why facnor furler is hard going when closing the jib?

[eranb2]

Hi
well, its my friend's boat not mine.
when we close the jib sail the roller is like stuck, very hard to pull the rope even when almost no sail out.

why is that?

could ths be because of the drum taking or chafing the inner stay?

can it be a sign of the destruction of the stay ?

Thanks.

 

[lydiamight]

Best to check a number of simple things first--before you go replacing drums and bearings.
First off, if you have an adjustable backstay make sure that you have taken the tension out of it when furling.
Also, try slackening off the headsail halyard before furlng. Too much tension on either of these can put so much pressure on the bearings that it's almost impossible to furl.

 

[Rivers & creeks]

Check there's no 'halyard wrap'. It's when the halyard isn't diverted away from the top of the mast and sits against the top of the furling foil. When you wind the foil you wind the halyard round with it. It knackers the stay fittings so needs fixing ASAP if that's the problem.

 

[Kurrawong_Kid]

Just had a similar problem with my Hood LD 810. Amazingly it turned out to be that the gear had somehow "picked up" one of the split pins from the bottlescrew so that it was sticking out "Y" shaped and was acting as a cam preventing the roller tube from rolling unless the roller was held in a central position. Very relieved as I thought I might have to replace the whole gear at vast expense. Worth checking this is not your problem too.

 

[Pye_End]

Check the set-up - ie the space between top of furler and top of forestay. If this distance is wrong it can make it hard to furl.

When the sail is furled, slacken off the sheet and furling line and twist the drum - you should be able to feel any grating of anything untoward in the drum.

 

[Richard10002]

Teflon grease sorted ours out. Have you checked that the lead from the winch to the roller is fair, and that the furling line is not building up and jamming the roller.

 

[jonjo]

In my case it was a combination of too much halyard tension together with stiff new sail cloth.

 

[Norman_E]

When the sail is out the rope has to work on the empty drum, therefore on the smallest diameter, which gives it little turning moment. In my case it could be hard work getting the sail in, and part of the trouble was a stiff top bearing. With the sail off I investigated it and removed the grease seals and re-greased it with spray grease. It is not perfectly free but much better than it was.
Halyard tension can make a difference, too tight will make it harder work.

 

[davehu]

Hi,
not sure |I agree with you about the backstay tension, the tension should not be be taken by the bearings. I have always been told by the manufactuerers that if the forestay tension is too slack, the stay will bow and be harder to turn. Agree with you about the Headsail halyard though.

 

[bluedragon]

I'm really wondering if halyard tension on my boat is too high. In racing dinghy days I got used to "tighter is better" but cruising with a furler may be a different story! Will be slackening mine off a bit and see what happens. It's logical that high halyard tension will create more friction in the bearings and perhaps unnecessarily stretch the luff of the sail.

 

[Bejasus]

just a thought, but has the furling sheet been changed or shortened recently?
I shortened mine to get rid of some chafe and suddenly found it very tight to move the drum, then I remembered a post on here about a year ago, which mentioned removing the core fron the line for about the first 6 feet or so from the drum end. I tried this and hey presto everything works fine again. Probably the furling line had been changed at some point and a slightly thicker line used. I just hadn't noticed that the core had already been removed when I cut off a chunk. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif