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Submitted
on December 16, 2005 by Ed Kossick
Question: I just purchased a 1987
Hunter 26.5. The headsail is a northsails aeroluff zip stop. The roller
furling system has a north Sails label on the drum housing. As I have
never owned a furling jib system, I have questions:
1. the sail is multicolor, white, yellow, green and blue. There are some stains and little mildew spots, I don’t know what material it is made from so I don’t know what to clean it with. Also, the luff has a zipper is this to be zipped over the luff foil when the sail is first hoisted?
2. the furling system has a section at the bottom where there is a gap of about 2” between the foils. I can see the connector. I also have a 2” piece that looks like it goes over the foil to allow ease of inserting the headsail into the foil grooves. Is this piece to go over that bare area, or does it go over the foil. I can’t tell and the prior owner couldn’t help. I am not sure if this is a Harken furler or not.
Thank you for any assistance,
Ed Kossick
Answer:
Hi Ed,
Given the age of the sail, you're pretty lucky to only have some minor
cosmetic issues. Even though the color might lead one to think the sail
is Nylon, I can assure you it is Dacron and can be cleaned with normal
laundry detergent and a soft brush. You might not get all the stains
out depending on what caused them, but you can try a little laundry bleach
in a diluted solution. Above all, make sure to thoroughly rinse the sail
in fresh water and dry it completely before storing it.
The zipper luff system is known as an AeroLuff. The zippered sleeve extends
over most of the luff length and is zipped around the whole foil section
of the headstay. Inside the zippered sleeve you will see a foil tape
that goes into the groove on your headstay system and connects the middle
section of the luff to the stay. As the headstay rotates, the portion
attached by the foil tape is wrapped around while the ends of the luff
lag behind. This has the effect of flattening the sail slightly to improve
it's shape when reefed. The AeroLuff works pretty well but has lost popularity
today as foam luff pads and North's RopeLuff Reefing pad work slightly
better and make it easier to change sails as well. Inspect the zipper
carefully and as long as it works and doesn't seem brittle from exposure,
I'd continue to use it. Any North Service site can fix it up if needed
or replace it with standard luff tape if it's really in bad shape. In
fact, for a sail that is 18 years old, an expert check up at a North
Service site is strongly recommended and most can help with the cleaning
as well.
We marketed the Harken RF Systems under the North logo for many years.
You probably have an original Harken System 0 and they might be able
to offer some support with parts and technical assistance. Your description
sounds like the part is the feeder needed to guide the foil tape into
the groove smoothly when hoisting. It should fit in the space you describe
with the grooves on the aft side and aligned with those on the foil section
above it. It may not be absolutely required if someone can slowly hoist
the sail while you zip the zipper sleeve around the foil and feed the
foil tape carefully into the groove. The feeder is usually much smoother
for faster hoisting, but once the sail is up, it isn't critical to the
system operation unless you need to change sails. Only try this on a
dead calm day at the dock.
Regards,
Mark Baxter
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