Recommendations on auto-furler for Catalina 30

[longterm]

I just got my boat home today, motored it to the marina (zero wind), and have decided that, rather than waiting till next season, I'm going to put an auto-furler on right away.

I've heard a few mentioned here, but am wondering what you smart Cat-30 owners will recommend. Harken? Profurl? Some other brand?

Second, where would you recommend I buy said furler?

Thanks,

bob

 

[Bad Obsession]

Love my profurl. I can't say enough about it. They treated me really good when I needed parts (previous owner installed the unit and they still gave me replacement parts under the lifetime warranty). It is a good high quality unit!

 

[longterm]

Love my profurl. I can't say enough about it. They treated me really good when I needed parts (previous owner installed the unit and they still gave me replacement parts under the lifetime warranty). It is a good high quality unit!

Thanks, that's the one I'm leaning towards. Where did you buy yours?

Bob

 

[Brad on Vashon]

I had a Harken on my last boat-- my first furler and liked it. Didn't have it long enough for anything to go wrong. Everyone in my YC who has a profurl loves them. My "new" boat has a hood-- it appears original and seems to work just fine-- I really like the continuous line, one less pile of line for me to tangle around my feet.

Furlers have come so far since they were first introduced, I don't know if you can go wrong with any of the major brands.

 

[Brad on Vashon]

BTW -- congrats on your new baby. I took mine out for the "first sail" Saturday under job only. We get really gusty wind this time of year- flat to knockdown. So it was four tacks and done... But oh man. Still getting the hang of the wheel after 15 years of a tiller on a bigger boat.

 

[longterm]

BTW -- congrats on your new baby. I took mine out for the "first sail" Saturday under job only. We get really gusty wind this time of year- flat to knockdown. So it was four tacks and done... But oh man. Still getting the hang of the wheel after 15 years of a tiller on a bigger boat.

Thanks, I'm pretty excited about it. We put the main on (previous owner had taken the main down for the winter) while we were motoring, but there was no wind at all. Going to try sailing tomorrow afternoon and see if we can get enough wind to see what this boat will do.

Other than the lack of a furler, the boat's in excellent condition; brand-new bottom job as of last week, just waxed... slippery deck that I discovered as I crashed to the cockpit yesterday... sore elbow...

Lots to learn; I opened the A/C water valve rather than the motor's water valve, almost burned up the impeller, but not quite... dodged a bullet.

While all the racers at my marina turn their noses up at my boat, I'll sip an espresso in my cockpit while they struggle to find even a bottle of water on some of their boats. Mine is so far from what they have it's funny--one of the guys here has his boat stripped to bare essentials, to keep it light. Brushes his hull at least every 4 weeks. Somehow I doubt that'll be my routine.

 

[jrowan]

I have posted several times before on this, and I can't stress enough that I would personally not recommend the Harken Furler unit. I had the Mark 3 model on my last boat & had nothing but trouble with it. It would constantly jamb on me right when I needed it - which is whenever there were high winds it would jamb or get halyard wrap. I had 3 different rigging companies work on it & despite many mods it never worked right on the water (only furled right at the dock!). That said check out Practical sailor for their actual tests of furlers. I know that Profurl has a halyard wrap preventer, which is one of the main problems with furlers: wrapping at the top of the head stay. My C 30 has an older Hood furler that came with the boat that works great.

 

[Stu Jackson]

The advantage of the ProFurl is that it does include a halyard wrap preventer at the top of the foil. This is instead of having to install a halyard restrainer on your mast at the top required by every other furler manufacturer. We have a ProFurl and I've been pleased with its performance since we installed it over 10 years ago.

 

[rbmcintire]

We got our boat in 2010, and we're fairly new to sailing, so we've (I've) had some initial tense eek moments with our furler. After I figured out that our unit needed a better angle of approach feeding the line into the "spool" and, that it helps to keep a little tension on the jibsheet (I step on it, use the other hand, or ask crew) when furling the headsail back in, the unit has since been functioning fine. Give it a good McLube application in the Spring, along with the headstay foils. Those factors go very far in preventing a malfunction or overwrap on the spool. Practical Sailor did a review in 2009 on furlers, look for it on the web (sorry I don't have a link). Good luck on your choice, a furler is totally worth the cost. Our boat came with a Furlex 200S, which was rated pretty good, so in our case, I knew the problem was me...


Rob

 

[mortyd]

two tings. the closer you are into the wind - i like to furl slow motoring into the wind - the easier it will be to furl, and practical sailor's review was based on ease of installation not use. they did say that all the major brands except cd were about equal and fine.

 

[Bad Obsession]

I have uninstalled and re-installed my furler because of an issue that I mentioned before. It was VERY easy to install and I did it with the mast up!

I didn't buy my furler, it was on my boat when I bought it. The furler was still covered by profurl when I needed parts. Like I said, the way that Profurl treated me sold me on their unit and the company.

I have a bigger unit due to being a tall rig).

 

[JK_Boston_Catalina310]

I would recommend Alado. We installed one on our C&C 24. We did it with the mast up and it was very easy. The foil is aluminum not plastic. A great product.

Our C310 has a Shaefer and it is OK. We have had some issues with salt buildup in the bearings.