in-boom furling mainsail

Hi all,

I have a 1986 38-200. I'm considering replacing the current mainsail boom with an aftermarket furling boom. Has anyone done that before? Does anyone have suggestions for quality manufacturers of in-boom furling systems best for this boat. Does anyone think it's a bad idea in general to swap out the boom for an in-furling type.

thanks,

Frank z

In Boom Furling

I've looked at these and the Shaeffer seems better than Forespar. However, they are very expensive. Try $10,000 to 15,000.

In-boom furling

Thanks for the reply. Have you ever heard of the Profurl system?

fz

Pricey for sure

Stand by-I will get you the info on the best system (as of last year anyway..)

In Boom Furler

Seth - have you used one of these? Any thoughts?

LeisureFurl

My experiences with these has shown that this is the best engineered, most "evolved" of the bunch. None are cheap, but they are complex things..

I suggest that product without hesitation-I have installed several and built the sails-they work very well, but are sensitive to initial setup. Make sure whichever loft you go with for this has done more than 2-3 of them.

Best,
S

furling boom

Hi Frank, I'm new to this forum and your message is getting on a bit, but I thought I would reply anyway.
I have a 20'3" long FURLBOOM which takes a 49'2" luff mainsail, and I wish to sell it. The boom is in an immaculate condition as it was purchased hoping that a 55' luff would fit. Not quite, so a bigger one was then bought for the boat.
This is a beautiful peice of equipment. Everything is there, including the additional mast sections.
I own a specialist engineering workshop and would be able to make the
boom any length required.

Rocke rocke.bryers@ihug.co.nz
Ph. 649 4447140 Bus.
649 4794518 Res
6425 731 582 Cell We are 5hrs behind you (but 1 day ahead)

FrankZ said:

Hi all,

I have a 1986 38-200. I'm considering replacing the current mainsail boom with an aftermarket furling boom. Has anyone done that before? Does anyone have suggestions for quality manufacturers of in-boom furling systems best for this boat. Does anyone think it's a bad idea in general to swap out the boom for an in-furling type.

thanks,

Frank z

Click to expand...

I have a Leisure Furl on my 1980 E38, Spirit Moon. It was installed in 2004 by the previous owner as part of a complete refit. The main was designed for this configuration. My wife and I love the in-boom furling. It is easily reefed without having to head up and of course offers infinite sail area combinations. We find that up here in the pacific northwest this system provides us with much more confidence in taking on those more windy and inclement days. Maintenance is simple as the sytem is mechanically pretty basic and requires next to nothing. You will have to use a solid vang. I'll try to attach a pic for you. Last year I helped a friend move his Leisure Furl equpped Scandi 54 from Victoria to San Francisco. It was a flawless system though gales and calms.

Frank
Spirit Moon

Check out the euro style main bags before you do it

The boom furlers are slick and pricy. Before you do that though check out the Euro style boom mounted main sail bags. We had one on a charter boat - you simply let go of the halyard it comes down in a canvase bag and one zip and its put away. No mechanical issues to worry about and way cheaper than the furler deals.

Reefing spend you money on a good reefing setup as even the furler systems aren't exaclty the easiest to reef.

My next boat possibly my current one will no doubt have the Euro style boom bag set up for the main. Nothing special needed regarding the sail cut etc - and keeps all the basics as simple as possible. With the right reefing set up you never need to leave the cockpit to drop - raise or reef.

Seth's Got it right

Leisurefurl is the one to get. Profurls are not bad but I have seen several have problems. The problems could have resulted from impropper installations so I'm not going to bad mouth the profurl, just have seen the leisurefurl product too and it is very well made. Very expensive too. For an E-38 you are probably going to be in 10K range. The nice thing about these furlers though is that you can have battens and therefore decent sail shape. If you go with one make sure you use a rigging shop who has done more than a few of these. Leisurefurl stands by their dealers but due to price not many rig shops do these installs often. If the install is not done right you WILL have problems with your mast. IMHO its not worth the $$ as you will not get back on resale especially in this market and the 38 is just not that hard of a boat to reef (from the cockpit) if you rig it properly .

Thanks Ted

Also,the "Euro" style boom cover/bags are made here by most sailmakers-the Doyle Stackpack being the best known-but UK, Quantum and North all have similar designs-I think the Stackpack is the best engineered of the bunch.

A good value as FullTilt says.

Cheers,
S