We won't get into the reason why someone would want electric furling sail on a 47 feet sailboat, these marvels are the realm of superyachts and thousands of square feet of sails i can hear. Well, not necessarily. Profurl has developped a simple, low cost electric furlers that can almost be installed in less than a day on a current Profurl manual furling system.
The installation is mostly straightforward because the NDE electric furler is a hollow tube that fits over the original manual furler extrusion. The most complex part is the electricity because :
1) The deck has to be drilled
2) If there is electricity already in the bow (windlass, bow truster) it can be reused but magnetic breakers has to be installed
3) Remote control has to be installed so that the pushbutton operation can occur in the cockpit. Choice are from wired or wireless.
Features:
Comfort: easy operations without effort
Safety: operations from the cockpit
Ideal for solo or short-handed sailing
Available in electric and hydraulic version
Easy installation on existing forestays
Modern design
Clean deck, free winches
3 year world-wide warranty.
7 models available – 12V or 24V
For boats up to 22 m
Dedicated units for boats between 11 and 14 m
Sailing program: cruising, offshore cruising
Possibility to sail with a sail partially furled
Low power consumption and minimal noise
Ability to convert a manual furler into a motorized one
Rounded and silver anodized extrusions
Various options to improve the installation and use
Wire remote control
Radio remote control
Power supply box
Are their any disadvantages ? After one month of use i would say its the best invention since sliced bread. But i can hear what if we loose electricity ? Simple solution there is manual backup with a winch handle hole - but you have to go forward.
A good handsome person can do it alone and we can provide counseling as well.
Here is the Proful promotional Video:
https://youtu.be/JtC0PXO4ZCc
We will soon have access to all Profurl and Wichard products, please inquired if you are interested.