How to change sail on furling system - O'Day 322

[Dave]

O'Day 322 1989Being new to sailing I have many questions.I need to learn how to change my jib. I have a roller-furling system (I looked for the type/manufacturer but I cannot find any info, I believe it is original equipment)All advice is appreciated

 

[Debra B]

Most are easy to take down

Unroll and drop the halyard. Sail slides into a grove on the roller-furling gear. Any other sails will need to match. I haven't tried to do this on a moving boat. At the dock, it is pretty straight forward.

 

[Alan]

Sail change

Changing headsails, furling or otherwise, is done the same way. Sailing close hauled, ease the sheet slightly and dump the halyard. The sail should fall on the deck. If not simply go forward and pull it down. The problem with all furling systems is that it is necessary to drop one sail before hoisting another. With nonfurling systems, headsails can be changed on the fly, meaning that a new sail can be hoisted before the first is dropped. I strongly suggest that you learn how to do this while sailing. There may come a time when you need to shorten sail and the furling doesn't work.

 

[Bob La Salle]

Fill the drum before you raise it

And don't forget this, since you're new to sailing. No one told me this and I found out the hard way. When you install the new sail, be sure to fill the furling drum with the furling line before you begin to feed the new sail luff into the track on the headstay.

 

[Pete Loewenstein]

Isofurl by Isomat Spars

My O'Day 302 had a jib furling system made by Isomat, called an Isofurl. It uses a unique sail hoisting system, which is described in the attached web site:http://www.rigrite.com/furling/Isofurl/ISOFURL_Main.htmlWith this system, the sail has a special locking device attached to the head, and when the sail is fully hoisted it locks itself at the top of the sail foil. The halyard is not permanently attached to the hoist ... it is fastened with a hook that has a retrieval line, so you pull the halyard back down once the sail is locked in the hoisted position. Then you tighten the luff by tensioning the foot of the sail attached to the drum. The halyard is not used again until the next time you need to raise the sail. To Lower the jib, there is a wire "trip line" sewn into the luff of the sail. This trip line is attached to the release mechanism at the top of the sail (you need to be sure to attach this trip wire to the hoist before you raise the sail!). When the trip wire is pulled, it unlocks the hoist car at the top of the foil, and the sail just slides down the track. It sounds complicated, but it's really quite simple. Another feature of this system is that there is no forestay inside the sail foil ... the sail foil is the forestay! Again, read about the system at the url I provided at the beginning of this message.Good luck!

 

[Dave]

Thanks for the help - Dave

That is exactly what I have. Rig-Rite ISOFURLThanks for all the great comments!Dave