[Rhodes22-list] New Headsail furling system

[The Rhodes 22 Email List]

Graham,
My boat came with a CDI furler, I'm not sure if it's the FF1 or FF2, but think it's the FF2.  I can verify to make sure.  I just bought a new headsail that has a flexible luff pad that fits into a slot on the furler itself.  My new sail came folded up in a 2 foot X 2 foot X 2 foot box.  Attached are a couple of (poor) photos of my furling drum and the top of the furling mechanism.  I'll be putting the new headsail on soon and will take pictures of that process. - rob

Rob Lowe


-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of The Rhodes 22 Email List
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2016 10:10 AM
To: 'The Rhodes 22 Email List'
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] New Headsail furling system

I have an old Cruising Design furler. The luff has a rigid aluminum tube with two sail tracks that allow me to raise and remove my headsail easily.
Although I have never tried it, I could raise two sails for a wing on wing configuration gong downwind. It works great and has never failed me.

What I don't like about the system is that the rigid luff pieces (about 5') are linked together with alumimium pieces that are not really strong enough to take the stresses of the furling gear when the mast is down. They can be bent and once this happens they cannot be straightened. They can also fall out and so far as I can tell the pieces are no longer available anywhere.
This means that I will probably need to replace the entire gear once I am at that stage of my rebuild.

I don't want to spend a fortune on new gear and am inclined towards the new Cruising Design model (CDI FF1 or FF2) that has a flexible luff in that it will coil for shipping and bend for raising and lowering the mast but still has tortional stiffness for furling. Sounds great but does it work? I do not know anyone with this system and wonder whether any of the rhodies out there have experience with it. If so do you have the FF1, designed for boats up to 21' or the FF2 for boats up to 28'. Presumable the latter is the best choice. The FF2 is $750 in Canada and about 625 in the US. Getting stuff shipped to Canada costs a fortune.

If anyone has either advice or alternatives to suggest that would be welcome.


Graham Stewart
Agile. R22, 1976
Kingston Ontario Canada

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