Sail-handling with a Twist

Headsail furlers make taming the a much less trying affair, particularly on short-handed boats over 35 feet, like this Hanse 400 equipped with a Facnor head-swivel furler. Today’s furlers have overcome the engineering issues of first-generation gear. PS takes a look at the latest in head-swivel furlers for mid-sized boats.

ngineering advances have improved top priorities in an older boat retrofit is to hold the up and the former to Photos by Ralph Naranjo (above, pages 12-13) and courtesy of Seldén Mast (below) Eroller-furling systems, and the lat- the addition of roller furling—shows handle the furling operation. est units show refinements to original how well sailors have embraced the - design and some promising new inno- handling gear. What We Tested vations. Today, third- and fourth-gen- The current generation of headsail furl- eration furlers are smoother operating, Background ers has seen significant changes over easier to install, and reliable in their role In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hood, the furlers of yesteryear with respect to as long-lived sail-handling systems. The Hyde, and Schaefer were the pioneers be- engineering and construction materials. fact that almost every new cruising boat hind the idea of handling a headsail with To get an idea of what’s on the market longer than 35 feet comes standard with a window-shade-like furling approach. and see how the newer products fare a roller-furling headsail—and one of the Some of the earliest systems lacked luff- against the simpler, tried and true furler tape foils and relied upon head and systems, Practical Sailor rounded up 11 drum swivels and a faux headstay sewn new headsail furlers suited for 30- to 35- into the sail luff. foot sailboats. Tension placed on the bearing sys- For reporting purposes, the test group

tems accelerated fatigue, and failures will be divided into two groups: integral (below) Facnor of courtesy Photo were of a spectacular nature often result- and head-swivel systems. However, in ing in a dismasting and marina rumors testing, we compared all products. that caused piston-hanking to see Four of the 11 systems evaluated are a resurgence. Fortunately, engineering integral systems that have no upper hal- improvements stepped in, and Ted Hood swivel. These units attach the head and other sailmakers saw the sense in of the to a built-in or a fitting slipping an extruded foil over an exist- at the top foil section. Three of these four ing headstay in order to allow the latter completely eliminate the use of ball and

The Furlex 200S was a top performer in our test of head-swivel furling systems. It’s the only one we tested that can be retrofitted as an electric furler. (See page 17.)

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roller bearings, relying on simpler bush- ings to offset thrust and axial loads. The integral systems we tested were the Alado A-2, Cruising Design Inc.’s Flexible Furler, Reefurl, and Spin-Tec’s Triumph 2000. Look for performance test results and the full report on these furlers in the September issue. This issue, we focus on head-swivel furlers from Furlex (Seldén Mast), Har- ken Inc., Schaefer Marine, Facnor, and US Spars. The seven head-swivel prod- ucts, ranging in cost from $950 to $3,200, Do-it-yourselfers consider a furler’s ease of installation in their final picks. The Spin- that we tested were the Facnor LX 130, Tec furler (above) is among the furlers we’ll review in the September issue. Harken MkIV and Cruising 1, Profurl LCI32, Schaefer 2100, Furlex 200S, and US Spars (Z-) Z-780. version of each system, giving close scru- MkIV, and Schaefer’s 2100, the former One swivel-furler maker not repre- tiny to system design and component spinning on stainless bearings and the sented in our test was Reckmann Reefing manufacture. We considered how furl- latter two packed with multiple large- Systems (www.reckmann.com), whose ing loads migrate from the line to the diameter Torlon and Delrin bearings. products are distributed in the U.S. drum and into the foil itself. Part of the From a sail shape and reefing point of by Euro Marine Trading. Reckmann’s big picture included bearing systems view, we found that units with an articu- RS2000 furler is designed for boats 30 and linkage designs. It was clear that lating tack (Facnor, Furlex, and Harken to 90 feet. It and Reckmann’s other furl- most manufacturers were tuned in to MkIV) aided reefing by coaxing sails ing systems are very well designed and corrosion abatement, picking the right to set a little flatter. However, the most well built, but their high costs (upward metal for the job, and coming up with influential hand in the reefing process of $8,000) priced them out of this test foil interlocks that better held the sec- remains the skill of the sailmaker. field. Reckmann furlers are better suited tions together.

