designed for Reckmann’s custom superyacht furlers, is now available for the standard furling gears. ‘In my personal opinion these new sails are good for the sailmakers but they increase the loads on our hardware, which has to be bigger and stronger – and that is counterproductive in terms of weight and price,’ he says. ‘I would argue that for a cruising boat you don’t need that, but we have adjusted our designs to accommodate the higher loads.’ An under-deck furler is integrated
into the boat, unlike an above-deck furler which is simply connected to it and therefore much more easily replaced. The longevity of an under- deck unit is thus an important consideration, so there’s a strong argument for a furling gear that is designed to be serviced and can be expected to last 30 years or more, rather than one that is built to last for a decade and must then be replaced. ‘We have many units that come back here every 8-10 years or so to be serviced,’ Schuldt says. ‘If we’re talking about the environment, our products are the ones you can
Above left: Reckmann’s in-boom drive systems fit inside the mandrel at the front end of the boom. Above right: Reckmann supplies fully integrated solutions with its own hydraulics to ensure high reliability Left: this new chainplate attachment avoids the usual need to reinforce the foredeck around the deck fitting of an under-deck headsail furler
use for the longest time. You can buy two or three cheaper ones or you buy a Reckmann in the first place.’ Quite a lot of Reckmann’s
customers in the 15-25m segment are experienced blue water cruising sailors who are upgrading a yacht to sail shorthanded around the world. ‘We do a lot of refits,’ he says. ‘These are people who really use their boats far offshore in tough conditions. And we have many clients who have swapped to our gears because there was a lack of reliability, things broke and they really need the most reliable systems. We are not the cheapest but I’d argue that we’re the best value for money; as my father always used to say, “I’m not rich enough to buy cheap”.’ Reckmann’s in-boom mainsail
furling systems, meanwhile, have been gradually evolving at an incremental pace. Supplied in hydraulic and electric versions to spar makers like Mainfurl, Furlerboom and Axxon, these systems are now found on an increasingly wide range of yachts. Their defining features include a compact, fully integrated drive unit that fits directly inside the mandrel at the front end of the boom, and a high-load clutch with a toothed disc that cannot slip and is designed to withstand an overload. To boost reliability, the hydraulic
BFH version has two cylinders to operate the clutch rather than one, while the electric BFE version is driven by an accumulator. ‘Our electric motors have a system built in that prevents them from overheating and burning out, they will just run slower,’ Schuldt explains. ‘The separate PLC box for the BFE drives allows us to control the torque, speed and current. Therefore we can avoid a tripping fuse due to overload. The furl speed
can be easily adjusted to match the speed of the halyard winch exactly, and if necessary we can control captive halyard winches to end up with one-button systems.’ Putting the drive at the front minimises the boom’s kinetic energy during a crash gybe – which is inevitably going to happen at some point in the yacht’s life – and reduces the resulting torsion loads on the gooseneck. It also keeps the power supply as short as possible. For servicing, the drive slides out of the mandrel and there is no need to take the boom off, provided that it has an open front shelf with adequate width. Like all Reckmann systems,
manual operation in an emergency is part of the design. If there’s no oil pressure going to the BFH drive, its clutch can be operated with a hand pump and a bypass valve. The BFE drive has a screw to disengage the clutch manually in an electrical failure. With either system, a line can then be wound around the crown of the unit and the sail furled down. One final innovation makes these sophisticated systems much easier for amateur sailors to use. With any in-boom furling setup the angle between mast and boom must be precisely correct before the sail is furled, otherwise it’s likely to jam. ‘Our FurlFind system allows a shorthanded crew to find the right angle, even at night,’ Schuldt explains. ‘You find the right position once and the computer knows the position to furl. Then you just push a button and the Reckmann boom vang finds that position and gives a signal, ready to furl. Then you can furl the sail in or out.’ For a novice crew trying to reef in a rising gale, the reassurance of a foolproof system is priceless.
www.reckmann.com
❑ SEAHORSE 61
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126
