Rotostay II Problems

MichaelGarratt

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I have a Westerly Pentland with a Rotostay II system. Periodically the system jams part way rolling the sail out (maybe 2 metres of sail rolled out) , and if the jib sheet is released, the sail rolls away on its own. This involves several rotations of the drum. At first we thought that it was the halyard being twisted at the top of the mast, but the problem occurs even when the halyard is very slack. Another thought was that the foil was unwrapping the strands of the forestay. However, it is possible to roll the drum by hand up to the point that it sticks, and it seems unlikely that I have the strength to unwrap 6mm rigging. Nevertheless it is worrying. Sometimes the problem goes away simply by rolling and unfurling the sail a few times although over the weekend its ‘unsticking’ was accompanied by a loud ‘crack’. Help!
 

savageseadog

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Got one of these. There are bearings top and bottom plus the thing that attaches to the head of the sail and rides on the foil. It a stripdown you need. If you do a search on the forum a link for the instructions can be found. If you need a foil or 2 I have some.

PS don't think you should even consider not dealing with this straight away. At best you could find yourself unable to furl your sail. At worst, catastrophe.
 

NigelBirch

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don't think it can be the halyard because that should be attached to the nylon thing that the foresail attaches to, the bottom half of this should rotate (with the sail) while top half doesn't.......
 

MichaelGarratt

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Thanks for the replies. I can understand that if the bearings need attention then rolling the sail will be hard work, but why does the sail roll away? The halyard is not twisting around the foil.
 

savageseadog

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Didn't look carefully enough. If it rolls away on its own, I guess it must be the forestay unlaying then springing back. Normally the genoa would unfurl if you let everything go. Other than that there is a little goblin hiding under your drum.

If you decide to get rid let me know please.
 

Talulah

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Has your Rotostay dropped down or been lowered? If so it could be sitting on the forestay bottle screw or other forestay fitting and hence when you pull the sail out it is turning the forestay. When you let go the forestay is then reverting back to normal.
 

MichaelGarratt

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The boat was new to me last year. Early on the halyard broke once after a jam but that may have been due to wrapping around the foil. The halyard was repaired and the whole system inspected. The drum and foil seemed to rotate easily and the sail put back on. After that all seemed well until last weekend. Nevertheless, having rolled the sail out once it worked well again. The cracking noise might indicate damaged bearings which could easily cause a jam. My main concern however is the possibility of the forestay being unwound. This could explain the sail rolling away. What else could cause that? If the forestay unwound it would expand in the foil and cause a jam. If the jam was suddenly freed the forestay could rewind and make the cracking noise. The only argument against this theory is that the foil rotated a number of times before jamming to allow about 2 metres of sail to unfurl.
 

MichaelGarratt

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I don't think that the Rotostay has dropped down but I'll check from photographs later today. The foil must rotate many times in order to roll the whole sail out and if this was turning the forestay surely it would be too hard to do by rotating the drum by hand.
 

Talulah

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I would pretty much bet that the cause of the sail furling itself back in is because the forestay is getting unwound as you pull the sail out. For this to happen some part of the foil is jamming onto the forestay. It could be that the whole unit has dropped down. i.e. the pin holding the upstand plates has come out or it could be that the grub screws holding the foil to the bottom furler have come out and your foil has dropped down inside the unit. Another possibility is that your forestay has been overtightened and the length of foil is now too long. i.e. The forestay length is shortened as the bottle screw is done up (if you have one) and the top of the foil is now jamming at the top of the forestay.
 

Poignard

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Suppose one strand of your forestay was broken inside the foil and, as you unfurl, it bears on the inside of the foil like a spring and resists you turning the foil until you apply enough force to overcome it and it twangs free.

Well it's no dafter than some of the other ideas!

Anyway, you need to get the thing fixed before it fails completely. Furling the foresail by sailing round in circles takes a long time!
 

chasroberts

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Just a thought that may or may not be relevant... When you furl your sail away do you keep a little tension on the furling line so that it all wraps nice and tight on the drum? On our Rotostay, if we forget to do this we quite often get a rope jam inside which can normally be freed with some brute force but can still be quite alarming nevertheless....

Good luck with your problem.
 

pappaecho

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Are you absolutely sure that the halyard at the top of the mast is not snagging the foil at the top and causing the jam?
If my spinacre halyard is not very tight this happens on my Rotostay
 

MichaelGarratt

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I'm quite sure that the halyard is not wrapping at the top of the mast. We checked carefully with binoculars.

The sail is tightly wrapped on the foil when put away.
 

Kurrawong_Kid

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I had a jamup on Hood system which turned out to be the split pins in the forestay bottlescrew had spread out and were fouling the furling drum. Absolutely amazed that a simple thing such as that could cause the gear not to operate. Has one of yours done the same?
 

pampas

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Bush inside foil at top probably has worn oval where the foil sits in the normal sailing position. mine has and is a pig to start furling. next time the mast is down have a look. To renew mine I am going to make a split bush slightly longer than the original,saw off the old one and let gravity hold in place,the alternative would mean a new for stay .
 

MichaelGarratt

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Fixed! There was a number etched into the under side of the drum. Using this, Rotostay told me that the system was sold in 1988. The chances of being able to dismantle it after all that time were slight and so they supplied a Rotostay IV system complete with new forestay, furling line and stanchion lead blocks. The old forestay had been unwrapping. Sail now rolls in and out a treat!
 
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