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Jim:
I wonder if you were able to get any further information (like a
picture) of the Barton Furler. If you get anything, I'd appreciate it if
you could forward it to me as I am waiting for a defender catalog but
have not yet received it. I know from a web search that it is a British
product and think it is like the one I had on my Siren a few years
back. I was quite happy with the siren furler -- and if this is the
one, I'm going to buy one too.
There appear to be three usable options for furlers ranging in cost from
the the low end (Under $100) Barton unit to the ($300) CDI system, with
the Harken 160 series ($180) in the middle. --and, of course a bunch of
high end stuff that I am afraid to even think about.
If the Barton unit is the one I am thinking about, its a pretty simple
unit made of black plastic -- and quite durable in my experience. It
appears to be just a furler (not a reefer). The unit furls the sail
around its own wire luff. I had good luck using it to reef except that
the sail shape went to heck pretty quickly -- but then that's why we
reef in the first place -- to reduce sail efficiency.
The Harken unit (
http://www.boatus-store.com/MC_Online/Browse.asp?ShowItem=18126 ),
which I have seen on a bunch of racing/day-sailers, is similar to my
description of the Barton unit above in that it furls the sail around
its own wire luff. The Harken unit seems to be considerably more
durable than the Barton since it is all metal and has ball bearings.
These are in all the catalogs (Boats US p258) and is available at
several boating stores here in the DC area and probably elsewhere.
The CDI unit is the Cadillac of the group with a nice tubular luff
arrangement that seems to maintain decent sail shape during the reefing
process. I suspect that this one is preferred by the racing and
efficiency minded members of the group.
I have not heard anything about the Harken units on the List and wonder
if anybody has had any direct experience with them.
Cheers
Rye Gewalt
'90 HMS 18
Springfield VA
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Jim:
I wonder if you were able to get any further information (like a picture) of the Barton Furler. If you get anything, I'd appreciate it if you could forward it to me as I am waiting for a defender catalog but have not yet received it. I know from a web search that it is a British product and think it is like the one I had on my Siren a few years back. I was quite happy with the siren furler -- and if this is the one, I'm going to buy one too.
There appear to be three usable options for furlers ranging in cost from the the low end (Under $100) Barton unit to the ($300) CDI system, with the Harken 160 series ($180) in the middle. --and, of course a bunch of high end stuff that I am afraid to even think about.
If the Barton unit is the one I am thinking about, its a pretty simple unit made of black plastic -- and quite durable in my experience. It appears to be just a furler (not a reefer). The unit furls the sail around its own wire luff. I had good luck using it to reef except that the sail shape went to heck pretty quickly -- but then that's why we reef in the first place -- to reduce sail efficiency.
The Harken unit ( http://www.boatus-store.com/MC_Online/Browse.asp?ShowItem=18126 ), which I have seen on a bunch of racing/day-sailers, is similar to my description of the Barton unit above in that it furls the sail around its own wire luff. The Harken unit seems to be considerably more durable than the Barton since it is all metal and has ball bearings. These are in all the catalogs (Boats US p258) and is available at several boating stores here in the DC area and probably elsewhere.
The CDI unit is the Cadillac of the group with a nice tubular luff arrangement that seems to maintain decent sail shape during the reefing process. I suspect that this one is preferred by the racing and efficiency minded members of the group.
I have not heard anything about the Harken units on the List and wonder if anybody has had any direct experience with them.
Cheers
Rye Gewalt
'90 HMS 18
Springfield VA
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