When shopping for headsail furlers one can find a wide variety manufacturers such as: Pro Furl, Facnor, Harken, Hood, Bamar, Schaefer, Reckmann, Reefit, CDI; as well as a wide variety of prices. So where does quality and low pricing find a happy marriage? How can one possibly make a decision that’s worthwhile with all of those options? Well, that’s where we come in. The Hood SL line of products have been around for what has to be at least 8 years, and yet this furler really hasn’t caught on as a popular request (We think this is mostly due to poor marketing but we’re here to help :-)).
Now, this isn’t Hood’s premium line (probably why they don’t talk about it much) but the market has hungered for a good quality, budget friendly, cruising furler for quite some time. Especially since the loss of Harken’s Cruising Unit, perhaps one of the best bangs for your buck up until about 8 years ago (maybe more). It was when a customer insisted that we install one of these Hood furlers on his boat, about five years ago, that we first fell in love with this thing. So, after some 5 years of installing mostly these furlers over any other brand, we thought it high time to take Hood’s little secret and let it out of the closet.
Just like our two other favorites, Schaefer and Harken, Hood SL Furlers feature heavy duty 6061 anodized and powder-coated aluminum construction for maximum reliability and performance. They come in two model sizes, easy peasy, the 707 for boats from 25′ to 33′, accommodating forestay wire sizes from 3/16″ to 9/32″; the 808 for boats from 34′ to 46′, accommodating wire diameters from 5/16″ to 7/16″.
This Hood furler is yet again another product supports our motto, “safety and functionality through simplicity”. The system is simple to install, furl, reef, hoist, douse and most importantly to us…maintain. What more could you ask for? Combining a proven design with state-of-the-art materials, the 808 and 707 SL models are a user-friendly and here to stay. Not to mention, we’ve been installing these quite a lot over the years and discovered them to be rock solid and without any issues. Customer’s have been nothing but satisfied.
So if you have a question about pricing, product information or any of our other products for that matter, please don’t forget to leave us a comment below or just give us a call. We are here to help. At The Rigging Company, questions are always free of charge.
If you’re in town, stop by our new location and look at our furler displays and give them a spin yourself.
Thanks for the read. See you next time.
~T.R.C.
Hi I have a old 915 ld on my Catalina 36 how much is the 900 sl upgrade kit?
Hi Veronica!
Try contacting Hood Pompanette https://pompanette.com/product-series/furlers/ …they know stuff. If you have trouble, email us at sales@theriggingco.com and we’ll get you in touch.
Cheers,
~T.R.C.
I have a Hunter Legend 35.5 and I believe A Hood furling system. The furling system is almost impossible to bring in when the air is heavy. The man looking at it says I need to have a crane to get at the clamp bearing under the drum. The drum by the way is under the deck. Does this make sense?
Hi Stuart,
It has been busy times here at TRC, hence the late reply. To service this furler, if service parts can be acquired (depending on what’s needed), we would take the furler down. Depending on your service options where the boat is located, you can take the mast down with a crane, it is the most thorough option.
If we were doing this job we would, de-tune the mast, secure the mast forward, and go aloft to remove the forestay and furler.
Once it is on the ground you will be able to disassemble, repair, replace and needed parts as well as go over the whole thing. The added bonus with taking the mast down is that you get to address all of the other components as well.
Contact Hood Pomapanette for Hood headsail Furler parts and advice, they should be a big help.
Regards,
~T.R.C.
In your estimation is $300 a reasonable estimate to replace the bearings in a Hood Seafurl 800?
Hi Wayne,
~T.R.C.
I’ve sailed the past 12 years with a Hood Seafurl roller furler. Although corrosion has prevented removing the lower stainless steel cover, to properly replace furling line, I have been able to improvise a fix. Attempting another fix, I removed the swivel top and loss 1-2 sets of bearings. Are you folks able to service this unit or advise who does such work? It seems that a professional effort to replace all bearings and perform any other maintenance would be appropriate. Thanks in advance.
Hi Wayne and Happy Holidays. The short answer is yes we can service the Hood systems. We’ll need more info though. Please email us directly (sales@theriggingco.com) and send along any pictures when you can, give us a boat location and a way to get in touch with you. We will get back to you with some thoughts, pricing an schedule availability as soon as possible.
Please note: we are closed until January 3rd, but email us anytime.
Thanks for reaching out.
~T.R.C.
Do Hood make an electric furler suitable for an S&S 39?
Hi Arthur,
Hood, as of right now does not offer electric headsail furling units. We recommend Harken or Reckmann for this.
Hope that helps.
~T.R.C.
I’ve got an old 915 LD on my Catalina 34 and I’m considering switching it out for an 808 SL. I’d like to know how it attaches at the stemhead and I can’t gleen that from the limited drawings I’ve found online. I need to determine the linkplate length I need for anchor roller clearance and to determine whether any sail changes will be needed. A good dimensional drawing would be of great help. An installation manual (if one exists) would also help. The C34 has a 5/16 stay, 5/16 turnbuckle with a t-toggle pegged to the stemhead with a 5/8 clevis pin. Any help will be appreciated.
Dan
920-540-3433
Hi Dan, This furler should suit your needs well. The installation manual is available from Hood Pompanette in FL. It is more of a maintenance and user manual and not very useful if your looking for installation instructions, but it may be worth a shot as there is some info.
It would be worth while to just build a new stay for this furler as well. Two reasons, one then the forestay as a whole has been completely dealt with, two, the turnbuckle required will be a threaded eye turnbuckle. This is likely not the turnbuckle that is equipped currently.
In terms of link plates. There are only two sizes available: short link plates, these are standard, and long link plates optional. The short link plates will provide roughly 8-10 inches of clearance and the long link plates will provide more in the 18-24″ of clearance to the bottom of the drum. Again Hood Pompanette will have the exact answer for you on this. Keep in mind the pin hole height in the stem head is also a factor. The answer here may be less technical than what you’re after…If you need to provide clearance for an anchor, go with the long links. You can always cut them with a cut them to length as well. If the anchor roller extends well out in front of the furler you may get away with the short links, and perhaps you just add an extra eye-jaw-toggle to the bottom of the stay (another reason to build a new stay as this will need to be figured into the forestay length).
Hope this helps. Please fill out our work request form if you’d like more info, or need pricing on products or labor.
Thanks!
~T.R.C.
Thanks for the information. It greatly helps. I’ll follow up with Pompanette.
BTW. I consider your willingness to inform a great service. Kudos to you.
Dan
Thanks for the nice words and good luck!
~T.R.C.
Well while I have had the Hood system for 12 years now and I am the third owner, the system has been working very well since 1993. BUT and it is a BIG BUT, how in the hell are u supposed to change the roller furling line. Mine is under deck in the anchor locker of a Hunter Passage 42. There is no reasonable way to get to the knot and change out the furler line. Also I have had to go up the mast twice in 12 years and have someone push all of the rivet tails back into the extrusion since they had come out at least 1/8 to 3/16 th of an inch. A call about this would be appreciated. Capt. Rick Delaune 504-458-1013
I’m calling you now…