Jib furller info.

[rtrinkle]

I was wondering what a relatively inexpensive jib furller is for a 2001 . Taken the boat out 3 times, and really getting tired of clipping in the jib and hoisting manually.

[c130king]

CDI FF-2 Furler System

This is what I have. Works great. Really like it. But I didn't install it...it came from the original owner.

Furling and Lazy Jacks on König

Good Luck.

Cheers,
Jim
Sailing on König
Sailing on König YouTube Channel

[Hamin' X]

The FF-2 is probably the most popular on our boats and what I have and it works flawlessly for me. There are a few tricks to mounting and using it. The main one is that the furling line MUST enter the drum at a right angle. Number two is to always keep a small amount of tension on the jib/genoa sheets when furling. Luff pad? Not unless you are a perfectionist at sailing (On a Mac?). UV strip, or sock is a must, if you trailer with the furler left on (easiest), or leave the boat in a slip.

Ask away, as there are many opinions on this forum.

~Rich

[Judy B]

I'd recommend you take a look at the Schaefer SnapFurl CF-500. It's about the same price as the CDI FF2 and, imo, it's better. It's as good as a Harken, engineering and feature-wise. It's the only fully featured furler out there made for trailering, with a plastic extrusion like the CDI.

http://www.furling.com/snapfurl.html

HTH,
Judy B

[rtrinkle]

Great stuff here people. Thanks for the info. Will I have to purchase any other deck hardware to properly install a furler? What about the jib? Can I use the stock jib from the with clips and all?

[DaveB]

Judy,
I agree with you but haven't seen the system work yet.
I like the design and looking for person's who have it and fedback.
Dave
PS: Are you the Judy with the Potter19?

I'd recommend you take a look at the Schaefer SnapFurl CF-500. It's about the same price as the CDI FF2 and, imo, it's better. It's as good as a Harken, engineering and feature-wise. It's the only fully featured furler out there made for trailering, with a plastic extrusion like the CDI.

http://www.furling.com/snapfurl.html

HTH,
Judy B
Cruising Specialist, Hyd e Sails

[Catigale]

You will have a luff tape (#6 IIRC) sewn onto your jib and have the (Tom) hanks removed. Job for a sail loft.

[Judy B]

Judy,
I agree with you but haven't seen the system work yet.
I like the design and looking for person's who have it and fedback.
Dave
PS: Are you the Judy with the Potter19?

I'd recommend you take a look at the Schaefer SnapFurl CF-500. It's about the same price as the CDI FF2 and, imo, it's better. It's as good as a Harken, engineering and feature-wise. It's the only fully featured furler out there made for trailering, with a plastic extrusion like the CDI.

http://www.furling.com/snapfurl.html

HTH,
Judy B

Hi Dave
Yes, I'm the Judy B with the Potter 19 (as well as o ther boats between 11 and 34 feet).

I'm also an independent sales rep for Hyd e Sails thes e days and I recommend th e SnapFurl to all my customers. I've owned a CDI, and a Harken , and, IMO, the SnapFurl is a more capa ble and durable furler than the CDI.

I know folks who have had the Schaefer SnapFurl for at least 10 years now. They work as well as the Harken on my big boat. Fabulous piece of equipment, and trailerable too. You can adjust the luff tension to control the draft position in your headsail. You can switch sails as quickly and easily as you can on a Harken.

BTW, the SnapFurl CF-500 r equires a #5 luff tape. It won't take a headsail with a #6.

Fair winds,
Judy B

[Judy B]

1. You need a luff tape on the luff of the sail, rather than hanks, as someone already mentioned above

2. You'll need a way to protect the sail from UV because now you can leave it on the boat.

One of the advantag es of having a furler is that you can l eave the genoa wrapped on it, even when you trailer it. You need to protect the sail from UV if it's left out in the sun, and from abrasion while you're trail ering. There are two ways to do that: have a UV cover sewn on the edge of the sail or buy a jib sleeve (aka sock). The most convenient way is to buy the sail with UV Dacron on it. The other choice in fabric is Sunbrella, but UV DAcron 's more abrasion-resistant than Sunbrella and easier to scrub off the bugs. Jib socks for trailerables need to be made of very abrasion resistant fabric, not sunbrella, in my experience. Also, UV Dacron weighs about half as much as Sunbrella, so it's better in light winds, especially for sails on relatively small boats like th e Mac26

3. I'd recommend a foam (or rope) luff pad to help keep a good shape in the sail if you furl it to a smaller size. The luff pad keeps the draft from getting baggy and wrinkled as you furl the sail when the winds get higher. It's like having two sails in one.

If you have a 150% Roller Furling genoa with a luff pad, it will furl up to about a 105% jib and still have a good shape and still point well. A 135% g enoa will roll up to about a 95% and have a good shap e if it has a luff pad.

If you have a small jib, say about a 110 or small er, and it's cut really flat, you probably don't need a foam pad. But for anything bigger, it's practically a must-have if you want the boat to sail well with the headsail partially reefed.

