Going forward to handle the jib was a chore on the Mariner and no better on the Sanibel. At my age, time spent figuring out how to avoid work is time well spent.
I had rigged a "jackline system" on Seanility to allow me to douse and release the jib from the cockpit. It made single-handing much easier but there was room for improvement. The least expensive roller furling system would cost me several hundred dollars that I wasn't prepared to spend. I found plans online for a simple roller furler made from pvc piping that was simple and inexpensive. It was designed for use with a hanked on jib.
The plan called for the use of 1/2" diameter schedule 40 pvc attached to a drum made from round, aluminum electrical box covers and sprinkler pipe extentions. The 1/2" pvc might have worked if the furler wasn't subjected to the stresses of stepping and lowering the mast. My second version used 3/4" schedule 40 pipe with the addition of slip joint connectors located at each point where a notch was cut for a jib hank to be attached to the headstay. The headstay is threaded inside of the pipe.
The resulting roller furler was both simple and inexpensive - costing less than $25 to build. Better yet, it actually worked.
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