opinions on the "screecher"

[Don]

thanks Gents, I will call Beirig tomorrow and find out if the roller is part of the package....Don

[Don]

I spoke with Dave Bierig today and the roller furler is not included in his price quote to me...As ron mentioned it is a wire luff so what is needed is the drum and the spinner for the top. I questioned him about a roller/ reefer and he felt reefing the screecher could damage the wire luff due to the excess torsional forces. he also felt that the continuous line rollers did not offer good tension on the line and are not dependable for a neat furling.. the PC roller with the screacher is a shaefer[ loose luff] ... any one have any other suggestions as far as brand names or designs? is the screacher considered a jib? TY...Don

[Ron]

Interesting, and it could be some sort of mis-understanding between Bierig and you (and me?). Just about every screecher he sells is designed to be rolled up. He even ships them that way from his loft (rolled, not folded). It's a code 0 and by definition it's designed (meaning flatter shape) for that purpose. I probably would not reef it (partially rolled in) on the wire though, but it's a light air sail and why would you want to do that anyway? Wind gets above 13 to 16 knots and it time to put it away, period. Don't sail INTO that kind of wind either - too much pressure on the bow sprit.

There's a couple of tricks in setting this up as well. You've got to plan for the fact that the wire will do X number of twists before the top of the sail starts to roll. I must have dialed in about 4 turns before I attached the pennent at the foot to the drum.

[Mark]

If I was setting mine up again, I'd probably try the continuous line. When the line gets stuck in the drum, which it has on a few occasions, the only way to get the sail down is to lower the halyard. Of course this usually happens when the wind has got above 14 knots - it is a big sail and a real handful to lower when single handing, the wind is up and there are other boats around.

Mark

[Ron]

Mark -

You've got to make sure that the feed (or last block) is perpendicular to the drum, otherwise it will tend to wrap towards the top or bottom. I had to move mine to the other side of the boat to accomplish this. I'm not really in favor of the continuous line with both running back to the cockpit. I think Bierig is right in saying that these do not have enough tension to really work right. And the luff wire has taken an extra twist or two (or more?) when partially furled, so reefing something like this may not work as intended.

You've also got to keep an eye on the drum when pulling the sail out. Too much tension or too little on the furling line could mess things up. It's got to wrap reasonably straight for the sail to roll back in easily. I sometimes have had to stop, rewind the sail a drop, then let it out again. Same thing goes for the genoa. Two seconds of correcting a minor problem could save you 20 minutes of trying to fix it later.

[Don]

Greetings, Good point re the reefing of the screecher Ron. I remain undecided as far as the roller goes. cont Vs drum....
any way I may have misconstrued Mr. Beireg's statement.. he was fine about the furling ; he had concerns on the reefing... all food for thought.
Don

[seicam]

Don,
Did you go ahead with your purchase? What hardware did you end up with?

It's a year since this thread started and I ponder now the same question in a middle of a winter storm - should I order a screecher for the upcoming season?
Is it best to order form Bierig, or maybe try other sailmakers? Have anyone else tried to fit other sails on Telstar? Any suggestions, price comparisons, etc would be welcome.

Regards,
Maciek

[Mark]

One of the problems with a luff wire is that the sail is relatively hard to pack away. I would probably try the new? non twist lines - I think Sail magazine had an article on them. I would definitely try a continuous line system simply because the current system is a pain to get to work correctly and a stuck furler can be a safety issue (try lowering the sail with the halyard on your own, in building wind with little sea room and you'll see what I mean.

[Ron]

You'll have no problems with a luff wire or drum as long as you set it up correctly. That means pre-loading the wire on the drum (using the pennent, around 3 or 4 turns as I recall) and making sure that the furling line is hiting the drum at close to a right angle. Halyard tenson is important as well. I've set and doused the screecher maybe 100 times in the last 3 years. Never had any problems in all sorts of wind, up to around 16 knots. You can't safely fly it in anything higher.

I missed the article in Sail. What are they using for the luff? I can't imagine a 40 or so foot line that will NOT twist when one end is turned and the other can rotate (on the upper swivel). It should come in a turtle styled sail bag. Goes right in.

If anyone tries it, I'd be curious how the non-twist luff line and/or continuous line furler actually works on the boat.

Maciek - Bierig builds a good sail, but so do maybe 100 other sailmakers. Shop around, and find out if they know what a multi-hull is. There is a difference.

[Mark]

No problems? - you are lucky or talented or both, or my unit is defective. I do suspect a problem with the upper swivel as I get halyard twist. Things improved once I set it up so the halyard could be adjusted easily but still it is not perfect. A furled sail is easy enough to store with a wire but I'm sure it would be easier with a rope luff. An unfurled or partly furled sail is a real pain.

I can't find the article on luff ropes but here is a link to a furler that uses one:
http://www.sailmagazine.com/gear-and-re ... -0_furler/

The current home page of Sail opens with rotating pictures one of which is TONY on a Telstar:
http://sailmagazine.com/