Hi Paul,

I recognized the GBI OEM roller furler was a piece of junk as soon as I used it.  One of the 1st upgrades I made to the boat was a Harken Unit 0 roller furler.  This system has an aerodynamic luff foil with dual slots and independent upper and lower swivels.  The furling spool is enclosed to completely capture the furling control line, thus virtually eliminating control line snarls.  There are Torlon ball, roller, or needle bearings throughout.  The thing spins as friction free as a bicycle wheel!  But, taking full advantage of this advanced roller furler requires a special sail.  I had a 150% genoa built for the boat.  The sail is constructed of Bainbridge CRUISE-LAM (tm) sailcloth.  CRUISE-LAM (tm) sailcloth is a 5 layer composite.  The outer layers are Dacron for UV, chafe, and fatigue resistance.  Under the Dacron layer, there is a Kevlar scrim layer (think coarse window screen), a Mylar film core, another Kevlar scrim layer, and then the other outer Dacron layer.  The construction is Bi-Radial to take advantage of the sailcloth's superior mechanical properties.  To fully utilize the independent upper and lower swivels, the leading edge of the sail has a foam luff pad.  A foam luff pad looks like ½ of a long skinny ellipse.  Sewn into the luff of a genoa, a foam luff pad causes the full draft midsection of the sail to be rolled up faster vs the foot and head sections of the sail, assuming the roller furler has independent upper and lower swivels which allow this to occur.  This allows the sail shape to be deep draft for light air and become progressively flatter as the sail is reefed.  This sail pulls like a freight train and keeps a beautiful sail shape until it's reefed down to about 100%.

Don't waste too much time or energy on your GBI furler.  Save your money and get a more modern system ASAP!

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
1976  Sanford, MI

________________________________
From: Rhodes22-list <rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org> on behalf of Paul Rhodes <plrhodes29 at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, August 6, 2025 11:44 PM
To: The Rhodes Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Shortening Sail

Hello All,

I’ve finally gotten our new-to-us 1990 Rhodes 22 out on the water, and it was a blast!  Two separate days on Lake Murray near Columbia SC, both with forecasted winds of 8-10, yet very different actual strengths.  First day out, my elder son and I discovered that “New Mercies” moves very well in light to moderate air.  Second day out, a friend of his and I discovered that her full rig is way too much for whatever we had, which I would guess at 12-15 mph, if the first day’s 8-10 was accurate.  However, the flared gunwale held firm and we flew!  Our rails are well washed.

Given that our two sailboats for the last 4 decades were a heavy wooden 22ft gaff fractional sloop and a 40 ft yawl of a more classic Phil Rhodes design, I found the Rhodes 22 to be much more responsive both to me and the weather, for better and for worse.  She’ll make me a better sailor too.  And I have some questions:

First, I’m curious to know if the sail numbers relate to the order of construction, as they do in many classes.  “New Mercies” wears #444, and we don’t have any evidence of a different number or previous name.

More importantly, when the Commodore comes aboard for a cruise, I’m pretty confident that she will prefer a more level boat.  For those of you like us still using a non-furling main, how do you shorten sail?  As we needed to on our second day, we simply rolled in the jib a bit.  It worked, but was pretty sloppy. Any thoughts on keeping the jib shaped when it’s partially furled?  Our jib furler is very simple: just the sail track with a disk on the bottom that for the most part keeps the furling line off the deck.  Not sure whether this is what other boats have, but so far it works.

As for the main, there is a second grommet that could serve as the tack for a first reef, but no reef points.  However, the fittings on the boom are only at the ends.  It seems like I could reef to any amount (at least up to the first batten) by simply taking the boom out of the mast track and rolling it to take on the sail.  I like the concept - similar to what was on our yawl.  Yet with the boom detached unlike on the yawl, I could see that this might become a very lively operation if we didn’t reef early enough.  Does anyone have experience or thoughts about this?

Finally, we’re in the market for a Boom Room, Bimini, and boat cover.  I’ve left a few messages and sent a few emails about them with no replies.  It seems likely that we’ll need to have them made.  Does anyone have plans or patterns we could use?

Thanks so much.

Glad to be part of the Rhodie band,
Paul and Nancy Rhodes
S/V New Mercies
Chapin, SC and Savannah, GA

Sent from my iPhone