CDI Flexible Furler jammed

[PotomacDaysailer]

I got the genoa twisted somehow on the flex furler , such that the halyard is looped over the top of the luff piece at the masthead, I think. Consequently the furling drum assembly is lifted several inches out of the cup. The furling line got snagged around the turnbuckle and I thought I had to cut it away (which may have been a mistake). Anyway now there are a couple of pieces of 1/4" double braid furling line wrapped on the turnbuckle under the drum.
I was thinking I would try to see if I could untwist and lower the genoa, then maybe I could slide the furling drum up and get those pieces of line out, then re-seat it in the cup and raise the genoa again - does that sound practical? Anyone been there and done that?

 

[jssailem]

the halyard is looped over the top of the luff piece at the masthead, I think.

The CDI flex furler is a different system then typical furlers that have the halyard run to the mast.

From the SailCDI website: A built-in halyard maximizes reliability and will eliminate halyard wrap as seen on external halyard systems.​

So I do not think you have "wrapped"" the halyard.
I would start by freeing the furling drum. You my need to work the drum manually to unwrap the line. Worse case you cut the furling line "NOT THE HALYARD".
I would work the furler by hand till I was able to free the wraps that found their way beneath the drum.
I would look to see if anything has broken that let the drum slip up and allow the line to wrap beneath it.
This is a manual take your time puzzle.

 

[SG]

IF there isn't wind, have you considered just manually unwrapping the sail FROM the furler until you can drop it down on the deck? (e.g., don't rotate the furler itself.)

 

[Jackdaw]

The angle of the furling line is too high. Hard pulling on the line at that angle will lift the drum on a CDI fuller. Lower the last fairlead to be closer to the deck.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Not sure which CDI curler but if it is the FF 2 system or computable, you will find the manual under the Hunter 260 boat information under downloads and then we need to talk. Send a private message and maybe I can help

 

[Roadking Larry]

I got the genoa twisted somehow on the flex furler , such that the halyard is looped over the top of the luff piece at the masthead, I think. Consequently the furling drum assembly is lifted several inches out of the cup. The furling line got snagged around the turnbuckle and I thought I had to cut it away (which may have been a mistake). Anyway now there are a couple of pieces of 1/4" double braid furling line wrapped on the turnbuckle under the drum.
I was thinking I would try to see if I could untwist and lower the genoa, then maybe I could slide the furling drum up and get those pieces of line out, then re-seat it in the cup and raise the genoa again - does that sound practical? Anyone been there and done that?
View attachment 156050View attachment 156049

I know you posted this 2 hours ago but are still at the lake?
I'm 20 minutes away if you need any help

 

[DrJudyB]

I'm an authorized CDI distributor and know a lot about installing them.

Don't cut anything yet! Manually unwrap the genoa from the foil and lower the sail. You should have little difficulty doing that.

Download and read the manual here http://www.sailcdi.com/manuals/

Then you need to fix (at least) two things that I can see from the pictures:

1. Untie the integral halard. When you hoisted the sail last time, you wrapped it around the plastic extrusion. Make sure it's not wrapped around the extrusion and re-tie it. Then re hoist the sail, taking care to feed the sail into the feeder carefully so you don't damage the sail or the feeder.

2. As Jackdaw pointed out, you need to fix the way the furling line goes into the drum. It is hitting the drum too high up, and that's why the drum is lifting up. The line should enter the drum half way up the window when the drum is down, and be 90 degrees to the forestay.

Hope this helps,
Judy

 

[PotomacDaysailer]

I believe it is the FF6 model. I found a manual for it online.

What happened was I was wing and wing with the genoa out to port. A hard gust from more on the port quarter than dead astern combined with yawing to port took the sail around the headstay clockwise. After a while I jibed over on a starboard tack and got the sail back right but was unable to roll it up because, apparently, the furling drum had ridden up and the line had got looped/jammed on the turnbackle under the drum. I furled it manually by going up on the foredeck and turning it by hand. Later I tried to sort it out at the dock but couldn't get the furling drum further up to expose the turnbuckle and clear the furling line or back down into the cup assembly where it should ride. I cut the line away from the tangle and re- wrapped it on the drum so that it is operable again but with the drum not seated down in the cup, the line chafes against the sharp bottom edge of the top of the window in the cup, which will chew through the line quickly.

