reefing furling genoa

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Wansworth

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Came across a westerly centuar last summer and the owner had fitted a winch to haul in the furling line for his genoa.My mate with his nic 32 has a big struggle to reef the genoa as he has to ease the sheet at the same time haul on the line which in reefing weather is hard work as the line is small diametre.The dedicated furling line winch seems to be a good idea?
 
I use a Spi winch but one has to be aware not to overload the line, furling gear does not like high drum loads, it stuffs the bearings. i have Harken gear



mogy said:
Came across a westerly centuar last summer and the owner had fitted a winch to haul in the furling line for his genoa.My mate with his nic 32 has a big struggle to reef the genoa as he has to ease the sheet at the same time haul on the line which in reefing weather is hard work as the line is small diametre.The dedicated furling line winch seems to be a good idea?
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mogy said:
Came across a westerly centuar last summer and the owner had fitted a winch to haul in the furling line for his genoa.My mate with his nic 32 has a big struggle to reef the genoa as he has to ease the sheet at the same time haul on the line which in reefing weather is hard work as the line is small diametre.The dedicated furling line winch seems to be a good idea?
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depends on type the Hood endless loop furling lines furleres are all or nothing and are not intended to be reefed.

The Harken type can be and are intended to be reefed.
the have a single line on a drum at the tack or bottom of the luff and rotating attachment at the head or top of the luff.
The sail is on the foil which is free to rotate around the forestay.
If you need a winch there is something wrong.
according to the harken manual you should not use a winch
You will need to de powere the sail by releasing sheet.
The presure on a full sail will overcome even an attempt with a winch and lead to damage even if you could get it to furl.
Harken recomend washing the drum area with soap and fresh water at least once a season to clean out salt wch will gum it up. also wash the head attachment.
Make sure halyard is tight and at right hight when sail is up so halyard does not wrap around stay.
it is also worth while checking the lead of the line of the drum to the first block.
if it is not 90 deg out from center according to harken the line will not evenly coil on drum and may build up in one place and tend to jam.

hope this helps
 
I have a Colnbrook Seareef furler for my foresail,and do not now need a winch normally to furl it; I believe that this is down to poor lubrication( which to be honest I only found out 2 years ago when looking up some data about the furler.
There is an oiling hole about 4-6 inches above the spool where 3-in-one oil should be inserted at least annually. The difference is amazing and language now modest!!

ianat182
 
I know a guy who unwound the lay of his fore-stay using a winch to furl his 39 Footer.
It shouldn't be necessary on that size of boat, you cannot feel how much force you are applying with a winch

Plank
 
Literally every time I have used a winch on a furling line, I have ended up either badly jamming it or damaging something. On a normal sized boat, if a healthy adult cannot haul it in by hand then something is wrong, and one should take the hint and investigate rather than just applying MOAR POWER!!1!. Possible exceptions allowed for somehow having the full sail out in very high winds, and large boats (well above 40 feet).

The guy on the Nic might benefit from installing a rope clutch rather than a winch?

Pete
 
I sailed on a boat that did not have a winch but a captive drum about the same size as the one on the bottom of the roller. You wound the rope on in the same way as you wound it off, it was well set up and very easy to use. You could apply a bit of extra force just to start it moving but then it worked well and you did not have to coil the furling line.
 
mogy said:
Came across a westerly centuar last summer and the owner had fitted a winch to haul in the furling line for his genoa.My mate with his nic 32 has a big struggle to reef the genoa as he has to ease the sheet at the same time haul on the line which in reefing weather is hard work as the line is small diametre.The dedicated furling line winch seems to be a good idea?
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I resited my Enkes 8 winch which was non-tailing, close to the end-of-roller-reefing line by the cockpit and have found it invaluable.
Whether I'd have bought a new winch to do the job is arguable, but I had a very good price for an Antal 10 self-tailer when they first came out.
In hindsight it was well worthwhile - especially as advancing years make reefing increasingly different.
However my foresail-triangle area is 194ft2 compared to the Centaur's 165ft2 and even with a 150% genoa the necessity would not appear to be as great.
 
mogy said:
Came across a westerly centuar last summer and the owner had fitted a winch to haul in the furling line for his genoa.My mate with his nic 32 has a big struggle to reef the genoa as he has to ease the sheet at the same time haul on the line which in reefing weather is hard work as the line is small diametre.The dedicated furling line winch seems to be a good idea?
Click to expand...

Something wrong if a winch is needed on a boat the size of a Centaur.

If the furling line on the Nic 32 is too small in diameter why not splice a piece of thicker line to the narrower one?

Anyway, you can always luff up a bit and spill some wind out of the sail to make the job easier.
 
Or remove the outer part leaving the inner core from a larger diameter rope if it won't all fit on the drum? Only once used a winch to reef a headsail, because none of it had been used for a couple of years, also had to go up to the bow to help it go round. Not good, should have checked it all first...
 
prv said:
On a normal sized boat, if a healthy adult cannot haul it in by hand then something is wrong, and one should take the hint and investigate rather than just applying MOAR POWER!!1!. Possible exceptions allowed for somehow having the full sail out in very high winds, and large boats (well above 40 feet).

Pete
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Seems good advice. Developing a good technique in terms of unloading the sail helps. I also agree (from experience:D) that continuing to wind on a winch often ends in tears!
 
webcraft said:
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Turning downwind and furling the genoa while it is blanketed by the main is a stress-free way to reef a headsail with a hatful of wind in it.

- W
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This seems worth repeating. I am always amazed at the way people struggle to do what should be a simple task. I have yet to use a winch to furl a foresail in 25 years. Incidentally, this is one reason why I dislike sailing on jib alone, since there can be no easy way of furling it if the wind pipes up.
 
The genoa on my (masthead rig) 42 footer is certainly too powerful to furl by hand in anything above 10 to 12 knots wind. The system is Harken and runs very freely, but the sail area develops too much power even when eased out to rag the sail. We do have a dedicated winch but find it is much better for someone to "bump" the furling line in from midships whilst the person in the cockpit takes up the slack. This is both faster than winching in and also enables the bumper to watch the furling drum to check if anything is jamming.
I would second the warning about unravelling the forestay.
 
I have returned to this thread because I have just remembered one reason why I generally have little trouble furling my jib; this is because I follow advice given to me years ago, which is to ease off the jib halyard a little. This makes an enormous difference to the stress on the rotating gear and the ease of furling.
 
johnalison said:
I have returned to this thread because I have just remembered one reason why I generally have little trouble furling my jib; this is because I follow advice given to me years ago, which is to ease off the jib halyard a little. This makes an enormous difference to the stress on the rotating gear and the ease of furling.
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Careful with easing the halyard, to much slack can give halyard wrap with ugly results.
 
johnalison said:
That would require a degree of clumsiness that I hadn't considered!
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My local rigger got a repair job some years ago..
A Hanse 471 (German flagged training wessel) came in for repairs - the foil was split 1/2 m down from the top and the headstay was twisted at the top.

The furler was installed correctly (with halyard retainer at the top), but easing the halyard a bit to much gave enough slack to get some turns around the stay..

We can only guess if they also used the electric winch to furl the sail..

Close to losing the head stay and?
 
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