Opinion on Leisure Furl

[Brian Duff]

Larry,
We won't touch cost here, as that is not the important part of your question.

The Leisure Furl boom has gone through many slight design changes in recent years, and now works great. Combined with good headsail furling and an electric winch or three, this system can make sailing nearly push button. There are a number of problem areas which will require careful attention during installation and operation, but all in all the system is great. On a rig in this size , the improvement from not having to handle the mainsail is huge. Some important issues are being able to observe the sail near the gooseneck area during raising and lowering (window in your bimini/dodger), having some sort of guage on your boom vang to measure boom angle, and having a good ear for monitoing winch load by gear noise. We typically install these systems with a hydraulic vang and digital angle guage on boats this size and up. choosing the right sailmaker can have a lot to do with how well your sail holds up, how well the system works, and your happiness in general.

An anodized spar finish (30 years+) will far outlast a painted finish(~10years) , and provide a better picture of the build quality and condition of the spar throug-out its life. The quality of the installation of hardware will also have a large effect on longevity.