Adventure roller furling with Hobie sail
Inspired by the furlers of stringy, husky13 and Skadar, I’ve come up with a mongrel version of all three. I liked stringy’s furling line running down the center of the boat. I can grab it with either hand and it’s not in the right foot-well. Due to the shallow cockpit of the Adventure, I mounted the cleat on the hatch. I used cheap 5/32” cord for the furling line. I will replace that later with 3/16” marine line. A bungee ball keeps the line from running out of the cleat and gives me something to grab. The rail mount cleat gives both the sail bungee and furling line a tight purchase w/o drilling holes in the mast. I didn’t bother cutting down the cleat horns, as they did not interfere with my Mirage drive. The steel shaft collar gives a flat even surface area for the bearing/washers to ride against.
In case of capsize, I did a bit of overkill. Not trusting the furling line alone to keep from losing the mast and sail, I am using a bimini knuckle. The knuckle spins freely on the mast and is tethered with paracord to the small cleat that the sail bungee used to hook on. That cleat was drilled out and a 3/16” SS eyebolt inserted. The furling and tether lines have not yet become tangled. I used a 4” plastic disk between the furling line and bimini knuckle to prevent the furling line from wrapping around the bearing and knuckle. I also sprayed the bottom of the mast and the mast socket with dry silicone to reduce friction.
Parts used and sources:
Ronstan #RF5101 Fairlead cleat from West Marine
Sea-Dog #327111-1 Rail mount cleat from Downwindmarine.com
INA #4XFN5 Needle thrust bearing from Grainger.com
7/8” Steel shaft collar from Grainger.com
7/8” Thrust washers from Grainger.com (2)
3/16” x 1” SS Eyebolt from Ace Hardware
Misc. stuff from the garage:
7/8” Bimini knuckle
5/32” General purpose cord
Plastic bungee ball
Waterproof trailer bearing grease
Of the metal parts, only the eyebolt is stainless. The kayak is only sailed in freshwater and corrosion is not much of a problem here in Arizona.