Rotostay Furler

[mikek4337]

I have a Rotostay FS6 or FS7 on my Halmatic 30 cruiser. Last winter I left the mast up and now that the boat has been relaunched I find that the rotary slider will only go about 5 feet up the forestay before jamming solid. I have inspected the foil and can see no obvious damage, the slider itself and bearings seem fine and the problem is located well away from any foil joint. My local yard thinks that the sail may have widened the groove and suggest that I buy a complete replacement unit as Rotostay are no longer in business. Lastly, the sail came down without problem at the end of last season.

My questions are:-
1) Any thoughts on what the problem might be?
2) If needed, where can I find a new lower foil?
3) How do I identify whether the unit is FS6 or 7?

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[alahol2]

You should be able to check if the slider has a problem by trying to raise it without the sail (tie a line to the bottom first). That will tell you if it is the slider/foil or sail that is having the problem.
If the foil has been opened out then you should be able to use G-cramps and blocks/lengths of wood to squeeze it back. We managed to straighten a fairly bent foil with this method. That saved a good few hundred pounds as the old foil was obsolete.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

I think that the probability of a sail causing the luff groove to open is rather remote. If your problem was noted while hoisting the sail I would suspect dirt in the luff groove of the foil. Before I run the genoa up the furler I always clean the groove by running a short length of luff tape (with a bit of towelling wrapped round it) up and down the groove using the rotating swivel to pull it up and a line attached to the bottom for hauling it down. I first use a degreaser on the towelling to do the cleaning. I then do a couple of 'dry' passes to thoroughly clean any residue and lastly I spray the towelling with a silicon lubricant to lubricate the whole length of the profile. Replace the towelling as necessary.
The silicone spray does not stain and has made raising and lowering the genoa thoroughly painless.

 

[Robin]

I have a Rotostay FS6 or FS7 on my Halmatic 30 cruiser. Last winter I left the mast up and now that the boat has been relaunched I find that the rotary slider will only go about 5 feet up the forestay before jamming solid. I have inspected the foil and can see no obvious damage, the slider itself and bearings seem fine and the problem is located well away from any foil joint. My local yard thinks that the sail may have widened the groove and suggest that I buy a complete replacement unit as Rotostay are no longer in business. Lastly, the sail came down without problem at the end of last season.

My questions are:-
1) Any thoughts on what the problem might be?
2) If needed, where can I find a new lower foil?
3) How do I identify whether the unit is FS6 or 7?

Thanks for any help in advance.

It was a long time back but we had a Rotostay on our then W33. Exactly the same thing happened and the cause was the foil had split and the crack opened enough to stop the slide going up beyond a certain point.it was a very cold winter that year and water in the foil was believed to have frozen, causing the rupture. There was a drain hole in the bottom of the foil I didn't know existed and it was blocked, That same winter anothr boat in our YC even had a mast split at it's base for the same reason and the guys who replaced our Rotostay ( Crusader in Poole) said there were others with the same problem we had. WE COULD have replaced just the foil but removing the old one from the drum was a problem as the join was completely seized up. We chose to replace with a totally new Rotostay system but the newest model.

B>O>A>T Break out another 1000:disgust:

 

[PetiteFleur]

Have you checked the pulley wheel at the mast top has not siezed? Mine was when mast was dropped to replace light and vhf wiring. Made a huge difference when sorted.

 

[Tam Lin]

In answer to your question about a slider. I needed one for an old Rotostay and found a rigger that had one. He was an individual and not part of a large company and had lots of things in his shed! Ask around, you might get lucky!

 

[sailaboutvic]

Have you checked non of the screw / rivets have came out