With more than 40 years of French furling systems expertise behind us, Profurl is no newcomer to the game: pleasure sailors, regatta specialists, circumnavigators and professionals alike put their faith in the brand, making it a standard-bearer in the market. With our nautical equipment, Profurl is there for sailors however they tackle the water, with three recurring themes through all our products and services: reliability, longevity, and safety.
In this article, our team explain why they’ve chosen to include, with each manual headsail furler, an international 10-year guarantee.
1. Furling systems for cruising or racing boats with the very best bearings
Profurl manual headsail furler is designed by our team to use the very best bearings available: 100 C6 carbon steel elements, which ensure that the ball bearings will never be crushed under the loads applied during service. This means that Profurl mechanisms enjoy perfect rotation under any circumstances, even under extreme loads. This is the reassurance you need that you can furl your sails under any conditions, even strong winds!
Essential components for any good cruising or racing sailing program, Profurl bearings are housed in a sealed grease bath for maximum protection from corrosion, and lifetime lubrication for the mechanism in your equipment.
On each Profurl manual headsail furler, the swivel and the drum mechanism both use the same bearings.
2. A hermetic seal for the mechanism inside
Salt, water, sand... On the water, you’re never lacking for things to corrode and degrade your equipment. To give you something that would really stand the test of time, it was essential to offer a furling with a hermetically sealed mechanism.
Profurl incorporated protection from corrosion and impurities into the design of all of our furling systems. We did this by:
- Choosing the right materials (316L stainless steel, anodised aluminium, and more),
- Adapting the design and interaction between the components (two double-lipped joints, for example, provide a seal for the top swivel on the manual furler),
- Treating each component (with anodic protection or anodization),
- Assembling the parts in a sealed grease bath.
This ensures that all Profurl mechanisms are 100 % sealed, protected, and at no risk of corrosion.
3. Long-lasting manual furler, with no maintenance needed
Whatever is your sailing program, Profurl’s manual headsail furler never needs any specific maintenance. Whether you’re on a short coastal trip or offshore cruising, you can rest easy!
The manufacturing process for our equipment will protect it from any damage or deterioration. Assembling the parts in a sealed grease bath prevents corrosion, too. A quick rinse with fresh water back at the harbour is all you need to care for your equipment!
4. Drums designed for maximum resistance
One of the key parts of any manual headsail furler, the drum must be of equally high quality as the rest. Here at Profurl, we’ve opted for non-deforming plastic drums with high resistance to sudden shocks, such as abrupt anchoring. Each furling drum is also given anti-UV treatment to ensure maximum longevity, wherever you sail.
5. An unwavering eye for quality materials
To ensure that each sailor feels safe on the water, we needed to select only the most resistant and best-performing materials. Carbon steel, 316 L stainless steel, extruded aluminium... starting from the ultra-resistant plastic drum, every component is made of robust and extremely high-quality material. The vast majority of these materials are sourced from France or Europe.
At the end of the rigorous product development phase, new Profurl manual headsail furler is always tested by professionals, at sea, to validate its resistance to extreme conditions. Each product is designed for intensive use over many long years. This is what make Profurl’s furler the natural choice, in particular for charter companies.
From the carefully selected materials to the full equipment testing at the end, and of course our meticulous machining processes, everything is in place to ensure reliable equipment that will last and last. These are all crucial to ensuring your safety on board!
6. You can dismantle your manual furler
Sailors who choose Profurl manual headsail furler enjoy all the benefits of furling with a drum that comes easily apart when needed. Once dismantled, the furler can be used as a simple stay. This allows for various possible configurations, especially useful for regattas. When you dismantle your furler you can use the best configuration for the job: here too, you are helping preserve your equipment over time.
7. Equipment that prevents the furling line jumping off, and prevents wear on the furling
We are all too aware of how unpleasant - not to mention dangerous - it can be when the furling line jumps off the drum. This is why Profurl wanted to manufacture reliable manual furler, with components specially designed to prevent these situations.
All the Profurl furlers, available for sailing boats from 5 to 26 metres long, are equipped with a drum with a double-hoop guide arm to prevent any risk of the furling line jumping off the drum. It also comes with a feeder and a multitop, preventing the halyard from getting caught around the stay. Profurl is the only brand that offers this exclusive feature! Sailors can also choose an opening Wichard pre-feeder for their furling, allowing them to hoist the sail easily and with no risk of damage.
Profurl regatta furler, for racing-cruising sailing boat from 6 to 20 metres long, come pre-equipped with an opening luff rope prefeeder.
Whichever you choose, all our extrusions are designed to reduce friction and limit the wear on the sail luff line.
Profurl brand furler is designed for ease of use, and has always been built to facilitate navigation and on-board operations. For example, our feeder makes it easier to send up the sail solo.
8. Lightweight furling, an optimised design, and respect for the environment
On our Cruising and Racing manual furlers, Profurl extrusions are made from extruded aluminium. They are round for cruising and a more aerodynamic oval shape for regatta use, with dramatically reduced weight thanks to internal ribbing. This design does not affect performance - the torque resistance is at our same high standard. In fact, for regattas, the optimised furling weight will often have a positive impact on the overall performance of the craft.
Concerning the finish, Profurl has traditionally used green anodization for all of our equipment. Recently however, our teams are looking to move towards black anodization: a new treatment offering equivalent corrosion protection, but much better for the environment!
9. High-traceability marine equipment
The traceability of each mechanism is also something on which we place a high priority. At Profurl, each drum mechanism and top swivel have its own serial number, identifying the mechanism and its exact properties. It’s this number that allows our after-sales service department to provide high-quality technical service for all our customers.
10. With Profurl, enjoy the support you need all around the world
Are you embarking on a circumnavigation and wondering about support in some of your more remote ports of call? Our teams are delighted to offer an especially powerful assistance service, wherever you may find yourself.
Thanks to an international network of distributors, Profurl furling is available in more than 50 countries in Europe, in the Atlantic Ocean, in the Pacific Ocean, and in the Indian Ocean.
The 10-year guarantee that comes with the purchase of all our equipment can be redeemed with all of our distributors, wherever you’ve come from and wherever you are. If necessary, Profurl can guarantee that you’ll get the parts you need as soon as possible.
It’s for all these excellent reasons that we’ll give you an international guarantee on your next Profurl purchase, that will last for 10 years.
Are you looking for peace of mind on the water, too? With Profurl’s manual headsail furler, we know that you’ve chosen a strong, reliable furling that will stand the test of time.
