About the sail shape on a reefing furler... There's a difference between a plain furler, and a reefing furler setup. A big part of that is a jib designed for reefing vs. one that is not. A plain furler is only designed to furl the sail - all out, or all in. In general, and especially if the sail is not built for reefing, it will give poor sail shape if used to reef the jib. A reefing furler combined with a sail cut and luff-padded for reefing is another story. I've got that on my M17 for some years now and quite happy with it. A reefing furler will have some kind of foil or extrusion around the forestay. It's not just a wire you wrap the jib around. And the jib needs to be cut suitably and have padding on the luff to keep good shape when reefing it. Works great for my needs anyhow. Whatever small performance hit there is from a bit of extra turbulence at the jib luff is for me far outweighed by being able to suit jib size to conditions quickly and safely from the cockpit. cheers, John On 10/28/21 1:59 PM, casioqv@usermail.com wrote:
Why are you having to go forward, are you swapping out headsails for different conditions?
On my M15 after rigging a jib downhaul with a length of paracord, I don't need to go forward to raise or lower the jib unless I want to swap out the jib for a different size, which is rarely necessary.
I just wanted to make sure you *really* need the furler. I'm not a fan of them myself, they add a lot of complexity and reduce performance. In principle they let you reef the jib, but the ones I've tried that really doesn't work- the partially furled jib shape is so terrible shape wise that it's pretty much the same as dropping the jib entirely performance wise. The main advantage I've seen is that they are a bit faster and easier to furl/unfurl vs hanking on and raising a jib, which is nice if you want to get on the water quickly... although a jib bag allowing you to leave the jib hanked on is probably almost as good.
Sincerely, Tyler
----- Original Message ----- From: "Theo Petron" <lapstrake1979@gmail.com> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2021 8:14:59 AM Subject: M_Boats: Roller Furling for M23
Good Morning! Long time fellow sailors! I've been sailing the Chesapeake on my M23 for the past 3 seasons and she loves that body of water. I do however, need to bite the bullet and consider roller furling as going forward on that boat in weather on the Bay is not fun. Can any other M23 owners that have furlers give me their 2 cents on what brand and set up you use/recommend? Thanks!
Theo M23 #026 Sails Increase Rock Hall, MD
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