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on April 1, 2002 by Richard Levitt Question: I am looking at a 54 Moody. I'm trying to decide between an electric furling boom or in-mast. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each and which system tends to have the least problems and maintenance? For Florida and Bahamas sailing, mostly coastal with very few offshore trips, very little heavy weather conditions, does a cutter rig offer any significant advantage to a standard sloop with 135% genoa. Any disadvantage? Thanks for your help and please include name of North sail dealers in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale area. Richard Levitt |
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Answer: Hi Richard, The Moody 54 is a beautiful boat. If I had to choose between in-mast furling and in-boom furling, I would go for the in-boom furling. Both have pro's and con's and hopefully I can point out each of these for you so you can decide for yourself. In the past boom furlers have been fairly high maintenance as far as having to service the sails every year or two because the bolt rope would wear out and tear, especially at the batten pockets. Boom furlers have had a tendency to make the boom very heavy as well. |
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| Scott Lindley is one of North's "cruising experts" | |
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In-mast furlers are very reliable and require very little maintenance. On the other hand, the spars are very heavy, the sails are smaller and you have less control over the sail shape than with a fully battened in-boom furling sail. With an in mast furling systems, the sails are either cut with a hollow leech or built with a very small amount of roach area and vertical battens. The size of the mast cavity limits the amount of space available for the furled sail and battens. Typically a dacron mainsail with reinforcements and 4 vertical leech battens will just fit into the sail cavity. The vertical leech battens do a good job of supporting a straight, or slightly positive roach area. But the vertical battened sail will be significantly smaller than a sail with horizontal battens on the same size mast and boom. Your question about having a cutter rig as opposed to having a standard sloop set up is a good one. The cutter rig is a great set up for cruising because the staysail can act as a stormsail as well. When conditions get too heavy for the 135%, just furl it up and unfurl the staysail and you wont ever have to go up on the foredeck. The only drawback is that you will have to tack the genoa around the forestaysail head stay. I hope this info helps.
Feel free to call me here in Ft. Lauderdale if you'd like discuss
any of this in more detail. |
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