Inner Mast Furling - Best Practices

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WellerH

WellerH

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Jul 25, 2007
35
Catalina 310 Middle River, MD
I have inner mast furling on the mainsail, and generally like it. I am wondering what users consider to be best practices when furling the main to minimize furling effort and minimize the chance of getting a wrinkle in the sail that causes it to jam the next time you unfurl. My general practice is to loosen both the boom vang and the mainsheet, steer the boat to keep the boom centered, and maintain gentle tension on the outhaul while cranking the inhaul. This occasionally leads to a wrinkle along the leech that causes a jam when unfurling the next time. If I try to furl with the boom vang tight then the furling effort is very high.

I'm sure there are lots of opinions and practices and would love to hear them.
 
A

Albanach

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Jul 1, 2009
221
Catalina 310 Sydney-Pittwater
My unfurling/furling procedure (with some of it adopted from comments in this forum ):

Unfurling
  • Maintain boom at slightly elevated level at boom end
  • Loosen vang and mainsheet (the latter not too loose – a cam cleat is of great help here)
  • Steer directly into the wind or have the wind come slightly over the starboard side
  • Enough tension on the inhaul to avoid the sail blowing out
  • Should be able to pull outhaul by hand in a light wind
  • Flatten sail with winch, if required
  • When tensioning mainsheet and vang you may have to let the topping lift out a bit if you used this to elevate the boom.
Furling
  • Make sure that boom is elevated again (saves the inhaul doing the work)
  • Loosen vang and mainsheet, as above
  • Steer directly into the wind or have the wind come slightly over the starboard side
  • Enough tension on the outhaul to avoid the sail blowing out
  • Should be able to pull inhaul by hand at least partially in a light wind, followed by speed and slow cranking.
It will also make a huge difference if you step down one rope size, ie. to 8mm from the recommend 10mm. As a rigger pointed out to me only recently, the 10mm actually jams between the furling screw groove and the rod guide.

Have not had any sail jamming problems so far, only a slight crease that seems destined to stay forever. Have also locked the J Hook nut (fastening the tack to the furler) after it came loose and the Hook jammed the furler badly.
 
Witzend

Witzend

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Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
Too much tension on the main halyard, or too little will cause problems.
 
A

Albanach

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Jul 1, 2009
221
Catalina 310 Sydney-Pittwater
Witzend said:
Too much tension on the main halyard, or too little will cause problems.
Click to expand
Agree, forgot about that. Correct tension is essential. I usually tighten up with winch and then allow the about 1/2 inch slack provided by the clutch when taking rope of the winch.
 
Witzend

Witzend

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Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
Albanach said:
Agree, forgot about that.

Not sure I would do that. After time the halyard stretches and becomes too loose, this causes an old baggy sail to fold in the center making it too fat to roll into the space provided. If too much tension is applied you end up over loading the bearings causing damage and making it very stiff to operate.
Click to expand
 
A

Albanach

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Jul 1, 2009
221
Catalina 310 Sydney-Pittwater
Witzend said:
Albanach said:
Agree, forgot about that.

Not sure I would do that. After time the halyard stretches and becomes too loose, this causes an old baggy sail to fold in the center making it too fat to roll into the space provided. If too much tension is applied you end up over loading the bearings causing damage and making it very stiff to operate.
Click to expand
At the moment it rolls in/out very nicely, just by hand pull-better than ever-makes me feel years younger.
Click to expand
 
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