I love the CDI rolling furler on Harried Potter. In my humble opinion, it is more a necessity than an accessory, especially if one ever plans to sail a boat single-handed. Indeed, if it weren’t for the fact that it would reduce the sail area, and thus result in poorer performance, I would seriously consider also installing a rolling furler mainsail!
However, I discovered that there was one flaw to my lapper’s rolling furler. That small sheet, running along the sideboard and up to a horn cleat on the gunwale, was not that easy to tighten, secure, release, and loosen. Because of its odd angle into that corner of the cockpit, it would more often than not rub on the gelcoat, and I noticed with time and use that it had actually carved a small groove into the surface itself.
Last year I decided to install a fairlead right over the small groove so that the sheet would no longer make it even deeper. It worked well enough, but as I furled and unfurled the lapper numerous times, I became weary of cinching the line around the horn cleat, especially when the weather turned suddenly nasty and I needed to take in a couple of furls in a hurry.
I therefore decided this year to replace the fairlead with a cam cleat, so that releasing and securing the sheet would only require a single tug up or down. I wish that I had thought of said solution earlier, as I would have placed the cam cleat at a better angle for the sheet from the side of the cabin to the cockpit. As it is, however, I would have loathing drills two more holes in Harried Potter, so I simply installed the cam cleat where the fairlead had been, as you can see below on the left.
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As you can see above on the right, I left the horn cleat where it was, and use it to simply loop the sheet around it so that we are not either sitting or stepping on it while on the water. Yes, this is a very minor modification, but it is much more convenient and easier to adjust the headsail. Moreover, the amount invested is so small that International Marine should simply include a cam cleat like this whenever a customer orders a boat with a rolling furler.
