Stiff roller reefing - advice please.

[max]

Fitted Rotostay roller reefing four years ago.

Now incredibly stiff to unfurl and furl. Where should I be lubricating, with what stuff, and how often?

Sorry to sound so helpless but if I had any bumpf with the reefing unit it has got lost in a house move.

Thanks

Max

 

[billmacfarlane]

Does the Rotostay drum contain ball bearings ? If so are they all there ? I had a Rotostay and after 5 or 6 years , the ball bearings which are plastic started to disintegrate due to uv degradation. Rotostay told me the life expectancy of them is 5 years after which they must be replaced. Aternatively you can replace them with s/s ones. Rotostay who are based in Chichester can advise. Might be worth investigating.

 

[johna]

In addition to problems with the bearings at both ends we found on a friends boat that the foil was too long and the bush at the top of the foil was trying to turn on the eye of the forestay fitting thus difficulty in furling and unfurling. This occurred after some years and after in-mast reefing was fitted. We concluded that when the rigging was re set the forestay was adjusted shorter than it had previously been thus causing the problem. If you have made any adjustments to your rigging check with binos to see if the top of the foil is well below the stay fitting.

 

[dave_gibsea]

My Plastiomo system is stiff to furl/unfurl unless I take some of the tension off the haliyard, keeping the back-stay tight. Never understood why as the bearings are all fine and there's no sign of anything touching/chafing etc

 

[dickh]

Check you have not got 'Halyard Wrap' ie the halyard wrapping around the forestay - the halyard must not be parallel to the forestay but at a steeper angle. Also do not have the halyard too tight.
Otherwise as said earlier, check balls for UV degradation etc.

dickh
I'd rather be sailing...

 

[SimonD]

...and if it's that stiff, stop using it (no that's not a poor attempt at smutty humour). If it's stiff to reef, it is probably stiff to unroll. When unrolling, the jib can exert a force high enough to unwind the forestay wire (I know, it happened to me). Of course, you won't see this until it breaks!

This was discussed on the forum earlier this year - try a search.

Simon

 

[chas]

I needed some advice fitting a Rotostay and it was suggested that I contact Ian Cochrane of XW rigging (who, I understand, have bought Rotostay) on 01243 573131. I did and he was very helpful. Suggest you give him a ring

 

[Robin]

Two most likely suspects are halyard wrap (incorrect angle of halyard to top swivel) and stiff bearings in the base drum. If the sail/halyard combination worked OK before then probably the drum bearings are stiff - do not despair! The drum is supposed to be regularly washed out with fresh water to stop salt build up ( I didn't know this until it happened on ours 18 months from new, I wasn't given the maintenance instructions when the gear was installed). Wash it out well then spray some teflon lubricant (not WD40, proper teflon stuff) in and work it around a bit, then wash again with fresh water. Too much lubricant may add to salt build up and I was warned that WD40 can damage the plastic bearings. Ours recovered immediately after this and with regular hosing with fresh water it did not re-occur. Older Rotostays had sealed bearings and did not suffer from this problem. Good luck!

 

[Gunfleet]

I'm sure Dave's right. Too much tension on the forestay makes foresail reefing stiff. Dunno why.

 

[maxi]

Shouldn't need any additional lubrication. If a bearing has gone these are very cheap from an independent stockist - lots of money from Rotostay! Probable cause is the delrin ball bearings in the rotator, which peel like onion skins and jam the works - replace these or better still, replace with torlon balls - Improved load bearing & more uv resistant - available from Lewmar if not from Rotostay.

 

[roger]

Old model Rotostays have bearings top and bottom that take the whole forestay load.
Your stiffness may be either of these as well as the others already mentioned.
The two joints can be dismantled - mine have rollpins to keep them together. My lower bearing proved to be filled with something closely resembling Coppereaze - try your local car accessory shop. Strictly all this applies only to the Rotostay 2A
I think my top bearing got stiff. There was a certain amount of springiness when I furled/unfurled. It was ok without tension when I took the mast down.

 

[max]

Re: Thanks

As always thanks to everyone for the constructive replies. Various options to try out this weekend, weather permitting.