have to be spliced on the boat in order to be threaded through the fairleads and around the drum. Long story shortened: I wasted a lot of line trying to learn and practice the splice needed. I failed. In the end, I bought some ordinary fuzzy Dacron double braid, threaded it through the blocks/drum, cut the ends on a bias with a hot knife, slipped a piece of heat shrink tubing over one end, sewed both ends together with long stitches, slid the heat shrink over the sewn joint, and melted it. Bingo. Worked like a charm and was very strong.

Having said all this, Jim Seamans told me that he was able to do the constant diameter splice "correctly" on his Hunter 356 by using Brion Toss' videotape on splicing using his tools. Said it was a piece of cake....

Good luck with this.

 

[jerry10848]

No Problem Installing

The mast is down and I had no problem removing the old line without cutting it, so there's no problem installing an already joined line. I just need to know what is the best type of cordage to use.

 

[Jim Seamans]

Jerry, Warren put me on to this post.. I would say a double braid line with not much stretch. Sitting here at the computer I not sure which line this would be. As you said a 7/16"

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Use Samson XLS polyester line. Buy a splicing kit or their book on splicing and you can learn how to make the end to end splice for a continuous furling line.

 

[Pat T]

Jerry, let me take you out of the box...

...just as another option. Maybe you won't go this way but other might. Do you really like the continuous line furler? I had it on my older boat and hated it. It always slipped in the drum when the sail came out too quickly, you always needed 2 hands to operate, and god forbid if you had to replace the line - then what? I converted over to a single line furler like most other boats and was better off. This was a Hood furler too. You can convert to by purchasing the bottom drum section and keeping most of the rest of your present system. Just a thought.

 

[Jim]

Replace the furler not the furling line. Hood offer an update to single line with a discounted price. I think it is around 500 bucks. You'll be glad if you ever take down the mast!