Jib Stuck At Top Of My Furler Foil (Can"t Get Down)

[rardiH36]

Joker460:

Re your "Those were the bushings I was talking about..." .

Guess I needed to discover in person before it really registered. What I do know now is that if I ever experience the jamming again, from up top using channel locks with very little pressure, I can gently grip the extrusion without damaging it. Then another channel lock can grip the fixed portion of the swivel head to rotate until the what's left of bushing protrusions align back into the extrusion slots. Then the sail is free to fall. I see on the Profurl site that bushing kits are available for all of their 32mm model variations. I just need to determine which one I've got. Thanks for the pic's and the description of the removal and press-on method.

Alexo:

Yes, what you suggest it probably my ultimate fix. Just going to have to read up on the procedure for dropping/laying the furler/headstay assembly along my dock. Little bit I know is that it helps to have another few people assist to prevent the assembly from ever bending too much in the process. If I can do it, just a day and $20. Seems like a good deal.

 

[heritage]

rardiH36,,, do you think that keeping more upward tension on the swivel assembly would have prevented the stationary top section from turning and jamming on the extrusion?

 

[Larry Wilson]

It looks to me like the top of the extrusion is too far from the top of the forestay. That could allow the swivel to travel above the top of the extrusion, which would cause it to jam in a slightly canted position.

 

[rardiH36]

rardiH36,,, do you think that keeping more upward tension on the swivel assembly would have prevented the stationary top section from turning and jamming on the extrusion?

Heritage:

At least since I have owned the boat, halyard tension was always maintained. I would suppose that the main cause of the worn down protrusions of the plastic bushing is simply a couple of decades of the bushing having deal with the rotational stress of repeated furl/unfurl of the sail and I suppose the sail pulling on either sides with each tack.

 

[rardiH36]

It looks to me like the top of the extrusion is too far from the top of the forestay. That could allow the swivel to travel above the top of the extrusion, which would cause it to jam in a slightly canted position.

Possibly -- but that is the way it is installed by presumably a professional installer at some point. Looking around my marina my distance looks typical. But I do note that some go right up to the end of the head stay terminal fitting.

 

[CarlN]

When did you last have your mast out?

Your picture shows several things that I'd want to inspect on the ground - the corrosion around the spinnaker block bail, the rust on the back stay swage, and the cocked bolt for the port shroud tang. They all might be fine but it would be good to be sure.

And I always take the anchor light apart to clean out corrosion and replace the bulb if it's not LED.

How old is the standing rigging? How about the spreaders brackets?

While this may be an expensive exercise, it's cheaper now than after a failure.

Fixing the furler bushing will be easy with the mast down.

Carl

 

[rardiH36]

When did you last have your mast out?

Your picture shows several things that I'd want to inspect on the ground - the corrosion around the spinnaker block bail, the rust on the back stay swage, and the cocked bolt for the port shroud tang. They all might be fine but it would be good to be sure.

And I always take the anchor light apart to clean out corrosion and replace the bulb if it's not LED.

How old is the standing rigging? How about the spreaders brackets?

While this may be an expensive exercise, it's cheaper now than after a failure.

Fixing the furler bushing will be easy with the mast down.

Carl

Carl:

Valid observations. The state of the rig had been on my mind for the last couple of years and so just three months ago I had the entire standing rigging/mast/boom elements inspected by a long time member of one of the leading SF area rigging companies. Countless surveys and rigging experience under his belt. He looked into everything, all the way down to the compression post at the bilge. This wasn't an official survey, but I instructed I wanted information as if it was. The inspection highlighted a few items (one of which was black wrap stop was getting loose), but none of them were critical up the mast, or at the standing rigging swage terminals, or at chainplates (although I am thinking actually removing few of them to take a better look at the portion that is always hidden within the deck core).

By an invoice that was included with my boat purchase documentation, the standing rigging was replaced new at end 2004. Also spreader brackets screws (for attachment to the mast) were removed and then reseated with helicoils. And all new VHF and lighting wires were run. After the standing rigging job, the boat was sailed only a few times over the next year or so. Then shortly thereafter the boat went to the broker's hard storage area for 1.5 years until I bought in 2007. So from 2004 to 2007, the rig hadn't been stressed and had been salt-spray free.

Being in California, masts tend not to be taken down very often, unless its time for stuff to be done.

I'm going up the mast again today to reinstall the fixed wrap stop. Re the spinnaker/spare halyard block and bale: The rigger I hired poked and prodded all around it. But only called down (I was in my cockpit observing) that he expected I already knew (I did) that the line itself was at the very end of its useful life. But I also will poke around the bale and masthead a bit more today. And I will be replacing the old (I think its still the 1980 OEM original) block with a new one. Probably not today, but soon.

Thanks for making me think about all this again! Always best to keep safety in mind.

rardi