Furler Day

Vero Beach Public Library
No LL

























Today was the day we've been waiting for a long time. Two riggers drove up from West Palm to deliver our new jib furler and to install it.

Carl and Harley were the two guys. They really knew their business, especially Carl. They did the whole job in three hours including Carl climbing up the mast twice.

The new furler is made by Seldén AB (as Swedish company) and the brand is Furlex. The Swedes are especially good at designing and making metal things, and this furler is an example of that. It's not cheap. The furler cost more than $2,000 and installation by the riggers was another $500. I'm glad though to have the best furler made, and very glad that I didn't try to install it myself. The procedure is very complicated. Here are the steps.



I was most impressed when Carl went up the mast. He didn't sit and let us crank him up with the winch. He pulled himself up by muscle while Harley stood on deck and pulled in the slack line. I used to climb like that when I was 25, but that was a long time ago.

We did encounter one problem. My bow pulpit is too narrow. It doesn't leave enough room for the furler drum. I'll have to move the pulpit, or find a welder to modify it, or get a new pulpit. That's a new project for my list to accomplish before leaving Vero.

By the way, as we were in the middle of the installation, the gentleman below came along. He was interested in Tarwathie. He said that he worked in the Westsail factory in Costa Mesa California building Westsail 32s. What a small world.