Roller Furling
We have a Shaefer Roller Furl on our C34 and it works great. It is easy to maintain and it has never jammed on us. The roller jib is a great convenience - no more hassles with hoisting/dropping and no more folding at the end of the day. However, I have found that they don't work so well reefed for the following reasons: 1. No longer able to maintain luff tension. The head and foot are taught, but the center part of the luff will sag or bow out. You can alleviate the problem somewhat by having your sail maker sew in a "foam luff". This adds material in the center portion of the luff, putting more tension there when reefed. Unfortunately, this additional material is going to reduce efficiency when the sail is fully deployed. 2. To facilitate furling, the clew is higher than on a normal jib. Reefing in on the jib increases this height and moves the center of effort higher in the sail. A reefed headsail will have less of an impact on heeling than a purpose made sail. 3. Wind pressure on the sail will pull tension on the spooled reefing line, causing the sail to unfurl itself slightly. In the extreme, this could develop into a reefing line override which may result in a jam. 4. Most of the draft is cut into the forward half of the sail. The leach area is almost flat. I've been told that you can only reef down to the next smallest sail size (i.e. 110 down to a 90) before your efficiency drops off dramatically. A "reefed" jib will never be as efficient as a purpose made one. You need to ask yourself how much performance do you need and what are your prevailing conditions like. We carry a 130 and 110 jib and will swap out depending upon the prevailing conditions. But I will reef the jib while underway rather than undergo a headsail swap.
