Profurl LCI42

At the time, being tight on funding I elected to return to a hank on headsail. While putting grommets and hanks on a roller furling 170% genoa is not ideal it kept me sailing. I made deck bags, learned to drop the sail while alone, and got mud all over the sail from hauling up the anchor in the Chesapeake Bay. 

After a couple of years of sailing with a hank on Genoa a friend of mine was refitting his Center Cockpit Vancouver 42 (Wings) for a North Atlantic passage and removed the Cruising Designs roller furling gear. This system had a halyard internal to the furler (removing the issue with halyard wrap) and a continuous loop furling line. Spare parts were still available and after a bit of searching around I had the furling system working on Botany Bay for the trip to Nantucket. While there were minor issues with the system from time to time, overall the furling gear worked quite well considering the era it was designed in.

When the time came to have new sails made for Botany Bay I elected to upgrade to a modern furling system which I could expect to purchase components for.  Based on the tabernacle allowing the mast to be lowered I desired a system which could be removed from the headstay completely before dropping the mast. Additionally I wanted a system with an open drum assembly to make clearing the inevitable snarls easier to clear and a system with a clear method of preventing halyard overwrap problems. The overwrap problem occurs when the halyard wraps around the furling extrusion thus freezing up the entire system.

I first selected the Profurl LCI32 system. This system is designed for headstays up to 5/16 inch. Botany Bay was originally rigged with 9/32 inch 302 series 1x19 stainless rigging wire. Having replaced all of the standing rigging with 316 series stainless rigging wire I used 5/16 inch wire to make up for the slight strength loss. When I started installing the system I found that it was possible, but just barely, to get a swaged turnbuckle stud through the extrusions. 

To avoid having to force the turnbuckle stud through the extrusions I elected to upgrade to the Profurl LCI42 system. This system is one size larger than recommended for Botany Bay, has a large enough extrusion to allow easy removal, has an open drum assembly, Profurl's wrapstop system appeared very effective, and the "I" series allowed the drum to be dropped closer to the deck without getting in the way of retrieving the anchor.

The Profurl LCI42 roller furling gear has lived up to, and in fact, exceeded my expectations. The larger headstay extrusion has made the foam luff system designed into the new 135% Genoa work beautifully. The 42 series system has much more substantial bearing surfaces riding the headstay. Having installed the 32 series on other vessels I found that I enjoyed installing the 42 series.

The proof is in the operation and the Profurl gear has lived up to my every expectation, I have always been able to furl the headsail, it has never had a bearing hang up, halyard overwrap, or bind. There have been a few (3 or 4) times when the furling line has fouled on the drum. These were always caused by letting the sail out too quickly. 

My first preference for furling gear on any vessel is Profurl. I have installed the others (Harken, Schaefer, etc) on friends vessels and they work well. However, for my money I would go with the Profurl.

Profurl LCI 42 System on Botany Bay

There are several important observations which can be drawn from this image: there is sufficient clearance under the furling drum to allow a CQR 35 anchor to clear as it comes aboard; there is a second rigging toggle UNDER the turnbuckle toggle which has been immobilized by the link plates; and the angle at which the furling line comes off the drum. The link plates were cut to be approximately half the delivered length to keep the drum close to the deck, the turnbuckle inside the drum is sized for a 5/8 inch pin.