Roller Furling Question

[UnBelizeable]

How many of you use roller furling? I will be taking the mast down almost every time I sail and am concerned that the roller rig will make this impossible. Where would you all suggest I buy one?How expensive was your rig? How difficult was it to install. Was it worth it? As I said before, this is my first Catalina...any info would be helpful.Mark

 

[David]

Furling

I think furling is a great safety feature, but it does effect your jibs performance. The better furlers have aluminum tubes that fit together on the forestay. It is possible to bend these tubes if things go wrong when stepping the mast. I want to put furling on my boat, eventually. I have helped friends with their boats (furling), and it is more work stepping the mast. I think that unless the safety advantage is of a concern, that it would be better to not install furling if you cannot step your mast everytime you go to the lake.David

 

[Bayard Gross]

If trailering each time, not worth it.

As you are raising and lowering your mast everytime you sail, you will find a furler just a lot more complexity to an already tricky job.While I have a CDI unit on my boat myself, which due to its very simple construction and one piece plastic extrusion that goes around the forestay is very durable for trailering, the internal jib halyard can be exceptionally difficult to affix good luff tension in the jib when you raise it. You could leave the jib on the furler, but this might not be good practice trailering.Consequently, I think you might be happier with the new Schafer Snap furl offered by Catalina Direct, which uses the more normal jib halyard set up. The Harken unit is expensive and doesn't like trailering too much.But wait until the winter when you will have lots of time to get a furler properly installed into the boat.

 

[UnBelizeable]

Thanks guys

Good info...kinda figured this would be the case.

 

[Joseph Washburn]

Roller Furling

I have a slightly different outlook. I bought a Catalina 22 alomst a year ago that had a CDI roller furling system. While the mast is more difficult to step, it is not a huge problem. My roller furler stays attached to the mast at all times, even when trailering. I have encountered no problems with this, I simply make sure it is securely tied to the mast at various points and see that it is supported where it extends over the bow. The biggest issue the added weight when raising the mast. This has been overcome with a Mast Up device I purchased from Catalina Direct and a mast raising device I made out of a 2x4 that uses my main sheet system. All in all I have been very pleased with this even though it was not an item I was specifically looking for when shopping for a boat. It does make sailing, especially single handed, much easier. Good luck.Joseph Washburn"Disciple Ship"C-22 14408

 

[Rod]

no furler

I decided to go with a downhaul instead. I made this decision after posting a question similar to yours and getting some great feedback.The downhaul is a much cheaper solution and doesn't require the purchase of a new sail and expensive hardware. Search on downhaul in the archives or my name and you should be able to read the discussion.