Difficulty changing furling headsail

[YVRguy]

Generally I am happy with my roller furling system as it makes single handing - and sailing in general - much easier. However I have noticed on boats without roller furling the headsail is much easier to raise and lower as it is connected to the forestay with rings that slide easily (is that called being "hanked on?")

My headsail has to be threaded through a groove that runs up the forestay and there is quite a bit of friction. In fact after about half way it needs to be winched. Normally I have to do it with a buddy where one of us is at the pulpit threading the sail into the groove and the other one is hauling away on the jib halyard. This is a pain and often discourages me from using the optimal sail on any given day. As a result, I cruise with a 110 which is safe but often leaves me a little underpowered.

Is this a problem with my system or are all furling headsails more difficult to change than non-furling systems? I would LOVE to be able to whip the headsail up and down the way they do on racing boats and non-furlers.

 

[kappykaplan]

Have you considered lubing the foil (or the luff tape) with a dry lubricant?

 

[dziedzicmj]

+1 on that. Use McLube'sSail Kote or Capt. Phab's dry7 Teflon lubricant and you would be amazed how big difference it makes.

 

[algee]

Make sure the luff tape is the right size for your furler, and check to see if you have any kinks or snags in the furler.

 

[Skipper]

I bring the halyard up to the bow, straight off the winch on the mast. Couple wraps on the winch, not tailed. Then I can feed and pull at the same time. Only the last bit of raising requires cranking, at which point all of the luff has been fed.

If you don't have a winch on the mast then try to set up another method to be able to do all at the bow.

Improper or no manual feeding will cause binding at the entry. I don't know if this is your issue, but I found that even the slightest and sometimes not even visible bind will stop the sail cold at the luff entry. Practice in aligning makes for good raising now, but it took a few times. My previous boats that had rollers were easier but they were also smaller.

Although, it's unlikely that you will be able to change out sails with any real speed, much less do it as fast as a hank on.

Or you could use a prefeeder. I have one but found it easier to just manually feed in the above fashion. If no mast winch a prefeeder might be the ticket.

 

[Brian S]

If you have a furler, and find yourself underpowered with a 110%, why don't you get a 135% with reinforcement in the leech and foot at about 110% and 90%, and then just furl down to 110% when you need, and when you want a scrap to try and keep balanced in a big blow, you can go down to 90%. Sure, it won't set super well rolled up, but it would make your life easier.

I do know people who swap out sails in a roller furler, though. You definitely should consider some lube, or if you can manage to examine your foil, perhaps you have a bit of mis-alignment between sections if you have an aluminum extruded foil. It would be a hassle to take down the furler to check this, but it might well be worth it.

 

[Skipper]

BTW found this on prefeeding.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc3tdAS1sqo

You have to watch close how he does it. The video picture is not detailed.

 

[weinie]

Some furling systems just weren't made to hoist and lower a sail more than about once a season. My old CDI comes to mind. Set it and forget it.

 

[Ron20324]

... Is this a problem with my system or are all furling headsails more difficult to change than non-furling systems? ....

Might someone have bought a sail with the wrong size luff tape, say #6 whereas the furler is made for a 5? You should be able to talk to a sail loft, maybe get a sample of each, and go from there.

 

[Meriachee]

Crap in the foil? The CDI guys suggested a little Sunlight dishsoap. Cleans and lubes.
Consider the sail though....

 

[Don Crowther]

Dave
I've got two tracks in my foil and two halyards. I always wondered if you could raise the second one while the first was still flying? I also have a prefeeder.
I agree you should have a close look at your track and maybe lube it. Also check the tape size.

 

[caguy]

If its an older unit check the sheeve at the top of the foils. They are constantly exposed to UV and eventually deteriorate. I replaced mine and boy what a difference.

 

[Joe]

Dave
I've got two tracks in my foil and two halyards. I always wondered if you could raise the second one while the first was still flying? I also have a prefeeder.
I agree you should have a close look at your track and maybe lube it. Also check the tape size.