I posted another picture of the bottom assembly from a different angle. In the pictures you can see the cut piece of line poking out below the drum.

Jackdaw, the angle you see in the picture is because the drum is lifted up out of the cup - if it was properly seated in there then the line wouldn't be up against the top of the window in the cup assembly.

Something is applying upwards tension on the furling drum assembly. From the picture I shot of the masthead it appears to me that the furler's internal halyard top sheave assembly is messed up somehow. I've posted another shot of the masthead from the starboard bow, looks like the sheave is partly exposed.

I'm thinking about using the spin halyard as a temporary forestay, getting the sail down on deck as per SG's suggestion, and seeing if I can then slide the drum up enough to expose the turnbuckle, undo the forestay and get the furler off to inspect the top and repair/reassemble the whole shooting match.

RKL if you happen to be around the docks tomorrow (Monday) I could sure use a hand!

 

[PotomacDaysailer]

I'm an authorized CDI distributor and know a lot about installing them.

Don't cut anything yet! Manually unwrap the genoa from the foil and lower the sail. You should have little difficulty doing that.

Download and read the manual here http://www.sailcdi.com/manuals/

Then you need to fix (at least) two things that I can see from the pictures:

1. Untie the integral halard. When you hoisted the sail last time, you wrapped it around the plastic extrusion. Make sure it's not wrapped around the extrusion and re-tie it. Then re hoist the sail, taking care to feed the sail into the feeder carefully so you don't damage the sail or the feeder.

2. As Jackdaw pointed out, you need to fix the way the furling line goes into the drum. It is hitting the drum too high up, and that's why the drum is lifting up. The line should enter the drum half way up the window when the drum is down, and be 90 degrees to the forestay.

Hope this helps,
Judy

Thank you, good info!

The angle on the furling line was good prior to this incident so I don't think that's the problem - in other words I think the drum riding up was from my mishap and not ordinary furling. The angle you see in my picture is post-jury-rigging and not representative of how it was before.

Thanks for the advice and I believe that's what I'm going to try to do.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Thank you @Roadking Larry and @DrJudyB for your help going the extra mile
Crazy Dave

 

[twalker H260]

If yours is similar to mine. The only way the lower portion of the furler rides up is if the chrome pin (luff support pin in manual) has been removed from the black plastic portion of the base(furler drum assembly). If you loosen the tack of the sail you can likely lift it high enough to check for the presence of the pin. (Its held in place with a circlip). If it’s missing this could be a major part of the problem. If present you can remove it and slide the drum higher up the extrusion to facilitate removal of the furling line from the turnbuckle area.

 

[PotomacDaysailer]

I believe I have it about figured out.

The upward force on the furling drum was due to it being held tight against the luff piece (a.k.a. the plastic extrusion) by the internal halyard. In other words the furling drum, luff piece, and top fitting were jammed tight together and snagged up near the masthead. I pulled out the luff support pin (hat tip to twalker #11) and immediately the luff piece dropped into the furling drum, releasing the tension, and the furling drum dropped back down into the cup where it belongs. Must've unsnagged at the masthead too because I was now able to slide the whole assembly several inches up and down the forestay. I lifted the assembly far enough to expose the headstay turnbuckle and get the snagged piece of furling line out (it was wrapped tightly around the bottom turnbuckle bolt, the red lines on the attached diagram). So now I could release the internal halyard and undo the tack fitting and pull the luff piece out of the furling drum, rotate the drum independently to rewind the furling line onto the drum, reinsert the luff support pin and reinsert the luff piece into the drum, then pull the furling line and voila, the sail rolled up nicely. Rolled it in and out several times and all seems to be working as it should.

Only problem is the internal halyard is still jammed. I took some more pictures and it appears to me that the halyard is off the sheave, and the sheave pin is possibly broken. I don't actually need to lower the sail and don't see why I can't sail it this way, but, I will have my son out Wednesday and hopefully we can undo the headstay and slide the furler off to get at and fix the halyard fitting at the top of the luff piece.