Plastimo head sail roller reefing

[tgalea]

My plastimo head sail roller reefing worked perfectly until i brough the mast down for maintenance.

After that the halyard starts wrapping around the foil rather that holding the swivel so the foil can rotate. Adjusting the height of the sail above the deck sorts this problem out.

Then, guess what. After two or three sails it becomes hard to furl / unfurl the sail, the forestay frays literally to straw and then breaks. This happened twice already.

Read the manual several times, read the trouble-shooting section regarding exactly my problem but can't solve it.

Please help! Don't feel like investing in another brand. Other things on-board need some attention and i really would'nt like to replace something i already have!!!

Thanks in advance
Tyrone


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[pete]

It is a common problem usually caused by incorrect angle between halyard and forestay/foil should be aprox 20 to 30 degrees, on my boat the halyard exits the mast sheath block, drops along the mast then after going through a guide attached to the mast goes to the top bearing at the correct angle it can also happen if your halyard is not tight enough.

Pete

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[Plum]

I had a similar problem with mine. Although my halyard was at a very shallow angle to the foil, it was just enough to stop it rolling around the foil when reefing, until after a refit, and then it would not roll smoothly and kept sticking and the halyard getting wrapped around at the top.

It turned out to be the way the halyard was attached to the top swivel. Mine was spliced into an eye around a large thimble and shackled to the top swivel and what was happening was the rope eye was catching on the foil just above the swivel. What is needed is a "twisted shackle" so that the rope eye is turned through 90 degrees to prevent the fouling with the foil. My problem only started because I put on a new halyard with a new, slightly larger, thimble. I have since noticed that quite a few roller systems have either twisted or longer shackles at the top swivel. Obviously, if you have a wider angle between the foil and the halyard, you do not get this particular problem anyway.

hope this helps you.

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[maxi]

Pete's right, it is a very common problem as described. The other main contributor, not already mentioned, is the absolute necessity to get the rotor as far up the foil as possible, no more than an inch below the top fitting.
This has the effect of helping the halyard angles as previously described and virtually eliminates the amount of halyard available to create a 'wrap'.

This is achieved by inserting a wire strop between the head of the sail and the rotor to ensure that the rotor is right to the top. If you use different headsails it will be necessary to use different lengths of strop. This should provide a near-guaranteed solution to halyard wrap.

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[kireonriley]

i fixed one yesterday the owner said he hadnt touched anything on investigation he had put the twisted shackle on the wrong way around and it was fouling the top spinner hope yours is as simple Kieron

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[jleaworthy]

When I had this problem it was caused by dirt/salt in the halyard swivel. I simply washed it out with fresh water and it never occurred again.

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[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

Mine does this and is still 'tight'. The mast was on the hard for four years, I tried cleaning and greasing the bearing races, which will spin now like a gyro when there is no wieght so I don't think it is this. I made sure my back stays were tight to keep the front stay nice and straight, I bought a big shackle and bent it to keep the halyard at a good angle, still tight.

The one thing I have not done, and read with interest is used a bit of wire etc. to make sure that the swivel is lifted as high as possible on the front stay. I am going to try this at the weekend as hopefully my genoa will be repaired by then. My girlfriend works in the rag trade and will put her hand to anything, she built our cockpit cover last year, saving about £1000 on trade prices. Even fancies a job at a sail makers now, now that's commitment /forums/images/icons/smile.gif.

Thank you for the advice everyone, I will post back and favourable results, my roller works but is too tight to roll back up from the cockpit so a trip to the foredeck is necassary to give it a helping hand.

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<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ukstaffords.com>http://www.ukstaffords.com</A>

 

[chriscallender]

It seems you have two seperate problems here. One is the halyard wrapping around the furler, which you have managed to solve by adjusting height of sail above the deck and hence the angle that the halyard reaches the furler. So having solved that one, we can forget about it.

However, you say solving this halyard problem is not stopping the roller mechanism from twisting the forestay. Therefore at a guess the bearings inside the roller are not doing their job and preventing the forestay from twisting/unravelling/breaking.

The only way you will solve the second problem properly is to strip the thing down and cleaning/greasing the moving parts. If you've got the instructions then this should not be too hard. The bearings probably have locked up after a period of not being used.

