Reefing roller furled main

Tranona said:
Your post#13 says the opposite "wind pushing the furl/sail tight" which is why I queried it!. Seems you were not explaining what you do clearly enough. The Selden advice is to have the wind off the starboard bow because the slot is profiled for the sail to furl in from the port side. The sheet should not be hard in so that there is any wind in the sail because as they suggest this puts load on the gears and make it hard work.
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I thought it was clear.. The wind to push a tight roll as apposed to a loose roll which encourages jams... Any way I'm sure op has enough to play with for now and will find away. Good night
 
Thanks rib, and thanks all. So, modified tactics (bold).
  1. Make sure the kicker is on to ensure the angle between the boom and mast is 90 degrees.
  2. Make sure backstay is not tight (a bend in the mast will prevent it furling easily).
  3. Head to wind with the boom over to port side and wind 20 degrees to stb, main sheet loose.
  4. Either
    1. Release the Outhaul, and put a couple of turns on the port winch (to stop the clew rising), and furl away on the stb winch OR
    2. Release a foot of outhaul at a time, furl that in, rinse, repeat. (I think I'll do this method as if the sail flaps I get the feeling it'll pull those few turns pretty hard).
What about in heavy weather? When it's too rough to turn up into the wind? Down wind furling ever work? I get the feeling it would put too much strain on the furler and prevent it furling.
 
I disagree with the comment about the boom being at 90deg to the mast - it is wholly dependent upon the mainsail shape. You need the boom height necessary to give the flatest possible sail. My advice is, in the marina on a dead calm day, pull out the mainsail and experiment with different boom heights until you find the sweet spot where the mainsail is the flatest possible shape. Note this setting with a practical meaurement - mine is the boom an elbow to fingertip length from the traveller to underside of boom - which means you can easily and quickly replicate this same position when at sea. A flat sail furls easiest and with fewest creases.......
 
Robih said:
I disagree with the comment about the boom being at 90deg to the mast - it is wholly dependent upon the mainsail shape. You need the boom height necessary to give the flatest possible sail. My advice is, in the marina on a dead calm day, pull out the mainsail and experiment with different boom heights until you find the sweet spot where the mainsail is the flatest possible shape. Note this setting with a practical meaurement - mine is the boom an elbow to fingertip length from the traveller to underside of boom - which means you can easily and quickly replicate this same position when at sea. A flat sail furls easiest and with fewest creases.......
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My own experience from 13 years of using in mast main sail (10 years with sparcraft and 3 years with Selden) is that as long as you ease the main sheet and make sure that the boom vang is also not tight, during furling the sail itself will raise the boom at the required level.
Edit: I am only referring to the boom angle. Remaining tricks (tension on outhaul, some wind on the sail etc) still apply.
 
cmedsailor said:
My own experience from 13 years of using in mast main sail (10 years with sparcraft and 3 years with Selden) is that as long as you ease the main sheet and make sure that the boom vang is also not tight, during furling the sail itself will raise the boom at the required level.
Edit: I am only referring to the boom angle. Remaining tricks (tension on outhaul, some wind on the sail etc) still apply.
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Interesting, but our gas spring kicker would push the boom skyward if the mainsheet was loose causing the top of the sail to go very slack thereby inviting creases in the furl.
 
Robih said:
I disagree with the comment about the boom being at 90deg to the mast - it is wholly dependent upon the mainsail shape. You need the boom height necessary to give the flatest possible sail. My advice is, in the marina on a dead calm day, pull out the mainsail and experiment with different boom heights until you find the sweet spot where the mainsail is the flatest possible shape. Note this setting with a practical meaurement - mine is the boom an elbow to fingertip length from the traveller to underside of boom - which means you can easily and quickly replicate this same position when at sea. A flat sail furls easiest and with fewest creases.......
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Interesting, another part of my communication was Selden was this:

The tips we give to all new furling mast owners are as follows, when you go to furl the sail make sure that you are using your main sheet and rodkicker to keep the boom at 90degrees to the mast. This will allow the luff and foot of the sail to stay straight and not twist up at unhelpful angles. We would also suggest that you check that your clutches are fully released on your outhaul as otherwise you can have a lot of resistant on the winch which could stretch or damage the sail.
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My problem, if you look at the first photo, is that the clew has raised to high, and my gas kicker is right "on" (so the boom is as low down as it can go and close to 90 degrees). As the outhaul was too loose, and the sail is loose footed, no amount of boom fettling would have helped the situation or bought the clew down enough to have the sail furl away nice and neatly.
 
MagicalArmchair said:
Interesting, another part of my communication was Selden was this:



My problem, if you look at the first photo, is that the clew has raised to high, and my gas kicker is right "on" (so the boom is as low down as it can go and close to 90 degrees). As the outhaul was too loose, and the sail is loose footed, no amount of boom fettling would have helped the situation or bought the clew down enough to have the sail furl away nice and neatly.
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I see the problem. Mainsail too long in the leech?
 
MagicalArmchair said:
    1. Release a foot of outhaul at a time, furl that in, rinse, repeat. (I think I'll do this method as if the sail flaps I get the feeling it'll pull those few turns pretty hard).
What about in heavy weather? When it's too rough to turn up into the wind? Down wind furling ever work? I get the feeling it would put too much strain on the furler and prevent it furling.
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This is a difficult situation that I try to avoid! I believe it applies to all sort of main sails, either classic or in mast (or in boom). Unfortunately it happened to me a few times and I had used the "release a foot of outhaul and furl" technique. The forces on the sail were indeed strong and I tried to sail as close as possible to the wind with the main sail almost touching the spreaders in an attempt to "empty" it somehow from the wind.
No need to mention that it was a horrible and messy furl so I unfurled the whole sail at the earliest opportunity and furled it again properly.

Some people say that you can "empty" the sail by bringing the boom right in the middle and run dead downwind (so in fact it's almost jibing but with the boom in the center) but I cannot think how this is possible when sailing in waves. It's the best recipe for a broach!
 
cmedsailor said:
This is a difficult situation that I try to avoid! I believe it applies to all sort of main sails, either classic or in mast (or in boom). Unfortunately it happened to me a few times and I had used the "release a foot of outhaul and furl" technique. The forces on the sail were indeed strong and I tried to sail as close as possible to the wind with the main sail almost touching the spreaders in an attempt to "empty" it somehow from the wind.
No need to mention that it was a horrible and messy furl so I unfurled the whole sail at the earliest opportunity and furled it again properly.

Some people say that you can "empty" the sail by bringing the boom right in the middle and run dead downwind (so in fact it's almost jibing but with the boom in the center) but I cannot think how this is possible when sailing in waves. It's the best recipe for a broach!
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You can centre the sail like this when running, in order to perform a very controlled, no drama gybe, but in that scenario it is only ever centred for a few seconds, to allow the wind to get into the other side of the sail, wherupon the mainsheet is dumped with alacrity. Doing it in a seaway for the length of time required to furl the sail would be an incomparable feat!
 
Hi can I suggest just once when furling your sail release the out haul and furl it in, I have been doing this for 20 years now never had any problems and my sail has vertical battens I only sail single handed , it helps to have the boom over the port side as this lines the sail up with the entry slot. When reefing usually when hard on the wind I let the main sheet out till the sail flaps release the outhaul about 1 MTR haul that in then do it again, until the toerail comes out of the water, much more comfortable that way and we make so much more progress up wind. Mike
 
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