Hi All,

I have used a homemade roller furler control line tensioner solution for 25+ years.  The 1st image is from www.defendercom<http://www.defendercom> :

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This off-the-shelf piece of hardware is a C.S. Johnson Roller Furling Bail (Johnson P/N: 40-505).  It’s designed to be mounted on the base of the lifeline stanchions, just above the toe rail.  You mount one on each stanchion from the bow back to the cockpit.  S/V Dynamic Equilibrium has 4 such stanchions.  At the stanchion in the front of the cockpit, you replace the simple fairlead with this piece of off-the shelf hardware, (Harken P/N: 239) also available from www.defender.com

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The following picture from the Rhodes-22 archives shows how my roller furling control line is routed thru a block on a stand-up spring and then along the toe rail back to the cockpit:

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Note how the block only changes the direction of the roller furler control line by a few degrees.  Similarly, as the control line passes thru the fairleads on each lifeline stanchion, the curvature of the foredeck causes the control line to change direction slightly at each stanchion.  This slight change of direction at each fairlead is the key.  Slightly changing direction 5 times introduces just enough friction into the system to absorb the kinetic energy and keep slight tension on the control line in order to prevent a snarl on the furling drum.  When unfurling the genoa, you can literally just let go of the control line and this passive system will control the line tension all by itself!  I haven’t had a snarled control line in over 25 years.  It just works!

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10

From: Jesse Shumaker<mailto:jesse.laten.shumaker at gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2021 8:27 AM
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List<mailto:rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Furling line tensioner

Mike, the tensioner is a great idea.  I suspect many of us might be
interested if your friend would be up for doing a bulk run of those.  Would
just need to know what the cost would be (I'm guessing that would depend on
the volume).  What size line do you use for the furler?

Jesse Shumaker
S/V Zephyr


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On Wed, May 26, 2021 at 7:13 PM Mike Riter <mike at traildesign.com> wrote:

> Hi Jeff.
> I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression. I'm not marketing any products. I
> needed a better mousetrap for my furling line and worked with a friend of
> mine who is an engineer and machinist to come up with the item I showed
> everyone on the forum. I've had the prototype on the boat for a year now
> and it continues to work very well. The only thing I didn't like is having
> to loosen the tensioner to thread the line through it when I rigged. But it
> turned out to not be such a big deal after I marked the spot to re-tension
> after I set up the boat.
>
> I think he would be happy to make another one for anyone who wants one, but
> this isn't something we're doing for profit. I'm just another Rhodie with
> an overactive imagination.
>
> Michael Riter
> SV Emma B.
>
>
>
> On Wed, May 26, 2021 at 2:26 PM JeffSmith <jeffsmithphoto at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > To Mike Riter,
> > Last year you showed a tensioner that you wer considering marketing. Did
> > the
> > marketing part come to fruition?
> >
> >
> >
> > -----
> > Jeff Smith
> > 2009/2016 R22 #101 RADIANT
> > Atlantic Highlands Municpal Harbor
> > Atlantic Highlands, NJ
> >
> > --
> > Sent from: http://rhodes-22.1065344.n5.nabble.com/
> >
>