Am I crazy - Replace inmast furled main with traditional rig??? IP370

Hi All,

In the process of reviewing possible sails to refit I began to think about the prospect of replacing the in mast furled Main with a traditional halyard raised sail primarily for reefing ability and reliability for longer term passage making. Am I over thinking the potential issues with a furled sail jamming? The in mast furled is of course so much easier when it works well but having spoken to several sailors who point out the ability to reef while running down wind, having more aft sail for balance when reefed etc. I guess a newer sail will also be more efficient in furling. Obviously cost is another issue for another mast and boom...... Trade possible?

Don 370
We have a unique perspective because we have used both systems on Island Packets - a 1997 IP350 with in-mast furler and our current 1995 IP 40 with a traditional rig. On each boat we have sailed/motored about 25k nm. Bottom line - I would not change to a traditional rig.

The 350 was in-mast - we sailed it a lot off shore without problem. Here are the advantages, infinite reefing, it can be reefed off the wind, a huge advantage. It is easier to single hand. the main can be reefed off the wind, even dead down wind, you just let the out haul out about 6" and then reef it in, and then repeat until it is where you want it. Not fast but you don't have to turn up wind. We have reefed down wind in 35 knots. Jamming is a non-issue. The main will jam if the sail gets blow-out (i.e. old) or the mast is not 90 degrees to the boom, otherwise okay. This was absolutely a non issue in 25k nm It is also a much safer rig in the confusion of a man over board because the main sail is much easier to control - if you can't reef just center the boom and cut the out haul. So even if you are running dead down wind the main won't drive the boat and you won't get killed with an accidental jibe while frantically trying to recover someone who has fallen overboard. In day-to-day sailing you will sail more with more sail, Because it is so easy to reef .... you will sail more often and reef more often.

We have a traditional main on our IP 40. New Mack sails, I have it set up to take three reefs from the cockpit. This works but there are lot of lines. I sail it alone but there is a lot to remember. Also, crew find it harder to use than in-mast, especially reefing at night. The principle advantage for a traditional main is sail efficiency. It is just a better performing sail than an in-mast rig., the battens help and it has more roach. The battens keep the sail from flogging in light air when motoring. St you can prevent the boom and use it to stabilize the boat. We have a traditional main because at the time we bought our IP40, there were none with roller mains available. I like the traditional main and its performance, but would take an in mast systems if it were cost neutral.

I would imagine that a boat with an in-mast system would be easier to sell???

George
S/V Delicia
IP40 #27

Hi George,

Thanks for the input and perspective. Several good points. The last about resale had not occurred to me. Will likely be ordering Mack Sails shortly. It seems a lot of people have really been satisfied with them.

Much appreciated,

-D-

Don
"ditto" what George says.
keep the in mast furling main.
practise reefing the main until you can always do it perfectly... , reef it a little bit at a time…
Its safer , and faster.
Ed

I will echo what others have said. We have the traditional rig and I have sailed extensively with in-mast and if the mast and sails on our boat were not fairly new (demasting in 2010), I would seriously consider an in-mast. We even went as far as getting a quote on a boom furler, but would take a year from the cruising kitty.

The advantage gained up wind is definitely lost in the ease and convenience of the furling main. My wife could easily reef the in-mast and it was very nice on short-handed passages as you don't have to wake the crew to reef for safety sake.

On our 370 with the Charleston Spar Inmast furling rig, the furling screw failed at year 10 much to our surprise. The unit is entirely French made and the needle bearing corroded to the point where the upper bearing fell out onto the deck locking up the mechanism. The needle bearing that were recovered where highly magnetic - you can guess my view of their quality.

Charleston Spar has been in various forms of business restructure for about 5 years and was impossible to deal with in late 2014. They have new owners again and are attempting to get bet back on track. Ultimately, I found some former employees who were able to help get the unit rebuilt. The old unit could be removed without stepping the mast, because it was falling apart, but the new rebuilt unit can only be installed by pulling the mast and inserting it in from the bottom. This was confirmed by several ex-Charleston folks and a rigger. Along the way as I came to understand this problem I found two other IPs with this issue, both I believe were 420s from FL.

Longer story here, but for our sailing with two older folks we would still stick with inmast furling for all the cited advantages in this post.

Harry Burns
IP 370-24

Appreciate the information. Mine as I assume all of the 370 IMF's is a Charleston Spar. My boat is on the hard and the mast is stepped so I will examine this in a few months. Are there any technical drawings other than what are in the Sparcraft tech support docs? I would be interested to review them if possible.

Thanks!

Found this very detailed parts breakout for a C34 Charleston Spar rig. Be ideal if there was something similar for the model we have: