Furling assymetric foresails

Looking good Bruce, thanks for sharing.
Athough not the professional manufacturer you'd hoped to chime in I think it's best DIY furler on the market I've seen.
I would not worry about the diameter, guess it gives good momentum and reduce wear.
Why the notch in the plexiglass cover plate?

 

Hey guys good thread. I assume my facnor furler for my code zero was a bottom up, well that is how it furled IE from the bottom up. The code zero had a soft luff rope.

The question I ask is how is it even possible to furl a sail from the top down with the furler at the bottom. It would seem that by its very nature all furlers that sit at the bottom would furl from the bottom up. That is of course unless you have a stiff foil or modern anti twist line. Even then it would appear that the best you could hope for is the top to furl at the same time as the bottom, not before.

So how does this work?

 

Thanks

The notch allows easy install/removal of a spliced drive line- I copied it The 5" drive sheave does have plenty of power for my 38' luff. I just think the whole thing is a little "clunky" and I can do better/lighter/more compact if I build another one. I would have to do some machining though, this one was built with a table saw and a drill press. B

 

top down

Dennis, the "top down" furlers do have to have a very non-twist line between the furler and a top swivel, and a free floating tack eye. The furling line has to be well (really!) tight when furling, and furler rotates the line all the way up to the top swivel and winds the sail around the line from the top down. Since the tack is not turning, it is the last part furled. It looks a little like magic the first time you see it. Tension and sail handing still have to be right, and I have not tried to furl in very much wind- but I think it will work OK. I see that many of the fast pro boats are converting at least some of their sails to it. The furler does not effect regular spinnaker handing if you don't want to use it. Nice
B

 

Ahh OK. The fact the tack is held captive explains it. Thanks.

 

Floating tack

Yes. You can even use your adjustable tack line if you have one. B

 

hi bruce b
what type furlers did you salvage parts from.how well has the furler worked and have you modified your design since you have been using it.do ypou have a pic of it set up on boat.any insights that you might have done diffrently.

 

Furler update?

C28, not to long after I built the furler, I "happened" to purchase a 33'tri project, and I didn't relaunch my 24 until last July- and I have not sailed it very much. I only kept the furler on the boat a few weeks, and I didn't use it this season, although it seemed to "test" ok.
It furls fine, at least with my smaller spinnaker (about 400 sq ft) but it doesn't spin quite freely enough when released, so far. I think slightly modifying the disc spacing or changing the drive line would help, but I never got the chance to try it again.
I think my two swivels were halyard sliders from hood or scheafer round systems, the rest were parts out of my scrap pile. They are probably over size for my 24 but all I had at the time. With a better drive disc, it might work ok on my new boat, I will try it next season.
IMO ! I am not sure that the top down furlers are the best answer for our tris. From my experiments (very limited) and watching most of the on-line videos dealing with top down systems, they work quite well in medium conditions, but very likely could get you in some serious trouble in a breeze, just when you need it most. I was looking for a spinnaker solution for short or single handed sailing, and I don't think I would trust a top down- anyway, not yet.
I have rigged a center retrieval line on my small "test" chute, possibly to be used with a deck level "funnel" much like some of the fast beach cats are using. It seems to have much less to go wrong, and even if it jams, you can still do a normal drop. I have not had a chance to study one, but some of the larger (30-40'+) bouy racing monohulls are using their forward hatch with a similar system. I will report back if I get a chance to try it before the end of my sailing season.
B

 

topdown furler

bruce thanks for the reply . i am going to scrounge around for parts to make a top down furler. the first will be used on the windrider 17 platform as a good test bed.should be a good winter project.i have used the spinnakers that are used on beach cats and that seems to work pretty flawless.the chutes are smaller and more manageable than the one on the corsair 28.
oh the price we pay for the need of speed.

 

small furler

I think the small size one for the windrider should work well and doesn't need to be very "high tech" . The loads are low and the drive line short, and you would probably be using a fairly flat sail. On the larger systems, the top of the spinnaker can either not furl or get loose, fill, and then jam the system. Not at all fun if the wind is blowing very much. Screechers and code 0s seem to furl ok, the extra "fat" area at the top of a spinnaker is more of a challenge. I expect as top downs are improved, along with sails optimized for them, performance will get better.
For what ever it is worth- I did not try putting "floating balls" on the drive line like I think "Pro Furl" uses, but I think they might help, and certainly be worth trying if the top of your sail gives you issues.
A couple of the sail lofts, as well as several manufactures, have how to u-tube videos that are well worth watching
B