Roller Furler getting a bit tight??

[capnsensible]

Was out in some heavy airs last week, rolling up some headsail Was very hard by hand. Broke my normal rule and winched a bit.

Found in harbour that the furler was still somewhat stiffer than normal to run. A trip up the mast revealed that the tight furler had caused the forestay to untwist and de strand at the terminal. Oooer.

Nipped across to my local yard Monday morning. We dropped the forestay to renew it and found some damage to the foil as well. Fortunately the rigger had an old Facnor 24 sat about so he canibalised the drum to renew knackered bearings and replaced a foil section at the top. Back on berth by 1600 job done, amazingly lucky.

That could have been a mast fall down situation avoided......

So todays hot tip, nip up and check out your forestay if you have had to start reefing using a winch. Chatting to the rigger, he has seen this quite often. Its not cheap but better than the worst case!

 

[Concerto]

Well spotted and quickly repaired.

Another thing that can make a furler hard to turn is hard grease in the bearings. It does mean stripping the bearings and cleaning everything including all the ball bearings (my Furlex has 64!). Then grease and re-assemble.

 

[capnsensible]

Yeah, shows how important routine checks of the rigging are.

Todays evolution was to change a length of corroded cable to get power back to the bow light. Oh what fun..... ended up taking the pulpit off onto the dock to re reeve the wire plus all the other work in wake.

Boats, eh!

 

[Spyro]

Another cause of a stiff furler is too much halyard tension.

 

[johnalison]

Another cause of a stiff furler is too much halyard tension.

I will support this because I meet numbers of people who don't seem to know this. My routine is not to tighten the halyard until the sail is deployed, and to slacken it before furling. Another cause is to try to furl with with wind in the sail, much more easily done off the wind. Memo to have a special look when I go up the mast next.

 

[knuterikt]

Another cause for twisted wire is to much slack in halyard resulting in halyard wrap.

 

[Brent Swain]

Simplifying the basic design will eliminate the chance of this happening. They took an extremely simple idea, and made it as complex as they possibly could, to justify a grossly inflated price tag.

 

[capnsensible]

Simplifying the basic design will eliminate the chance of this happening. They took an extremely simple idea, and made it as complex as they possibly could, to justify a grossly inflated price tag.

The roller furler on my Jenneau yacht is very simple. It is not especially expensive and does tens of thousands of miles a year.

But as all things nautical, regular inspection for wear and tear is fundamental to safety.

 

[lw395]

Normally poorly working furlers are caused by 'not being Harken'.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Normally poorly working furlers are caused by 'not being Harken'.

This is funny

 

[Mandarin331]

Getting the furling line lead right is also critical. When we bought our boat it could only be furled with a winch. Adjusting the lead from the drum to the first fairlead changed this dramatically, helped by adding an oversized turning block at the cockpit, now it can easily be furled by hand. Not sure about the state of the forestay, but that's being replaced this winter.

 

[SailSouth]

Normally poorly working furlers are caused by 'not being Harken'.

I have two boats, one with Harken Mk IV one with Furlex 300s.

I agree with your suggestion.

 

[pagoda]

I have two boats, one with Harken Mk IV one with Furlex 300s.

I agree with your suggestion.

Not definitive, but our last boat had it's original foil/furler from 1988 until 2017 anyway. Harken Mk1 or 2? Still working perfectly well, though I replaced most of the foil link screws. Current boat has a Facnor Furler, which works but is not as easy as the old Harken. I have rarely had any complaints to make about Harken deck gear either....

 

[Greenheart]

Doubtfully relevant, but as my genoa furler is on a dinghy, I have another wire 'headstay' a few inches forward of the rotating forestay.

I tend to drop the furling genoa each time I leave the boat, at which point the outer stay is required to support the mast...

...when the furler is in use, relative slackness in the outer stay occasionally risks it entangling in the furling genoa, so I sometimes hook it to a shroud...

...but mostly I keep it secured to the bow. As such, if my genoa halyard or any part of the furler failed, there's no risk the mast would come down.

 

[mdonnelly]

Normally poorly working furlers are caused by 'not being Harken'.

Oh! Just got a quote to have Furlex installed as I thought it was one of the better products. Now I’m confused!!

 

[Cool Guy]

But as all things nautical, regular inspection for wear and tear is fundamental to safety.

Agree. Last week's rigging inspection revealed the following, only kept in place by halyard tension:

 

[capnsensible]

Caught that one in time!

 

[xyachtdave]

Boats, eh!

That just about covers it Capnsensible!

 

[SailSouth]

Oh! Just got a quote to have Furlex installed as I thought it was one of the better products. Now I’m confused!!

It is one of the better products, just not as good as Harken in my experience.

 

[lw395]

Agree. Last week's rigging inspection revealed the following, only kept in place by halyard tension:

View attachment 69148

Is it me or is the gap between the two parts bigger on the LHS?