[Rhodes22-list] Headsail furlers.

[Christine Allison]

< the harken is better but you pay up for it,>

Having had a Harken on my last boat and now a CDI I must say I prefer the
CDI.

With the Harken the foil on the forestay serves only as the spool for the
sail.  All the tension on the sails wire luff and also the forestay's
tension are exerted through the furling drum and the swivel at the top of
the mast.  I for one had nightmares of these parts failing.  With the CDI
the forestay only serves to keep the foil straight all the loads are carried
by the foil itself.  In my estimation a much safer arrangement.

I suspect that for a given sail area the CDI is easier to operate.

The down side of the CDI is the difficulty in changing head sails while
underway and the fact that the halyard requires an extending line when
hoisting the sail.

Richard Smith