I purchased a sailboat with a new hank on mylar headsail. What are the thoughts on converting it to roller furling?
roller furling
- Thread starter korchinskyp
- Start date
First you need the roller furling. You will probably find out it is cheaper to have a new sail made that will last a lot longer too.
I recommend against using a Mylar sail on a furler, the cost to modify alone isn't worth it since it will likely last only 2-3 seasons max.
I agree with Dave, unless you absolutely have to have a RF right now, I would just stick with the hank on sail until the current mylar sail is shot, then get a RF along with a new headsail that was made for a roller furler. Is this a race boat or cruiser? What size? If you are cruising/daysailing, your replacement sail should be Dacron, it will last a lot longer.
My advice would be to look for a combo package of a CDI furler that comes with a fitted furling headsail. You can install it yourself. You'll love it.
Yes you could do that.... it's about $6/ft to sew on a luff tape and the same for sacrificial sun protection...that's a strip of sunbrella sewn to the foot and leech. You could also remove the sail when you're away from the boat to slow down deterioration if you don't want to spend the bucks for the sunbrella....the higher end furling units include stand alone foils and separate halyards, the CDI type uses an internal halyard built into the foil that inhibits changing sails.
But, rather than do any of that at this point, I would simply install a jib downhaul and use the sail the way it is.... the jib downhaul will give you a lot of control over the sail. It will keep it secure on deck and allow you to drop the sail when and where you want it. It shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes to remove and pack the sail in its bag properly... which is the best way to protect your investment. Some sailors will roll up the sail and fold it in thirds before packing it in the bag. Others fold it accordion style, then roll it up from back to front, which will leave the head, hanks and tack conveniently ready to hook up as it comes out of the bag.
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my assumption is youre trying to save a few buck by the suggested conversion. may I suggest you consider going "used". you can most likely find a profurl roller furling , I don't know about other brands but with profurl you can buy the excrusions(metal sections the sail wraps around) direct from profurl. so if/when you find one and its a little short you can buy a piece/ excrusion and cut it to the proper length. theyre not expensive. once you know the length of the luff you need then google minneys yacht surplus and bacon sails and they'll have what size you need for 1/3 -1/2 the price of new.. I purchased a NORTH sail full batten(main) for $700 . if youre savvy and a DIY kind of guy you can save $$$. IMHO I wouldn't waste time and $ trying to convert
roller furl / mylar hank on jib
Most mylar sails are used for racing You rarely see a mylar sail on a roller furler Once you convert to roller furl you will not be able to use the mylar hank on sail unless you convert it to tape about $200 on a boat your size About roller furl I just converted from a CDI furler to a harken for my Pearson 26W. The CDI was dependable and reasonably priced. but most CDI
users put the sail up for the season and dont take it off until haul out time. If thats your style you should be fine. I found the CDI internal halyard tricky and time consuming. Changing sails took me the better part of 1/2 an hour I can change a jib with the Harken in less than 10 min
Its trade off dollars vs convenience. You choice
Most mylar sails are used for racing You rarely see a mylar sail on a roller furler Once you convert to roller furl you will not be able to use the mylar hank on sail unless you convert it to tape about $200 on a boat your size About roller furl I just converted from a CDI furler to a harken for my Pearson 26W. The CDI was dependable and reasonably priced. but most CDI
users put the sail up for the season and dont take it off until haul out time. If thats your style you should be fine. I found the CDI internal halyard tricky and time consuming. Changing sails took me the better part of 1/2 an hour I can change a jib with the Harken in less than 10 min
Its trade off dollars vs convenience. You choice
Many modern performance boats (J/109) have high performance mylar sails on rollers as standard.
The enemies of mylar sails are 1) Flogging and 2) Folding/creasing.
The furler is the absolute BEST way to handle the Mylar sail. On the furler it never gets creased or folded. At the end of the season, we do not even take our headsail off the furler. We drop the mast with it still rolled. If you do not flog it, it was last for years on a roller.
PS - the luff on a roller furler sail is often shorter than a hank on. You might have to have a sailmaker shorten the sail.
PPS - get a jib sock for it, not UV tape.
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Finally some good information from Jackdaw. He is very right. Folding a mylar sail is not as good as rolling it and so rolling one on a furler is absolutely the best way to stow a headsail. Mylar or other high tech laminates will last a long time if you take care of them. People say dacron lasts longer than laminates. The actual sail may hold up longer it seems, but the shape holds up much longer in a laminate sail than on a dacron sail. Shape is what gives you performance. And, if you want my opinion on a good furling system, I vote for Selden's Furlex as #1. If you want to go with a flexible furler, then look at the two big ones and choose based on their differences (CDI uses their own halyard system and Schaefer Snap Furl uses your existing halyards).