just this week I purchased a Hunter 27 with a furling mainsail. It looks to good to be true! Any advice on how to keep it working smoothly?
furling mainsail
- Thread starter ladyskipper
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Harken low maintenance
The Harken furler on our forestay was installed long before we bought Lady Lillie ('77 h27) in 2000. In the past 14 summers, we have done nothing other than inspect it and take the furling line off every fall when we take her out of the lake. It has worked faultlessly with our 130 and 110 genies in all kinds of weather.
Let us know the make, and you may get more feedback.
The Harken furler on our forestay was installed long before we bought Lady Lillie ('77 h27) in 2000. In the past 14 summers, we have done nothing other than inspect it and take the furling line off every fall when we take her out of the lake. It has worked faultlessly with our 130 and 110 genies in all kinds of weather.
Let us know the make, and you may get more feedback.
Congratulations Ladyskipper! The two big manufacturers of mast furlers are Sheldon and Charleston - or is yours an in-boom system? I love my mast furler. Hope you do too. There are lots of ins and outs of how to use them and care for them. Rather than go in to them in detail now, I might suggest looking up those topics on the forum. There has been a LOT written about them. If you can't find them, let me know and I'll help. 
Scotty, isn't it Selden? Just for when she's looking...darn, my mom used to say spelling counts, but no longer..UNLESS you're trying to SEARCH for something!!!:naughty::dance:
:naughty::dance:Thanks for the offer to help me find info on the "in-mast roller furling" system. I'm not having alot of luck.Congratulations Ladyskipper! The two big manufacturers of mast furlers are Sheldon and Charleston - or is yours an in-boom system? I love my mast furler. Hope you do too. There are lots of ins and outs of how to use them and care for them. Rather than go in to them in detail now, I might suggest looking up those topics on the forum. There has been a LOT written about them. If you can't find them, let me know and I'll help.
Do you have one yourself? The possibility for failure seems high. Do you have any troubles?
Thanks Scotty
In order to provide you with any information on your furling system the manufacture has to be known. Selden is the OEM from which Hunter sources the furlers they use on their new boats. Not knowing the age of your 27 I was providing you a direct link to the operation manual for the Selden system might save you some time.
Below is the link to the U S Spars Z spar manual.
http://www.usspars.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/FurlingManual.pdf
Yet another Manual:
http://www.neilprydesails.com/pdfs/FurlingSystem%20Maintenance.pdf
Click on this link it may help.
https://www.google.com/#q=us+spars+in+mast+furling
Hope this Helps
Jim
Ladyskip,
Congrats on the purchase. We just bought a 2002 Hunter 306 with in-mast furling. Absolutely love it. The previous owner, who had it for over a decade also did. So far no issues, although you'd want to make sure that when you furl it back in you are slightly off the wind to put a teeny bit of load on the sail. It just helps it furl up more smoothly and without wrinkles, IMHO.
Good luck!
Nico
Congrats on the purchase. We just bought a 2002 Hunter 306 with in-mast furling. Absolutely love it. The previous owner, who had it for over a decade also did. So far no issues, although you'd want to make sure that when you furl it back in you are slightly off the wind to put a teeny bit of load on the sail. It just helps it furl up more smoothly and without wrinkles, IMHO.
Good luck!
Nico
in-mast furling
I've had in-mast furling for the past 10 years. First on a Beneteau 281 and currently on my Catalina 320. I would not get another boat that wasn't equipped with it. The Beneteau had Z spar (now US Spars) and my Catalina has the Seldon system. Information on both is available on line at their respective websites. There is not much in the way of maintenance but halyard tension and tension on the outhaul when furling are important. With improper tension, the sail will get wrinkles as it furls and these wrinkles can jam inside the mast. This makes deploying the sail a problem that generally can be solved by deploying as much sail as possible, then furl it back into the mast (keeping it tight) and rapidly pulling the sail back out. Several, sometimes many, repetitions will most likely get the sail fully out. The best way to get the tension right is with practice so go sailing and use the system.
Bill
I've had in-mast furling for the past 10 years. First on a Beneteau 281 and currently on my Catalina 320. I would not get another boat that wasn't equipped with it. The Beneteau had Z spar (now US Spars) and my Catalina has the Seldon system. Information on both is available on line at their respective websites. There is not much in the way of maintenance but halyard tension and tension on the outhaul when furling are important. With improper tension, the sail will get wrinkles as it furls and these wrinkles can jam inside the mast. This makes deploying the sail a problem that generally can be solved by deploying as much sail as possible, then furl it back into the mast (keeping it tight) and rapidly pulling the sail back out. Several, sometimes many, repetitions will most likely get the sail fully out. The best way to get the tension right is with practice so go sailing and use the system.
Bill
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