How to Furl Your Mainsail

[bob_pattison]

As an offshoot of the presentations and lessons I have been doing at various Beneteau Rendezvous for many years, I decided to create a series of short, informative videos that aim to cover trim, set up, furling of the sails. They are simple but I hope to the point.
The first group of these can be found on our Beneteau page on our website.
https://www.neilprydesails.com/beneteau-videos

There are four short ones that cover furling your main:
Overview:

Friction:

Furling:

OnTheWater:

Bob Pattison

 

[helmfam]

Thanks Bob, you rock! Guess I will be looking at my mast pre bend and all my friction points next week when I am back on my 373!

 

[bob_pattison]

Helmfam: It takes so little in the way of friction in furling...for both the main and the jibs...it's remarkable really to me.
One question some bigger (48) sailors had was about controlling the clew when furling in...maybe in some breeze...I think this o.k. BUT you have to work in tandem...the person pulling or winching in and the person holding the outhaul line...
So: when the inhauler calls for line, the outhaul needs to let it run...freely..so in and out at the same time..and the spaces between furling in, the outhauler has their hand on the line so the clew of the main isn't flying around like crazy...
Have said this, though I've done this method on boats up the 45 in breeze and by hand.
Let me know how you make out.
bob

 

[NYSail]

Excellent! Getting use to the system and learning how to trim sail. When we are sailing, the main has a slight wrinkle in it that we have not been able to get out. Almost looks like the boom is too high, but lowering didn't help and just tightens the leach. Sail does go in and out, however I do see a slight wrinkle as it is being furled. My mast is in need of tuning and will check the pre-bend when back on boat tonight. What about halyard tension??

 

[bob_pattison]

NYSail: Halyard Tension is a Good question. Goldylocks...not too much, not too little...
If you over tighten and really load up the luff you will start to bind the furling drum itself.
If you have too little the sail will drop down out of the extrusion...you'll see a wrinkle or bubble forming about a foot or so up from the tack. This too can cause problems.
I'll do a video on it, thanks!
If you have a new boat, both the standing and running rigging will have some initial stretch. This 38 we used when sailing,the main halyard kept growing...so everytime we went to shoot the video, we had that 'wrinkle'...just takes a bit for them to settle down.
Pull the main up until the luff is smooth, but not so much as to create a vertical wrinkle parallel to the luff...just smooth and then take another half turn on the winch. This will help to account for rope clutch slippage or stretch.
Should look good after you release...until it stretches a bit!

 

[NYSail]

Bob, so I just bought my boat.... a 2005 423. I had a rigger come down at the beginning of the season to check and tune rig. Always Have a wrinkle in the lower part of the Sail that we have not been able to get out. After watching your video I looked at my mast and he apparently put a bend into it.... which explains the Sail problems. Anyway, I always use to tune my mast on my P36-2 and so why not on this boat. Are there specs one can get for the rigging tension?
Thanks again!
Greg

 

[JamesG161]

A few things of note...
1) The main sail luff to foot angle ≈90° and his boom angle matched. My main sail is ≈80°
2) Not stressed, but KEY KEY KEY... Pointing the boat into wind and no wind in sail. Talk about Friction, if not.
3) Pre-Bend is not a "Furling Thing". Careful!. Mine is per OEM. Consider it for YOUR boat's performance.
4) Stiffness of That Sail. That was a new one!
5) He also released the Main Sheet. Not mentioned, But KEY.
6) Size of your Main sail FOOT determines how many "winch turns" to furl/unfurl.

You Must let your Boom kinda "float" or it will force a sail jam.
________
My mast is by Z-Spars = US Spars. I called US-Spars and talked for 30 minutes about the "mechanism' with their guru. I wrote Z-Spars about pre-bend for my Hunter 430.
Unanimous answer from both on pre-bend:

Ask the Designer of your boat!!!

@NYSail your main and mine are much bigger. A quick suggestion is to let your boom float and maintain a slight tension on outhaul when furling. If the wrinkle is in the last few feet, you may have sail stretch.
Jim...