4. Finally, in my exerience, the cost of removing the hands and adding a luff tape, a UV edge and a luff pad to an existing sail is prohibitive. The time that it takes to figure out the patterns is crazy compared to ordering it included in a new sail. That makes it cheaper to buy a new sail and sell the old one if it's in decent shape. If it's not in decent shape, it's definitely not worth investing any more money in it!

5. Also, sails that are meant to be furled down a size usually have to be made of stouter cloth so they don't stretch out quickly. For example, I make Mac26 Roller Furling Genoas out of 6 oz High Moduls dacron and put eliptically shaped reinforcment patchs along the luff and foot so it holds its shape when it's used as a 105% jib in stronger winds. That keeps it from getting baggy and old quickly.

Here you can see a 150% genoa with a segmented foam pad, a UV edge, and an elliptically shaped reinforcement area along the foot to kee p it from stretching when it's reefed down to a 105%.



Hope this helps
Judy B
Hyd e Sails USA

[Terry]

I'd recommend you take a look at the Schaefer SnapFurl CF-500. It's about the same price as the CDI FF2 and, imo, it's better. It's as good as a Harken, engineering and feature-wise. It's the only fully featured furler out there made for trailering, with a plastic extrusion like the CDI.

http://www.furling.com/snapfurl.html

HTH,
Judy B
Cruising Specialist, Hyd e Sails

I have the Schaefer Snapfurl CF700 and believe it to be more appropriate for the 26M/X Macgregor, I believe there is another on this board who has it too. After using it a few seasons and seeing others with the CDI I am happy in hindsight that I got the Schaefer unit, much more superior to the CDI IMHO.

[rtrinkle]

I was looking at the CDI and Schaffer, both the CF500 and 700. The 500 says its for boats 16 - 24' and the 700 24-28'. What's the difference between the 2 (other than cost). I know the mac is 25'10". Would the 500 be too small? Sorry for questioning, this is my first look at furling systems. If I order something, I want to do it right the first time and not have to return it.

[Judy B]

I was looking at the CDI and Schaffer, both the CF500 and 700. The 500 says its for boats 16 - 24' and the 700 24-28'. What's the difference between the 2 (other than cost). I know the mac is 25'10". Would the 500 be too small? Sorry for questioning, this is my first look at furling systems. If I order something, I want to do it right the first time and not have to return it.

Hi rtrinkle,

The CF-500 would be fin e for the 26x. I am a Schaefer distributor, and I have already confirmed it with Schaefer's furling engineers. They gave me the thumbs up to use the CF-500 on the 26X. It's plenty beefy for a Mac 26X

Although the buyer's guid elines from Schaefer recommend a CF-700 for *most* boats longer than 24, the engineers say that the Mac26x is an exception to the general guidlines.

Here's why: the CF-500 can comfortably accomodate a the loads on a Mac26X rig. The 26X is a fractional rig, with a relatively short luff length and a relatively short distance betwe en the bow and the mast. The biggest sail for a 26X, a 150% genoa, is only about 200 square fe et. The design displacement is only around 3900 pounds. The CF-500is engineered to handle those kinds of loads and provide an excellent furling experience for you. The 26X is a big boat inside, but it doesn't generate huge loads on the rigging when it's sailing, compar ed to other sailboats.

You'd have to confirm the size of your forestay if it's not original. The diameter of the OEM forestay was 1/8". The SnapFurl CF-500 can fit a 3/16" or smaller diameter forestay. (For technical reasons, 1/8" is b etter for the rig than 3/16" would be anyhow. With rig designs, bigg er is often worse, not better.)

Hope this helps clarify,

Judy B

[frede]

How hard would it be to swap out the the CDI FF2 off of the 26M and put on my Schaffer SnapFurl CF-500 from my 26D? If I have to remove and repace the "Interlocking, high grade Geon PVC extrusion" of the SnapFurl it ain't happening, that thing was no piece of cake to "snap" on. I would agree the CF-500 is much nicer and I have a better head sail on it, a 165% genoa

[Catigale]

IIRC the Schaeffer was about 700 USD and the FF2 from CDI was 500 USD....has that changed??

[Judy B]

How hard would it be to swap out the the CDI FF2 off of the 26M and put on my Schaffer SnapFurl CF-500 from my 26D? If I have to remove and repace the "Interlocking, high grade Geon PVC extrusion" of the SnapFurl it ain't happening, that thing was no piece of cake to "snap" on. I would agree the CF-500 is much nicer and I have a better head sail on it, a 165% genoa

I'd recommend you ask Schaefer Marin e Furling at 508 995 9511. They're in Conn ecticut.

I'm sure there's a way to do it. After all, folks replace forestays whe n they get to be 5-7 years old and keep the furler. I think you will be able to slide it off. If I r ecall correctly, you can't unsnap the two parts of th e extrusion after it's been assembled.

Judy B