Photos by Ralph Naranjo (above, pages 12-13) and courtesy of Seldén Mast (below) to yachts over 50 feet, in our opinion. A look at a rigger’s scrap heap revealed Facnor LX130 dead furlers with corroded, frozen bear- This headsail furler is a favorite among How we tested ings, foils that would not stay together Europeans, and like other Facnor prod- Practical Sailor conducted on-the-water when hoisted, and first-generation com- ucts, it has been sea-trialed in grueling performance tests of each system on var- posite bearings suffering from UV deg- offshore racing conditions. ious boats in 5- to 20-knot wind condi- radation. We also talked to furler own- The system is well engineered and tions. Testers considered how easily each ers, listening to stories of halyard wraps, blends a high torque-carrying, rounded system furled and unfurled the sail and rotating drum guards, and twisted (bar- foil shape with nicely machined con- how smooth the process was. They also ber-poled) foils. evaluated sail shape and how easy it was So, primed with first-hand underway to reef in a blow. experience and a good deal of back- Hardware design is important but ground data, we dug deep to see how equally so is the installation of the unit each unit turned a pull from a sailor into on board. As many riggers put it, “the a twist of the sail. best way to insure operational reliability

Photo courtesy of Facnor (below) Facnor of courtesy Photo is to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines What We Found implicitly.” And so we looked closely at After sailing and tugging on the reef- how each system had been set up aboard ing lines, we found all of the units to the test boats, and we were amazed at be operationally reliable in normal 5- to how often poor geometry in furling line 20-knot conditions. Not surprisingly, leads, excessively loose standing , the units fitted with a plethora of ball and over-tightened took a toll bearings spun more freely, even under on furler efficiency. load, and the super slick title was a three- Testers also inspected a disassembled way tie among the Furlex 200S, Harken’s

The Facnor LX130 combines the traditional head swivel-halyard hoist design with some innovative features like a telescopic foil and a halyard-wrap preventor.

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VALUE guide head-swivel furlers Maker model price / source bearing type drum size foil type sail slots warranty

facnor LX 130 $1,658 / Mauri Pro SS & composite N/A Rounded 2 N/A 6 5/8 in. harken MkIV $1,918 / West Marine Torlon and Delrin diameter Elliptical 2 7 years 6 5/8 in. harken Cruising No. 1 $1,504 / West Marine Torlon and Delrin diameter Rounded 1 7 years High carbon profurl LCI-32 $1,943 / Mauri Pro steel N/A Rounded 2 10 years 3 3/4 in. schaefer 2100 $3,202 / West Marine Torlon diameter Rounded 2 5 years $2,939 / Riggers, 7 1/4 in. 200S Stainless steel Elliptical 2 5 years furlex sailmakers, boatyards diameter us spars Z-Spar Z-780 $ $960 Stainless steel 2.3 in. Elliptical 2 2 years

Best Choice $ Budget Buy Recommended necting links. The unituses a traditional questionable headstay with a Harken MkIV swivel and mast-halyard hoist design, new furler can lead to prob- Harken has two new furling systems and its telescoping foil section eliminates lems. Furlex prevents such on the market, and both eliminate the need to cut a “shortened section.” complication by offering the “built in” turnbuckle that Har- During installation, neither the wire the total package. ken had used for decades. The nor the turnbuckle have to be replaced, In addition to a new Mark IV system incor- and the 40-mil hard anodized parts are well-designed and porates the twin slot foil of its quite corrosion resistant. packaged array of proven predecessor the Mark The bearing system is referred to parts, the Furlex III. The unit retains the full as the “bearing box,” and it contains a comes with a superbly rotation tack and head swivels stainless-steel thrust bearing and large illustrated manual (in that cause the furling and reef- fiber/polymer bearings for axial loads four languages—no ing operation to flatten the mid all housed in the compact drum hub. need to learn new words portion of the headsail first—a There’s a handy anti-halyard wrap de- while trying to put together feature that many sailmakers prefer. flector and optional turnbuckle kit. this furling system). The big change for Harken is going Bottom line: This unit has gained at- At the heart of Furlex’s Harken MKIV to a two-tiered approach and offering tention of builders and do-it-yourselfers twist technology is an in- different units to cruisers and racers alike. One minor issue testers noted was vestment-cast stainless drum core and with the Mark IV being the racing/per- that the articulating tack bearings are ex- bearing support for multiple races of formance cruising option. On both sys- Photos by Ralph Naranjo posed to continuous UV degradation. stainless bearings. The system handles tems, thrust and axial loads are handled thrust and axial loads very efficiently.The by a combination of Delrin and Torlon Furlex 200S patented halyard swivel “load distribu- bearings nicely tucked away in the drum Furlex, manufactured by Seldén tor” spreads the load over many balls to and hidden from sunlight. The interlock- Mast, has been a frontrunner in reduce point loading and friction. ing foil segments are secured with cap- headsail furling for decades. The foil sections are double tured links that are held in place with Among all the units we looked slotted and elliptical in shape, adhesive and mechanical fasteners. at, the 200S was the only one and the full-turn tack swivel al- Bottom line: We found the Mark that came with lows the mid portion of the sail IV is a compact and efficient furler. a new headstay to lead off in the furling/reef- It gets the PS Recommendation as wire complete ing process, reducing it’s certainly destined to be with turnbuck- excess in roller- a favorite among more per- le, toggle, and reefed sails. formance-oriented sailors. the recom- B o t t o m l i n e : mended Sta- Among a field of qual- Harken Cruising 1 Loc compression ity products, Furlex The Harken Cruising Unit fitting. Covering a stands out for its in- No. 1 utilizes a rounded foil vestment cast stainless section with a single hub and bearings. Harken track. It likely will Furlex 200S Cruising 1

