Profurl Roller Reefing Gear.

[Mal]

Had trouble with my jib reefing gear this year, and found the Profurl gear very difficult to dismantle. Where sail extrusion goes into fatter aluminium 'tube' on top of the reefing drum, it is held by two screws;- one with a head, and another a grub screw. Grub screw would not come out;- tried freeing oil, impact driver, heat, and eventually had to drill it out.

Had to do all this to change the plastic inserts in the halyard swivel, which had worn, and so were allowing the swivel 'ring' to tilt, and then jam on the sail extrusion.

Old inserts had shoulders on the lower section to keep it rotating with the sail extrusion as it rotated. Apparently, according to dealer, this was a problem as they got older and worn, until the shoulders became so acute that they jammed when being hoisted. New ones don't have shoulders, so can rotate a little on the extrusion.

Dragonfly mast/halyard layout exacerbates the problem:- on most boats, the halyard runs down the aft side of the forestay, so the halyard exerts a direct pull on the swivel in line with the head of the jib immediately below it. On the 920, the halyard runs down forward of the forestay, so hoisting tries to induce the swivel to tilt, as the jib head is 180 degrees away from the halyard. Incidentally, this means that the instructions in the Profurl installation manual as to the orientation of the wrap stop fitted to the forestay at the top, is completely wrong, and 180 degrees out! But you all knew that, anyway, didn't you?

My wrap stop was wrecked, partly by wrong orientation, (I'm a wally!),and also by UV damage.

In one way I suppose that the Profurl has done quite well;- it is after all 12 years old. On the other hand, there are lots of stainless steel screws into aluminium, and that is asking for trouble.

All the above grief cost me 4 days of my annual holiday!

Any of you got opinions on good reefing gear? I've fixed mine for now, but if it packs up again, I'll have to replace it. To be fair, the dealer for Profurl in UK suggested that I don't spend any more money on it. Parts prices were horrific;- wrap stop was over £50:- a piece of black plastic with two screws in it. Swivel inserts, two small rings of plastic were about £29!

I have had in the past a Sailspar continuous line system, and that was excellent, but it won't fit the Dragonfly, as only room for a single line down the hull conduit. The Sailspar unit was all Stainless Steel, so no corrosion between disimilar metals.

What do Quornings fit now to new Dragonflies?

[gminkovsky]

The latest issue of Practical Sailor evaluated roller furlers and recommends Seldén Furlex 200S. They claim bullet-proof construction.

I know very little about this subject, though... Just repeating what I read.

[Mika Harju]

Had trouble with my jib reefing gear this year, and found the Profurl gear very difficult to dismantle. Where sail extrusion goes into fatter aluminium 'tube' on top of the reefing drum, it is held by two screws;- one with a head, and another a grub screw. Grub screw would not come out;- tried freeing oil, impact driver, heat, and eventually had to drill it out.

Had to do all this to change the plastic inserts in the halyard swivel, which had worn, and so were allowing the swivel 'ring' to tilt, and then jam on the sail extrusion.

Old inserts had shoulders on the lower section to keep it rotating with the sail extrusion as it rotated. Apparently, according to dealer, this was a problem as they got older and worn, until the shoulders became so acute that they jammed when being hoisted. New ones don't have shoulders, so can rotate a little on the extrusion.

Dragonfly mast/halyard layout exacerbates the problem:- on most boats, the halyard runs down the aft side of the forestay, so the halyard exerts a direct pull on the swivel in line with the head of the jib immediately below it. On the 920, the halyard runs down forward of the forestay, so hoisting tries to induce the swivel to tilt, as the jib head is 180 degrees away from the halyard. Incidentally, this means that the instructions in the Profurl installation manual as to the orientation of the wrap stop fitted to the forestay at the top, is completely wrong, and 180 degrees out! But you all knew that, anyway, didn't you?

My wrap stop was wrecked, partly by wrong orientation, (I'm a wally!),and also by UV damage.

In one way I suppose that the Profurl has done quite well;- it is after all 12 years old. On the other hand, there are lots of stainless steel screws into aluminium, and that is asking for trouble.

All the above grief cost me 4 days of my annual holiday!

Any of you got opinions on good reefing gear? I've fixed mine for now, but if it packs up again, I'll have to replace it. To be fair, the dealer for Profurl in UK suggested that I don't spend any more money on it. Parts prices were horrific;- wrap stop was over £50:- a piece of black plastic with two screws in it. Swivel inserts, two small rings of plastic were about £29!

I have had in the past a Sailspar continuous line system, and that was excellent, but it won't fit the Dragonfly, as only room for a single line down the hull conduit. The Sailspar unit was all Stainless Steel, so no corrosion between disimilar metals.

What do Quornings fit now to new Dragonflies?

I have had this kind of problem with my previous 3 monohulls equipped with Furlex furlers. All those had problems with halyard, wrap stopper and upper swivel.

Here is one solution to get away from those problems:

http://www.dragonfly-trimarans.org/phpB ... .php?t=332

There is no halyard at all in use. Just hoisting the jib once a year with spinnaker halyard and it is mechanically locked to the upper swivel.
This system has been in use for this season and it works perfectly so far.

[extravert]

Difficulty in removing stainless fastenings from aluminum is standard, especially in 12 year old equipment. When reassembling using an anti-corrosion paste like Duralac. It may prevent problems next time.

[Mal]

Thanks extravert, I do use Duralac. Pity Profurl apparently didn't!

[tpaliwoda]

I have a profurl on mine, lets just say I won't be buying another one!