Roller furling line size?

[azambella]

I realize this is rather vague but...

Our Hunter 33 Has 150 roller furling genoa and the spool fills up before the sail is all the way out.
I have tried adjusting the turns but never get to the point where the sail is fully furled or all the way out.
So I figure its either line size or sail too big.

Line size is the easy one, what size retrieval line is one most roller furling ?

Thanks for any help you can offer

 

[kappykaplan]

You can remove some of the core (near the drum) from the furling line to help resolve the issue of a full drum.

 

[AaronD]

You can remove some of the core (near the drum) from the furling line to help resolve the issue of a full drum.

A related option: Dyneema (Endura 12 / Amsteel / etc.) core, partially covered with the cover of standard dacron double-braid (e.g. Sta-Set). You can put plenty of the skinny dyneema on the drum, and you just need enough cover to route back to your cleat or clutch and hold there when the sail is furled. This arrangement has the added advantage of incredibly low stretch, so if your headsail is partially reefed in a breeze, it doesn't expand in a gust, just when you don't want that extra power.

For my little boat, I use 5/32" E-12, covered with the cover of 1/4" Sta-Set (the Sta-Set core became a cat toy ). For your boat, you'd presumably need proportionally larger line. You can often get good deals on off-cuts / hanks of dyneema and dacron double-braid. The splice is really easy - it's the same as stripping a halyard, and there are lots of instructions available for that process

 

[tfox2069]

Here's Practical Sailor to the rescue. If you don't subscribe...you should!

Fitting a Roller Furling Line - Practical Sailor

Since 1974, Practical Sailor’s independent testing has taken the guesswork out of boat and gear buying.

www.practical-sailor.com

 

[BigEasy]

Line size is the easy one, what size retrieval line is one most roller furling?

Recently replaced mine with 5/16" sta- set dacron/poly. I ordered 70' for comparable size boat and a 140 jenny. Not too bad on the hands, but most times I use gloves when furling the jib. If you aren't comfortable with the small diameter stuff, do as others have mentioned and remove the core or splice to get the comfort from a larger diameter line. With a tightly wrapped sail, I can get 4 wraps of sheets around the jib; not comfortable at all with only 2 wraps.