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Ball Bearing Details

Harken MKIV Furlex 200S

he head-swivel furlers tested for this review utilize various types of ball bearings, T from carbon to stainless steel to Torlon and Delrin. The Harken MkIV (above, left) turns on Torlon and Delrin balls, which are hidden in the drum, completely protected from damaging ultraviolet rays. (We cracked open the drum for a peek inside.) The Furlex system (above, right) uses multiple races of stainless-steel bearings housed in an investment-cast stainless-steel drum core and bearing support. The Facnor LX130 (at right) design incorporates Torlon tack bearings. The drawback to this is Facnor LX130 that they are seated in an open track, exposed to the sun. handle more furling and reefing better with a series of “from the drum Schaefer 2100 torque than the foil used on the to the top swivel” tweaks and changes. The latest Schaefer headsail furler is a Mark IV system. The LCI32’s round foil tubes use a C- display of well-executed stainless-steel Flat-head screws and Loctite shaped connector spline and heavy- castings, machined parts, and welded work in conjunction duty, threaded fasteners and extruded components. The 2100’s with Easy C-shaped that are anodized to re- Torlon bearings make furling silky connectors and bush- duce corrosion. smooth. Helicoils have been inserted to ings to install the A stainless-steel luff lessen corrosion caused by stainless-steel head foil over an exist- feeder snaps into place on fasteners. ing headstay and turn- the appropriate foil segment With the 2100, Schaefer did not walk buckle. The tack of the with a click. One of the big the razor’s edge separating performance cruising furler is fixed pluses for this system is the and longevity. The heavy-duty foil sec- to the drum, eliminating variation it offers in drum tion is rounded with high-torque carry- the flattening feature that many clearance and swivel positioning, ing links transferring loads from one to came to appreciate in earlier a feature that has gained rigger ap- the next. The drum and swivel are Harken gear. proval for decades. large enough to pack good- ProFurl Another change is the greater LCI32 The system places no torque sized bearing races and transfer play in the drum toggle, which loads on set screws, and seems to plenty of torque to the foil sec- helps the system cope with have overcome issues such as hal- tion. Foils are connected via the increased headstay sag often found yard wraps and foil segment separation stainless pop rivets that can aboard cruising boats. The furling ac- that plagued earlier equipment. be drilled out to disassem- tion is smooth and easy, and the familiar Profurl uses a hardened carbon-steel ble—no worries about cor- Harken bearing swirl accompanies the ball bearing set packed in grease and pro- roded fasteners. low-drag furling. tected by a double-lip seal. The company The installa- Bottom line: The single-groove foil says that it “can’t corrode because the tion kit comes limits some headsail options. bearings are sealed in grease.” However, with furling line seals can fail, and those with older sys- lead blocks and a Profurl LCI32 tems should do a careful bearing check. toggle and link Profurl, a key player in the field of roller Bottom line: The bearing system for those who furling, continues its engineering evo- was the unit’s only feature that gave lution, making a solid performer even testers pause. Schaefer 2100 practical sailor august 2009 15 a c l o s e r l o o k in re l a t e d n e w s . . .

