Hood furler foulup

[ROB SCHMEHL]

Last weekend on TampaBay we let the headsail out and forgot to keep tention on the Hood furler. About an hour into our peaceful sail I noticed the furling lines about half way up the deck. Now, I have had a hard time with this furler form day one. I opened the anchor locker where I found a big mess with the line tangled so bad it took an hour and a half to untangle the mess. I managed to furl the headsail(150) by hand. I guess the barrings are ok. But there is a medal rod with a hook at the end protruding from the drum which is where the line was wrapped around. To the point..should this rod travel free or should it be connected to something OR be a guide for the line. I should note this furler is a two line furler but I don't think it a continueous line, since there is a figure eight in the drum housing. I had the headsail UV relaid the day before this happened so I'm not sure if It could be the sail was not tight enough or if the furler is going bad.I dont have the manual and the hood website was not much help. Any comments would be helpful.

 

[Bryan]

Furler install

If you have two lines coming out of the drum, you have the continuous line system, even tho it sounds like your continuous line got uncontinuous at some point. I recently replaced the continuous line drum with a single line drum on my 35. Both systems install basically the same. Under the drum where the line wraps around is a small length of tube, about 2.5" in diameter which is the same diameter of the tube extending up from the drum which connects to the extrusion tube (the tube that encases the forestay). The under the drum tube is, I'd guess, about 3-4" long, and has a hole or two in it near the base. On my boat, a shackle is used thru that hole and on a piece of metal under the forestay; it is used to keep the drum from turning. I'm not sure if this is the "rod" you were talking about, it sounds like something different. If you had your headsail all the way out, I'm not sure how your line could get jammed since nothing should be moving if the sail isn't spinning in or out. If you call Hood/Bomar/Pompanette, (their number is on their website at Pompanette.com I'd guess they would send you an instruction manual showing how their furlers are supposed to be installed and work. Good luck.

 

[Bill Howitt]

Change it out

I changed my setup to a Furlex in '93. No problems at all. It's a very good unit.