Murphy's Law

[Team118]

No questions here, just some plain old learn by my mistakes ramblin's...

I took the boat out yesterday on Lake Ontario into what was a Small Craft Advisory condition. No big deal, 20 or so knot winds and once we got off shore, the waves were in the 3-5' range. Sunny skies and 80 degrees, what else do you want!!!

Well my wife and I had a great down wind sail for about 10 miles with just the jib flying, just off shore. A great sight seeing trip. Unfortunately, the wind and waves on the return forced us to head out into the open Lake and the waves were pretty sporty. Again...what more can you ask for!!!

Well, our return trip was going to force me to go at least 5-7 miles past our inlet just to get a favorable tack. After making a game of it, I decided to use the motor and pull in the jib.

For some reason when I tried to pull in the jib on the furler, it must have gotten tangled in the furler drum. It was very frustrating, at first I thought the furler had gotten tangled up at the top of the mast with either the mainsail halyard or the spinnaker halyard on the bail...on closer examination I could see the rope in the furler drum was all bird nested up.

Well with the engine on...heading BACK the way we just came with the waves directly to stern, I went back up with needle nose pliers and a screw driver. The sail was taking a beating flogging in the wind and the sheets were whipping me in the head...lost my sunglasses, the waves at 5' were driving us into troughs just like on the Deadliest Catch...WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT!!!

I finally got the rope untangled...or is it called a sheet...and I noticed that the pin holding the furler coil to the bow was barely on and the ring that was supposed to keep the pin set was badly distorted. There was no way I could do anything under these conditions, so I chose to keep that info to myself.

2 hours later, we were in the shelter of the shore line, blocking the winds and waves. A nice cruise back to the docks and all was well.

Honestly, it was a great day. My wife was never worried ( a first) and everything worked out well.

This morning I went down and put a new ring in the pin and checked all the others. Are rings better than clevis pins? Pins seem like they would be stronger, but almost impossible to remove in a hurry.

From now on, I'll do a mini pretrip of the boat before leaving the dock and I'll add items as they come up.

Well, that's all for now!!! Only have a few more weeks of summer sailing left!!!

Chris

 

[All U Get]

Hi Team118,
We had a similar problem with a tangled furler and were able to tack to a safe spot. A forum contributor suggested next time to just turn a few times under power to wrap the foresail around the foil. It saves going to the bow and taking a lickin'. We haven't had the opportunity since I pay attention to the drum every time we run out the sail.
All U Get

 

[Stu Jackson]

Keep tension on the furling line when you unfurl the jib.

Sail UPWIND first. It's a lot nicer comin' home.

 

[Team118]

I like the making turns to 'fold' the jib on itself. A good emergency answer, thanks!

And you're right Stu, I usually just let the outhaul on the furler go as I'm pulling in the jib sheet. When I bring the sail in I always keep tension on both lines to get a nice neat rolling job, I guess I need to do that both ways. Thanks.

As for going upwind first...she thinks that way is boring...nothing to see...well she certainly learned!!!

Thanks guys
Chris

 

[Brad Woodward]

 

[Brad Woodward]

I try and keep my furler line taught while pulling out the jib but seemed to get tangled often any way. I was was out, solo, yesterday on a warm, sunny day with only 3 foot seas and 12 kt winds. A little choppy, my dog got sick, but great wind. Full sail, and healed over all day, averaging 6 kts. While letting out the jib only part way I noticed the line already getting tangled so bad I had trouble pulling out the jib. On autopilot I went forward and found the guide for the furler line was way too high and all the line was bunching up at the top of the drum and even jumped the drum. Adjusted it (bent it) down so it fed closer to the center of the drum and solved the problem. I found it will get tangeled if I let it go when pulling out the jib and of course it is tangeled when I need to pull it in, usually when there is a lot of traffic around.

 

[Don Guillette]

In answer to your question -- I prefer the rings.

If I needed to remove one in a hurry, which I never have, I'd just cut it with wire cutters. The question becomes, who has wire cutters handy -- I do. All my emergancy stuff (pliers, cutter, extra pins, knife etc) is within easy reach. I just stick what I think I might need in my pocket before tackling the problem. Lot's of time I don't need them but when I do they're handy.

 

[jrowan]

I have posted before to remind others with Catalinas to replace all of their cotter pins that look worn, because the original pins that are used on the forestay, backstay & shroud turnbuckles are surpringly thin & flimsy. But I think we've all had our share of foibles with furlers. When they work they're great when they jamb they're a son of a !@#$% to fix while under way. My Hood furling line likes to jump over the drum if I don't keep good tension on it when unfurling. But I'd rather have a jamb down low then up high. I guess it was so wrapped that you couldn't lower the jib all together with releasing the jib halyard?
My previous S 2 had a Harken furler that was a complete piece of junk. Jambed all the time no matter how it was rigged, & re-rigged by several pro riggers. But if something can break, it will & when you need it the most.

 

[Team118]

Thanks for the tip about wire cutters and rings. Great idea and I'll but a pair of good wire snips near by bolt cutters...

I too have the Harken Furler and I've never had troubles until this week. Very odd for so many things to happen at once...pin almost coming off forestay shroud turnbuckle...jammed furler drum.

That same day, I also notice the jib sunfabric had a rip in it AND the sail itself was ripped up by the top.

Yesterday, I pulled down the jib and patched with sail tape. I only have 2 more months and don't want to lose any time. The threads on the sail pulled loose and the tape worked its magic. Not as good on the sunfabric side, but I'll send to sail shop this winter for a full checkup and restich.

As I put the sail back up the furler, I noticed that the 2 lower screws holding the foil together must have vibroated loose and are gone!

Man, so many things to watch and monitor! So to all you newbs out there. Every once and awhile, go up front while the sails are out, check the foils, jib stiching, sunguard, gooseneck, cotter pins, shroud turnbuckles, etc.

Chris

 

[jrowan]

I also tried the sail tape repair a while back on our last boat (ripped when that damn Harken unit jambed). The sail tape will work on Dacron, but doesn't stick so well to Sunbrella U.V. strips. Ours got beaten when flogging due to the furler jam. Furler hardware seems to be really crucial. One lost screw or nut & you're f!@#$%^.
I recently lost one small screw that held the lower drum guard on my Hood model & nearly lost the whol lower drum guard assembly to Davy Jones. 3M double stick tape makes a quick temporary repair for plastic stuff that breaks, as long as its not an item under load of course. While furlers can be a pain, I couldn't or wouldn't want to sail without 'em.