 

[seadaddler]

Have you tried different adjustments on your halyard,I did at different times have a wrinkle
At lower bottom of sail and think I tried readjusting the Halyard but it was so minor I think I
Did not try anything any more.
Nick

 

[bob_pattison]

James:
Thanks for your comments, my below yours.

1) The main sail luff to foot angle ≈90° and his boom angle matched. My main sail is ≈80°
-->>I don't this is relative. The sail in the video has a tack angle of 85degrees...what you can's see is that the mast is raked about 15" on the B38's...which decreases the tack angle..
The tack angle is dictated by the required boom height...if you have a mainsheet bridge or tall dodger say, you could easily need the boom to be 80degrees..AND the sail has to be cut accordingly. So the sail size/clew height is determined by the rig requirements. You almost never see a furling main with a 90degree tack..as the general rule is that the clew rise about 1" per foot of boom length. This higher clew then in turn does two things:
1. the clew 'rises' as it goes into the mast...like a barbershop pole...this keeps the sail from just winding up at that tack which would result in a sail too thick to go into the mast.
2. The higher clew has a shallower 'sheeting' angle..and as the sail goes in, this helps to keep the car on the boom sliding easily..pulling more forward than up.
2) Not stressed, but KEY KEY KEY... Pointing the boat into wind and no wind in sail. Talk about Friction, if not.
---Agreed. It will make your life much easier...though I have furled down wind with the main draped onto the spreader in light air at the dock...but one should always aim to furl when head to wind.
3) Pre-Bend is not a "Furling Thing". Careful!. Mine is per OEM. Consider it for YOUR boat's performance.
--->>>Prebend only affects performance in so much as it can flatten out your mainsail...you can have the same amount of static rig tension on the whole rig with 2" of prebend or zero prebend. It's just a matter of setting up that way.
So I disagree here...a pre-bent mast creates a situation where the extrusion and furled main inside the mast 'drape' around the pre-bend of the mast..this cause unnecessary and needless friction.
Now having said that, there are certain boats, many of the Hunters being the example that have lots of pre-bend like those set up with the D&R rig style. But for the line of Beneteau's over the last 20 years, US-Spars recommends on the masts they supply with the boat to have a minimal amount of bend, as do we. And if you have any question, check your mast model number on the mast and discuss the proper setup with the mast maker.

4) Stiffness of That Sail. That was a new one!
--->>>Great point. Older sails get soft from use and from furling. The softer the sail, the less likely it will hold on to it's 'original' shape...and furling seems to get increasingly more difficult as time goes on. No question about that. But as an an illustration, we had a couple in the south pacific with a 15 year old furling main have horrible problems (no surprise I guess) but they wanted a sail delivered to Tahiti...I suggested cleaning the system and doing the lube part of this....and it worked and well enough that the finished their trip to New Zealand before replacing the main some months later.
5) He also released the Main Sheet. Not mentioned, But KEY.
-->>Yes, has to come off some. And in both the furling video and the on the water video I make the point of releasing it...verbally as well as doing it.
All good points, thanks!
bob
6) Size of your Main sail FOOT determines how many "winch turns" to furl/unfurl.

 

[JamesG161]

3) Pre-Bend is not a "Furling Thing". Careful!. Mine is per OEM. Consider it for YOUR boat's performance.

I intentionally stressed YOUR boat. I try not to argue since, I know in-mast on MY boat and not YOURs.
In-mast furling is a mechanism within your mast. From a stress on the mast stand point, the rigging tension is to prevent mast "flexing and bending" excessively [ it is key point of the forces to drive your boat].

For a good non-video discussion see this link.
https://forums.sailboatowners.com//index.php?threads/in-mast-piece-of-crap-furling-system.175976/

The flexible luff tape tubing [inside the mast] is commonly called the "FOIL" and no amount of Anti-Friction lube with let you operate the mechanism with any significant wind in your main sail. The Foil bends to conform with your mast's rake and pre-bend. Not so much rake, since it is predominantly below the boom and below the mechanism.
_________
When my main is furled, I have ≈2 inches of clearance between max furled diameter and inside mast.

The Admiral and I can now furl our ≈18' of main sail FOOT, in less than 5 minutes but it is NOT done without a winch [34 turns].

Happy Furling...
Jim...