Sailspar manufacture their own in-house designed headsail roller reefing gear. This gear comes in 3 different sizes, with a variation available on the samll, and is suitable for yachts from 16’ to 60’ long with forestay diameters ranging from 4mm to 12mm. Please note that the basic gear, the variation on the small, has a reduced specification unit with an integral halyard and sheave in place of the halyard swivel.

The main attraction of our gear is that it offers a continuous line system. This means that there is a constant rope length with no turns on the drum, no chances of twisting, snagging, jamming or jumping and no danger of coils of rope round your feet in the cockpit. The reefing line is spliced, making an unending length of rope which is led down the side of the yacht by special removable double sheave stanchion blocks to the cockpit, from where you operate the furling system. The system can be turned either way and is pulled in and out purely on the large diameter reefing line. Easy, no stress and no strain.

The gear comes as a complete package, with no hidden extras and a 5 year guarantee. The package consists of a new forestay, (if not needed there is a price reduction), drum unit, halyard swivel, foil extrusions (each one is 2.5 metres long), halyard guide, 4 double sheave stanchion blocks (3 for the basic gear), ready spliced rope and fitting instructions. It is easy to fit yourself or, alternatively, Sailspar can fit it for you.

The reefing gear is easily maintained, needing at the very least to be flushed out yearly with fresh water and then a dry teflon spray should be applied to the drum and the halyard swivel. DO NOT USE GREASE!


The material used in the gear is as follows:-

The drum unit is cast and machined from marine grade aluminium and then black anodised against corrosion. Alternatively opposed teeth provide the slip free grip which enables the rope to move freely to and fro. A fully enclosed stainless steel shield which is fully adjustable to ensure the correct lead of the furling line removes any possibility of the rope jamming or jumping.

The halyard swivel is exceptionally robust and constructed from stainless steel. It contains stainless steel ball races to ensure a smooth operation. The halyard swivel is free to rotate around the foils to allow pre-flattening of the sail prior to the furling operation.

The silver anodised foil extrusions are single groove and come in 2.5 metre lengths. Black anodised foils are available as an optional extra. They are round in shape which means a smooth rotation, even loading and the most efficient furling shape. The foils are joined by positive locking solid anodised joiners. In the medium and large gears these joiners have nylon inserts for friction and noise reduction.

The halyard guide roller deflects the halyard alignment and totally eliminates halyard warp.

The forestay is supplied overlong with a pre-swaged top terminal and a Sta-lok base terminal stud for ease of adjustment.