Schaefer Furling - no extensions

[ukrsindicat]

I have recently purchased a Newport 30. So I took it out and run into some troubles. Long story short, I have torn my Genoa beyond the repair.
Now I am looking for a replacement, but not sure which one should I get.
I have a Schaefer Furling system that doesn't replace the forward stay or has any extrusions(that pipe in which you are inserting the tape of you furling genoa).
Here is the the description of my Schaefer system and the old sail:
On my old sail there is a wire stitched along the luff of the sail. This luff wire has one eye at the tack that attached to the roller furling drum. Other eye is attached at the swivel that is raised by the hallyard along the forward stay.
I just to test I have attached the hank-on genoa by its head and tack grommets and the system worked(it rolled and unrolled) without the wire.
So here is my question:
Should I just buy a any sail with head and tack grommets without worrying about the wire? OR should I get a wire stitched into the new sail?
Attached are the photos of the sail with the luff wire and the hardware.
Thank you for your feedback.
Yuriy

 

[sailormanbigd]

new sail

For my 2 cents ...i would get a sail that is made for a furler. They are designed to work correctly, some come with foam luff and the wire is strong to take the tention/shear of the furler. Also, haveing a free forestay makes it easy to hank on another jib and "wing-it".

 

[TFrere]

I had the same system on my first boat. It rarely would completely furl the sail and it could not be used to reef the sail. I would look into replacing with a rigid furling system rather than modifying another sail to make it fit.

 

[ukrsindicat]

Awesome,

Thank you guys. I will get a furling sail(one in the picture) and began looking for a rigid system.

I would like to begin sailing with the sail connected by grommets for now tilll I get a regid system. Do you think that sail itself(without the cable inside) will be able to handle the tension with out tearing up?

Thank you guys!

Yuriy

 

[Prof Druhot]

Replacing the bearings on a Shaeffer Furling Drum

I belive tha I need to replace the ball bearings on my furling drum. Surely someone out there has done that before. Any lessons learned?

 

[Barnacle Bill]

That Schaefer system you have was built just after the earth cooled. Modern day systems are soooooooo much better than that unitl So, as mentioned above, I would consider getting a modern furling sytem for your boat. Take a close look at Furlex. In my opinion they are the best because of their engineering, quality control over all components of the system (they provide the new forestay too) - completeness of the kit (no optional items to buy to make it all work), and they are competitively priced and best of all, they work in all conditions. While there are many other good sytems on the market, Furlex seems to be more bulletproof and don't have to be fixed like other systems do now and then. That's my 2 cents.