Ack....Roller Furler Problem

[Bad Obsession]

I have a Pro-furl roller furling on my Catalina 30 tall rig bow sprit. I went down to the boat today to take the jib off of the forestay. I usually pull it down for the winter.

When I released the halyard the jib dropped about 1/2 of an inch or 1 inch. After that the unit wouldn't raise or lower.

I looked aloft and saw that the part where the halyard attaches that rotates to keep the halyard straight was still spinning but it was not staying directly lined up with the mast. There is a piece at the top of the foil that is shaped like a half circle. That piece seems to have turned 180 degrees and I am thinking that the piece is keeping the halyard from coming down.

I don't have a bosun's chair and there was no one down at the dock to help me. My jib is now furled around the forestay until I get my Uncle down here to send him aloft to try to free the jam.

This is fustrating. Anyone have any ideas on ways to fix this?

 

[Moody Buccaneer]

I have a Pro-furl roller furling on my Catalina 30 tall rig bow sprit. I went down to the boat today to take the jib off of the forestay. I usually pull it down for the winter.

When I released the halyard the jib dropped about 1/2 of an inch or 1 inch. After that the unit wouldn't raise or lower.

I looked aloft and saw that the part where the halyard attaches that rotates to keep the halyard straight was still spinning but it was not staying directly lined up with the mast. There is a piece at the top of the foil that is shaped like a half circle. That piece seems to have turned 180 degrees and I am thinking that the piece is keeping the halyard from coming down.

I'm having a hard time seeing how a ProFurl wrapstop could keep the halyard from running. A partially frozen top swivel could have allowed the halyard to rotate the wrapstop and the haylard might have a wrap.

Does the furler still work? could you use it to refurl the sail or did you have to wrap the sail around the furler manually?

If the top swivel still turns, you might be able to turn the furler one or two turns to unwrap the haylard. Then unwrap the sail manually and it should be possible to lower it.

You still need to make a trip up the mast to sort things out. The key to reliable operation on a ProFurl is getting the length of the furler right, the wrap stop tight on the stay, and making sure the top swivel is within a few inches of the Wrapstop when the sail is at full hoist. (ProFurl says 5-10cm or 2-4 inches). The most common problem is a sail with too short a luff that keeps the top swivel from being close enough to the Wrapstop. ProFurl swivels are not as friction free as Harken's are and the normal friction can lead to wrap problems if the swivel is 6 - 12 inches below the Wrapstop.

If the Wrapstop has turned on the stay and the stay is not damaged, you should probably think about replacing the Wrapstop. They are soft plastic and they form to the wire in the stay. Once they have turned it is seldom possible to get them to clamp on the stay properly again.

The other issue I've seen with ProFurls is that the luff groves are tight compared to some other furlers. The tend to have more friction when raising and lowering sails than other furlers. Some #6 luff tape is a pretty tight fit and the luff tape can jam in the furler giving most of the symptoms of a fouled halyard.

Sounds like it is time for a good close look at the system. If you can take some pictures, it should be easy to help identify the problem.

 

[Stu Jackson]

We call the wrap stop the "Darth Vader." You may simply be having a problem getting the halyard down past the lip of the Darth. There's the tang that's connected with the ring for the halyard connection. If that's been below the Darth Vader for some time, it may have allowed the DV to twist. Or, you may just be hung up either on the luff tape as suggested by Moody Buccaneer or at the top on the lip of DV.

I agree a trip up is necessary if you can't pull the jib down by hand.

I also had a condition where a few of the extrusion screws backed out because the installer forgot the Lock Tite!!! Luckily the screws were low enough to get to by standing on the pulpit.

Good luck.

BTW, the ProFurl instruction manual has some good pictures of how it SHOULD be.

Also, the ProFurl is a different unit than most, it doesn't require a halyard restrainer because of the top swivel and Darth Vader mechanism, which is different than all the rest of the furlers on the market.

 

[Capt. Ed]

I would agree that the installer did not put loctite on the screws. Had this happen to me this year preping for a storm . Called the installer ,explained to him that it was in his best interest to come and fix it NOW . He did , I should have known they were not loctited when I saw the unused tube after the install .