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Submitted on July 29, 2005 by Norris Glass
Question: I
ran into a problem with the roller furler last week. I have a 1974 tartan
41 with a 130% on a harken III roller furler . I bought the boat this
spring and as this is the first roller furler I have had, I want to make
sure all is working properly and I am following the correct procedures.
I was in a single handed race when a thunder squall came through. Winds went from 15 to much higher, around 40 kts. I tried to roll up the genoa by hand, that didn't work so I put the reefing line on a two speed winch. It was very difficult. I couldn't winch it in with the locked, 1:1, speed of the winch, so I used the geared down speed. By this time, I had released the sheets and the sail was beating itself up. I cranked as fast as I could but it still took about ten minutes to get it in so most was furled. The UV cover was shredded during this time. Minor dammage to the sail. My question - What is proper procedure for these conditions? Can I expect a roller furler to work in this wind speed if all is in good working condition?
To investigate for unseen damage to the furler, I have taken the sail off and checked the unit. I find when rotating the assembly (drum, luff groove and all) that there is one point it drags. I can turn it by hand, grasping the headfoil, but it is unwanted friction. Something may be bent or dammaged. I plan to flush inside the luff groove extrusion to clean any dirt out. Can this be done on the boat with unit mounted. I would get city water supply hose to top of mast and direct water in at top of extrusion.
I have not seen any indication of halyard wrap.
The drum and swivel that halyard attaches to seem to turn freely and
had mclube sprayed in them before incident.
The genoa halyard was hoisted with some stretch in the dacron headsail,
but not excessive. I measure the stretch with a "ruler" taped
to the mast. Normal settiing is 3 to 4" of stretch, 0" being
sail at full hoist but no stretch, just loose at bottom. I would desire
more stretch, but, the sail is too long. I two-block the halyard at the
masthead shiv.
I have looked with binoculars for problems at mast head. I plan to go
up to look up close with sail hoisted and furled.
I await your recomendations.
Norris Glass
Answer: Hi Norris,
I don't think you have any issue with the halyard wrapping. When the halyard wraps the furler will not turn no matter how big of a winch you use. There will not be any furling benefit to flushing the foil with fresh water. The foil is separate from the furling drum and head swivel. The foil fits into the torque tube and is clamped in place. It is possible for the foil to drop through the clamp and rub on the fixed race of the furling drum, greatly increasing the friction. That is easy to fix by loosening the clamping bolts, repositioning the foil and reclamping.
You do need to regularly flush the bearing in the drum in particular and the head swivel. That will make a difference.
You will not be able to pull the furling line by hand in that much breeze with a genoa on a 40' boat. Personally, I would have a hard time in 15 knots- never mind 40! You made the right move going to a winch. However, completely releasing the sheets was a mistake. If you could do it all over again, your best tactic would be to turn onto a very broad reach and then ease the sheet until 1/3 of the sail is bubbled at the luff, but the leech is not yet flogging. Then use the winch to roll up the bubble, ease more sheet, roll more bubble, etc. That is an easy statement to make from an office, but not as easy as it sounds when you are caught in a sudden squall. As you learned, flogging is the worst action for sail fatigue.
If you have a second person on your boat, it is easier to turn the furler quickly by grabbing the furling line on the deck just aft of the shrouds and pulling straight up, while the person in the cockpit takes up the slack. This is similar to the way a race crew pulls up a headsail or spinnaker halyard.
Regards,
Dan Neri
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