That's exactly what the two tracks allow you to do.. it is a fundamental technique in the racing world to avoid losing power when changing sails. It also allows the cruiser to sail with a double headsail configuration... both headsails poled out to either side.

Most high end furling systems, such as Harken, Profurl, Shaeffer etc. have twin groove foils. Many allow the drum to be removed for racing purposes.

 

[caguy]

Mine is made so that the second channel encases the halyard. It has a short pigtail that is cored so that it is able to slide through the slot while the intact halyards stays inside the channel. When it comes out at the bottom there is about a two foot piece of halyards to cleat off at the bottom of the foil.

 

[YVRguy]

If you have a furler, and find yourself underpowered with a 110%, why don't you get a 135% with reinforcement in the leech and foot at about 110% and 90%, and then just furl down to 110% when you need, and when you want a scrap to try and keep balanced in a big blow, you can go down to 90%. Sure, it won't set super well rolled up, but it would make your life easier.

In fact I do have a 135 and a 150 genoa. However I have settled on the 110 in my early years of sailing as the H34 is a bit tender. Partially furling larger sail never seems to work as well as I'd like.

 

[YVRguy]

Thanks folks, it seems the answer is that yes, furling systems make it harder to change sails but I can probably make it easier on myself by lubricating the track. The track and the luff are an appropriate match so that's not a problem. Guess I wanted to have best of both worlds.

 

[IH82BL8]

I had an awful time hoisting mine last year. After it was up, I realized what the problem was. There's a bail that attaches the halyard to the swivel. The bail is supposed to be free to rotate up and down (fore and aft) on the swivel. The bail was stuck and was putting the swivel in a bind whenever tension was applied to the halyard.

Hope this helps.

 

[Anonymous 121765]

YVR,

I like what Brian suggested.

From reading your first post questions, I assume you have a furler & two sails. What I do not know is the size of your larger sail or what wind conditions you are talking about. Yea, sometimes you may want to go to a smaller sail & I understand that & this is what a furler is for.

When I am in lighter winds, I like my 155 for in light winds, you want to catch a bigger pocket of wind per sail area. Going down to your 110, I assume you are sailing in light winds & for this, you want bigger sail area. This is the advantage of a furler system if you need to go to a larger/smaller size sail.

Yea in reefing, the performance will drop because you have wraps around your forestay that affect wind flow but, because you're in stronger winds, this becomes less of a factor.
However, if you are a cruiser, do you really need to changes sails that often?

I have a luff reefing pad sown into my headsail to give better luff shape for adjusting to a smaller sail size that gives better luff performance.

CR

 

[Ken13559]

YVR, I remove and raise sail single handed. It goes up and down very easily. I've the Selden S100.
You probably have some problem with either the extrusion foil or the luff-tape.

 

[YVRguy]

YVR,

I like what Brian suggested.

From reading your first post questions, I assume you have a furler & two sails. What I do not know is the size of your larger sail or what wind conditions you are talking about. Yea, sometimes you may want to go to a smaller sail & I understand that & this is what a furler is for.

When I am in lighter winds, I like my 155 for in light winds, you want to catch a bigger pocket of wind per sail area. Going down to your 110, I assume you are sailing in light winds & for this, you want bigger sail area. This is the advantage of a furler system if you need to go to a larger/smaller size sail.

Yea in reefing, the performance will drop because you have wraps around your forestay that affect wind flow but, because you're in stronger winds, this becomes less of a factor.
However, if you are a cruiser, do you really need to changes sails that often?

I have a luff reefing pad sown into my headsail to give better luff shape for adjusting to a smaller sail size that gives better luff performance.

CR

Ron, the boat came with 3 sails so I make an effort to use them in an attepmpt at being a purist. I have found that if I partially furl one of my larger sails it just doesn't seem to work well (i.e: difficulty pointing)

I will lube up the track and be thankful I don't always have to douse and store my headsail.