Rotostay E problem...

[PetiteFleur]

Well, I think it's a Rotostay E model. Dismantled over winter to fit new rigging. The foil end has a larger diameter piece screwed into the drum and with lots of penetrating oil it unscrewed, much to my amazement as I had not touched it in 13 yrs. Anyway, new rigging fitted and appeared to be ok until this morning when we tried to furl the genoa and managed to unscrew the foil... The sail has a UV strip on the port side, been like it for 3yrs and on the same side as the previous sail. So it looks like I've been furling it in the wrong direction for years but never had a problem until today. We managed to screw it back again and furled it the 'wrong way' as a temporary measure - it is obviously a Left Hand thread. No way am I going to fit a UV strip on the stbd side so am thinking of either fitting a small stainless plate with 4 screws, 2 screws into the drum and 2 screws into the bottom of the foil to prevent it unscrewing again. Not the perfect solution but should be easy to do, there is enough meat in the drum & bottom of the foil to take M5 or M6 screws, or maybe self-tappers. Any other suggestions?

 

[VicS]

Assembly and fitting instructions for Rotostay E may help

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/tonyandgi/Technical/Rotostay.pdf


The foil rotates clockwise to furl the sail and on page 4 it emphasizes that the UV strip must be on the port side of the sail, as you have it!

 

[Dipper]

Mine's a Rotostay E and the UV strip is also on the port side. The furling line enters the drum on the starboard side. When the sail is filled, the forces should try to tighten the left hand thread of the 'nut' (foil end connector).

Did you have the furling line going the correct way around the drum?