2 3

Foils: The Furling Backbone s with their ball bearings, the head-swivel furlers we tested each had a unique foil Adesign. 1. One noteworthy foil feature is that of the Z-Spar Z-780. It can be deliv- ered as one piece, a segment-less foil that does not require being snapped together 1 or cut to fit. 2. The Furlex foil sections have double sail slots that are aerodynamic in shape. 3. ProFurl’s two foil tubes are round and the C-shaped connector spline is anodized to reduce corrosion. want deck clearance for anchor mains an easy system to operate. the-board increase in quality. But in the handling. One of the most interesting features end, sound engineering and the reliabil- Two minor drawbacks testers noted offered by US Spars is the chance to ity of an investment cast stainless hub were that Torlon bearings could be seen acquire this system in a one piece, no assembly and bearings gave the extra in a few places, which means sunlight can foil-segment junction set up. Because of nudge to Furlex. Harken’s MkIV hits also see the Torlon, and the top swivel shipping limitations, this is usually only a price point and is recommended for has some exposure to sunlight. Schaefer offered for new boats or new spars, but performance-minded sailors. noted that Torlon has a high tolerance to other arrangements for shipping may be To find out which integral system UV, and reported that in 20-plus years of able to be arranged. topped testers’ charts and to see how using Torlon in their furlers, the company Bottom line: The narrow overall those furlers stack up against the head- knows of no failure due to UV damage. diameter of the drum makes it a good swivel lot evaluated this month, stay Bottom line: The swivel and bearings’ selection for those boats with limited tuned for part two of this report coming possible exposure to sun is a minor issues foredeck space or where pulpit intrusion up in the September issue. in an otherwise very well-engineered, yet may be an issue. And its below $1,000 pricey, system. price makes it our Budget Buy. Contacts Z-Furl Z-780 Conclusion facnor US Spars, a subsidiary of France’s Z- Each boat owner must decide whether 704/597-15 02, Spar, recently released a new Z-Furl unit they prefer a system that allows them www.facnor.com Photos by Ralph Naranjo that incorporates a seamless to wash off plastic bearings with a hose, harken head foil and stainless-steel rely on permanently sealed high carbon- 262/691-3320, bearings. The Z-780’s double steel bearings, care for open race stain- www.harken.com luff elliptical foil system less-steel bearings that occasionally profurl incorporates a conven- need cleaning and lubrication, or no ball www.profurlamerica.com tional top swivel that’s bearings at all. Price is always a consid- schaefer engaged by a mast hal- eration, and in this furler round up there 508/995-9511, yard. was an astounding 400-percent differ- www.schaefermarine.com The 2.3-inch inner ence in price between the least and most furlex (Seldén mast) drum diameter is on the expensive units (including the integral 843/760-6278, small side, but with a full- systems to be reviewed next month). www.seldénmast.com length plastic headstay bush- Among the head-swivel furlers, pick- us spars (Z-Spar) ing and efficient bearings in ing a winner was difficult due to the -re 800/928-0786, the drum and swivel, it re- finements most of these products have www.usspars.com Z-Furl Z-780 gone through and an obvious across-

16 august 2009 www.practical-sailor.com a c l o s e r l o o k in re l a t e d n e w s . . . It’s Electric: Retrofit Kit Powers Manual Furlex

eldén has a new Furlex option that drain. Naturally, as the load Sconverts its manual roller furler into on the sail and tension in the a reliable pushbutton power furling furling system increases, so system. At the heart of the power furler does the current draw. is a reversible 12- or 24-volt DC motor Those already planning unit that merges with the lower bearing to install an electric windlass assembly of an existing or new system, and or bow thruster may be creating a drive unit capable of power able to utilize the high cur- unwinding, reefing, and furling. rent carrying wiring for these Electrical wires are led through a stain- components to do double or less deck collar to a well-sealed connec- triple duty. An energy audit tion box. From there, wires continue on identifying how much to- to a control box that acts as the junction tal power is available and center for battery leads and the control how much current is used switch input line. Signals from either at any one time will indicate the cockpit-mounted control or an op- whether or not this is a viable The Furlex Electric can turn an existing or new tional remote control activate a relay in alternative. manual Furlex into a power furler. the junction box, switching polarity and The installation is well il- delivering an in or out response of the lustrated in the manual that headsail furler. comes with the unit. It begins with the a skilled do-it-yourselfer, with a friend In order to minimize voltage drop dur- disassembly of the manual furling com- willing to lend an extra set of hands, it’s ing furling, Seldén recommends having ponents and changing of the sail feeder. a doable task, however the most painless at least 115 amp hours available in the With the line guide off, and the line approach may lie in engaging a Seldén- bank operating the furling system. The drum split in two, a decision must be familiar rigger to do the job. fuse minimum in the circuit is 125 amps, made as to whether or not to lower the As with any power tool, there’s a need and the wire gauge is dependent upon entire furler to the ground. Once on the to remain aware of the torque available at the length of run. The nominal 12-volt DC ground, mounting the motor drive and re- your fingertip’s command. Making sure power ratings of the furling units are ap- placing the toggle with the “high-torque” that the sheets are eased and the spin- proximately 18 amps (200E) and 37 amps alternate is quite straightforward. The naker halyard is not caught in the fray is (300E). The hefty reduction ratio (53 to 1 installation can be done with the furler more important than ever. The auto furl- for the 200E) and belt drive deliver con- in place but fitting the components be- ing action is like having an extra crew on siderable torque at a reasonable power comes a little more of a challenge. For board—one with very thick shoulders.

Seldén’s “all parts included” approach (below left) delivers a package that contains a waterproof stainless-steel deck collar (below, center) that leads the electrical wires to a well-sealed connection box. The furler power is controlled by either cockpit-mount- ed buttons or a remote control (at right).

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