In general if the furler is ever hard to furl or unfurl then don't force it - drop the sail instead if needbe, or untie the sheets and wrap the sail around the furler manually if its stuck half way between in and out. You'll save youself a few forestays (and maybe masts!) that way.

Chris

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[philwebb]

I have the Plastimo reefing system and as described I had the same problem. I climbed to the top of
the mast and was horrified to find that the forestay was frayed after being twisted. I climbed down
the mast rather quickly, trying not to shake it about too much. After having the foresay replaced
the problem was still there, but after sliding the top swivel down we reversed the bent shackle so
that the bent bit faced outwards and this did the job.
Towards the end of last year the roller became very stiff so I took off and dismantled it.
The bottom bearing was seized. I bought a new better quality sealed bearing from City Belts and
Bearings in Clerkenwell and since then the roller furling has worked perfectly.
Regards,
Phil

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[davidphillips]

I had similar trouble with stiffness of my plastimo reefing mechanism. This was particularly so when the Jib halyard was tensioned. When taking apart the mechanism I found an extra o-ring had been inserted which when removed resolved the problem. Not sure why it was there but it might be helpful to take the mechanism to a dealer who is familiar with plastimo.

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[GrahamC]

I have just had a problem with a shreded forestay, and I was able to download
all about Plastimo Reefing systems Models 406-s, 608-s amd 810-s, from the Plastimo website in the UK. its a PDF File 28 pages.
The angle of the halyard is clearly critical, a nice drawing and notes explain all.
If its an older system you will need to drill out the four monel pop rivets to get at the bearings at each end . It all came apart quite easily to replace the forestay. I have seen derlin balls in the swivels collapse due to UV degredation so it is worth checking.
Regards
GrahamC

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[charles_reed]

Understand you have 2 problems:

Wrapping halyard and

Chewed up forestay

1st is easily solved - increase angle between halyard and forestay, either by moving head of sail up or by fitting a diverter (most usual) onto the mast.

2nd is more difficult - is due to lack of bearings and inherent in the design of the furler.
First check the bearings at top and bottom are OK then try washing the whole thing in bags of clean water, then re-assemble making sure the top bearing is running on the bottlescrew swage, and use teflon lubricant on the top and bottom bearings.

Above all recognise that the system is really a furler and should not be adjusted with any load on it.

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[tgalea]

Thanks for your post. It's exactly what's been going on.

Regarding the halyard problem i'll try raise the head as you said.

Regarding the forestay:-

Yes i used to reduce / increase sail area with load on and i think i've chewed into the top bearing which now has a rough / wide edge and is doing the damage.

"making sure the top bearing is running on the bottlescrew swage". Can you please explain further because i think this is my problem.

2nd question is : regarding the deck connection now. Should the installation be done by attached the furler's chain plate to the deck and the forestay to the chain plate internally and using a bottleneck screw ? What i've had from the boat's previous owner is a bolt right through the chain plate joining the chain plate and bottlescrew together to the deck.

Would appreciate your help please because i'm really lost.

Thanks in advance
Tyrone


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[Dave_Rolfe]

I have recently bought a Hunter 272 with Plastimo roller reefing fitted. This is quite stiff to use and I suspect the bearing at the top is in need of cleaning out etc. My problem is that I have no instructions on how to dismantle it to do so.

I have tried flushing it out with warm water and a bit of fairy liquid. This did improve it slightly but before any damage is done I would like to dismantle the top fitting and complete the job properly.

Any advise on how to take it apart would be appreciated.

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[pete]

I have a Hunter 27 TK with Plastimo RR, through memory there is a large knurled nut on the top bearing assembly which unscrews giving access to the bearings.
Pete

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[tgalea]

REPLY TO ALL

Hi All ,

Thanks for your very valuable advice. Just to update you here.. ordered two new plastic spacers (the ones which sit below and on top of the foil) - since they were quite worn. Next opened up the swivel to find 1 50% jammed bearing and the other 100% jammed. These have been ordered too.

Moreover the local plastimo agent ordered a special eye fitting to go with the mast to improve the halyard angle

Will let you know how things develop and thanks once again.

Regards
Tyrone


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[peasea]

I had same problem some years ago when I first fitted a 609 system and ruptured
the forestay on the first time of use.
I had fitted the top shackle which had a "crank offset" the wrong way round.
The installation instructions were not clear and I complained to Plastimo who were good enough to reimburse me for the forestay.
I never had any more problems and had years of good service.

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