Hi, how does a furler affect the stepping of the mast up and down (23' ODay)? Also, is the CDI furler an "all or none" system? Can it be used to reef? Thanks, Larry
We've used a CDI furler for both our 22 Catalina and now on our 25 Oday.The mast gets lowered to the rear.It's slightly heavier with the sailrolled up .We don't find any problems with stepping the mast with it. Second the genoa can be reefed with the CDI unit.Some will say that the sail will lose shape.If the sail has a luff pad sewn into it the shape will still be pretty good.We're sold on them.
Tim can you elaborate on the method you use to step with the furler. when the mast is stepped to the bow a la factory it does complicate matters any advice would be appreciated.
When I went and bought our boat the owner had never actually stepped the mast himself.He insisted that it needed to go over the bow.Even with three good sixed guys sitting on what was left of the mast ,the top of the mast just wanted to continue to drop down over the front .Pretty scary for us.This is the way the factory brochure shows it being down. The base of the mast has two pins .This told me that it could pivot forward or backward. I use a pole that has a 2 inch ring on end and a cut out that is shaped to shaped to the profile of the mast.This is secured to the mast base. The length of the pole is the distance from the mast to the bow fitting of the forestay. A simple set of double blocks is attached to the ring and the bow fitting. I then use the halyard winch on the mast to lower and raise the mast.I can stop anywhere along the way and cleat it off and go untangle something that gets caught. I also use two rope ratchets from the ring to the stanchion base to keep the mast centered. This whole set up fits on the boat and cost me somewhere around 25 bucks. I did this on the water in front of a whole bunch of onlookers. If need be I can post photos again.They may well be in the archive section above.
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