Selden in mast furling - sail rolled wrong way

telford_mike

telford_mike

Well-Known Member
Joined
9 Jun 2007
Messages
379
Location
Winter : Switzerland | Summer : Ionian
Visit site
Picked up our new (to us) boat a few days ago. Previous guy tore the mainsail so fitted a new one. He seems to have been in a bit of a hurry - with the mast winch on ratchet the sail will only come out of the mast, so I guess it's rolled the wrong way around the foil. It's really stiff too.

Am I right in assuming that if I just unfurl the whole thing then set the mast winch to ratchet and furl it back in the problem will be solved? What could go wrong with doing this?
 
telford_mike said:
Picked up our new (to us) boat a few days ago. Previous guy tore the mainsail so fitted a new one. He seems to have been in a bit of a hurry - with the mast winch on ratchet the sail will only come out of the mast, so I guess it's rolled the wrong way around the foil. It's really stiff too.

Am I right in assuming that if I just unfurl the whole thing then set the mast winch to ratchet and furl it back in the problem will be solved? What could go wrong with doing this?
Click to expand...

Nothing can go wrong, I made that mistake too a couple of times, simply unfurl the sail and furl it in again the right way round which is turning the drum clockwise. No need to engage the ratchet at all unless you leave the boat unattended. Just bear in mind when you operate the system to maintain the loop under tension all the time to control the unfurl/furl and avoid the loop catching on deck hardware or jumping off the drum.
 
If it's really stiff, I'd guess that the previous owner hasn't serviced it recently. It would be worth servicing the furling gear; it'll make operation much easier.
 
Might be a good idea to drop the sail and start again. at the same time you will have access to the top swivel bearing and the lower gears to grease them. The instructions are in the handbook on the Selden website if you don't have them. Have just done this on mine and it eliminates most of the potential causes of stiffness - the other main ones being sticky outhaul slide, boom at wring angle, and poor lead for continuous reefing line. As Jim says, don't sweat the halyard up too tight , watch the loop at the tack where it attaches to the fitting on the mandrel (finger nail breaking job to attach!) and stop when it tightens enough not to fall off.
 
There are some advantages to furling the in-mast sail the wrong way.
Everytime the sail is brought in/taken out the stitching on the sail rubs against the mast slot. Ultimately this stitching gets worn through.
By furling the other way the wear on the stitching gets evened out.
Some Selden in-mast reefing systems have 3 positions for the furling winch "In, Free, Out". With this set up you don't loose any functionality should you reverse the furling direction. Other Selden in-mast systems just have 2 positions. "Ratchet, Free". Reversing the direction of reefing is not so good as you loose the ability for the ratchet to hold a reefed mainsail.
 
Talulah said:
There are some advantages to furling the in-mast sail the wrong way.
Everytime the sail is brought in/taken out the stitching on the sail rubs against the mast slot. Ultimately this stitching gets worn through.
By furling the other way the wear on the stitching gets evened out.
Click to expand...

The sail slot in the mast is off-centre, to allow a fairer lead when the sail is furled the correct way. Furling it the wrong way would rub the stitching even more.
 
Talulah said:
There are some advantages to furling the in-mast sail the wrong way.
Everytime the sail is brought in/taken out the stitching on the sail rubs against the mast slot. Ultimately this stitching gets worn through.
By furling the other way the wear on the stitching gets evened out.
Some Selden in-mast reefing systems have 3 positions for the furling winch "In, Free, Out". With this set up you don't loose any functionality should you reverse the furling direction. Other Selden in-mast systems just have 2 positions. "Ratchet, Free". Reversing the direction of reefing is not so good as you loose the ability for the ratchet to hold a reefed mainsail.
Click to expand...

Really?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top