Furler Jams...

[Warren Milberg]

I've got a fairly new Furlex 200 headsail furler (into second season with it). Every now and then, the furling line jams when I'm trying to roll up my 150 headsail. This is pretty annoying. I've ensured the fairleads are correctly oriented. I keep some light tension on the furling line when letting the sail out. I have a hexaratchet as the last block in the furling system before the cleat. Yet as careful as I am, I still get a jam now and then. Fortunately, I've been able to unjam the line and get the sail furled eventually. The problem seems to be the line wrapping around the drum somehow gets fouled. If anyone has had this problem and dealt with it successfully, please let me know.

 

[Don P]

Furlex Jam

I have the same problem on my 27 catalina also a 150 Genoa. I have seen or heard of some ways to correct it. One is a smaller line, but harder on your hands. The other is a tapered line, smaller end goes on first. I am going to try the full smaller line and see how it feels.

 

[Calif. Ted]

I core the line that goes on the drum, many

feel this helps, flat line doesn't foul as easy. Can't recall having a problem with furling due to line fouled on the drum with cored line.

 

[Ron Roman]

Jamming

I had the same problem with the line jamming, out of disperation I removed the crome housing cover, problem went away.

 

[David]

I agree about the housing

Had the same problem on my 30 foot boat. The housing blocks easy access to the drum, so that if you do have a wrap, it can be impossible to fix without taking the cover off - requires hex wrench and patience. The last time I had a jam it was blowing 25 to 30 with 3 foot chop and the furler jammed with about 8 feet of genoa still out. I ended up having to drop the sail with the halyard, which is pretty messy with half the sail on the forestay. When I got back to the dock I unscrewed the housing and chucked it. I also installed (later) a block through a hole in the toerail about 18 inches from the furler and installed it so that the line feeds just below the middle of the drum. No problems since.

 

[jaysweet]

too much line

Make sure that when the sail is fully furled, you have only 1 or 2 wraps of line on the drum. If you have more than that, when the sail is unrolled, you can get too much line inside the spool, and it hangs up on a protruding bolt inside. Ours worked fine after I set this up properly. I suppose you could get the same problem from having larger-than-needed line diameter.

 

[Bob]

flat liner

When I was in Annapolis in January, I noticed Bacon's stocked a flat line that seemed to be made for furlers. Seemed like a real good idea - it was about like you'd expect nylon webbing to look if it is 1/2" wide, or less. I suspect it takes up about half the normal volume on a furler and resists over-rides too.

 

[abe]

I had the same problem with H36....

play around and reposition your block before the furling system. Do not assume that the block was properly placed... tinker with it your self. That solved my problem.good luckabe