Roll that beautiful blue furler!

[Project_Mayhem]

The spool on my furler would always fill up too soon and then jam. Earlier this week I pulled about 10' more core out of the 5/16" line and repositioned one of the blocks right in front of the furler to try to get it to distribute the line evenly. Previously it would all pile on the bottom. After a couple of hours at the dock we had it working like butter. One pull on the sheet and it spun like crazy. The next day I took it out in light winds and it was back to square one. The line was piling up in one section. A few good tugs on the lines and some strong gusts of wind usually gets it to unwind most of the way.
I suspect that even though the core was removed, the outer shell of the line was not compressing and still taking up significant space. I also noticed on the blocks and fairlead that there was quite a bit of dust coming off this older line. While it seems to be holding strong, does the increased friction of a dried out line have a significant effect on the performance of the furling?

 

[dlochner]

When the sail is fully unfurled how much line is left? There should only be 3 or 4 wraps.

 

[shemandr]

I understand that it is dogma to take the core out of furling line that fills the spool. But it seems backwards to me. The cover is the stretchiest componet of the cordage. Wouldn't it be better to strip off the cover and use the core which doesn't stretch as much? I get the object is to take up less volume on the spool but it seems removing the cover would accomplish that. As far as UV protection the core would be on the spool for most of the time. It's done on halyards why not on furling lines?
Or you could use smaller cordage.

 

[dlochner]

I understand that it is dogma to take the core out of furling line that fills the spool. But it seems backwards to me. The cover is the stretchiest componet of the cordage. Wouldn't it be better to strip off the cover and use the core which doesn't stretch as much? I get the object is to take up less volume on the spool but it seems removing the cover would accomplish that. As far as UV protection the core would be on the spool for most of the time. It's done on halyards why not on furling lines?
Or you could use smaller cordage.

The concern is the strength of the line in a partially furled sail. The core has all the strength and when the sail is partially furled, the line must be strong enough for the load. When the sail is fully unfurled, there is not pressure on the line, however, when the sail is furled there is a lot of pressure on the line. If the core is stripped, when the line is furled there should be a couple of wraps of cored line on the drum.

If the core in the tail is stripped the line is weak, more likely to fail and suddenly there is an unfurled sail in too much wind.

 

[Dave Groshong]

Friction is a monster, but that is usually caused by tortured leads, send a few pictures of how you lead it from the drum, should be to an articulating block on the bow pulpit. Don't strip the core as dlochner pointed out, only the cover, when necessary

 

[Tally Ho]

When the sail is fully unfurled how much line is left? There should only be 3 or 4 wraps.

Isn’t it the other way around? When fully FURLED (all Sail wound around furler) how much line is left on the drum...or have I called it wrong all these years?

Greg

 

[dlochner]

Friction is a monster, but that is usually caused by tortured leads, send a few pictures of how you lead it from the drum, should be to an articulating block on the bow pulpit. Don't strip the core as dlochner pointed out, only the cover, when necessary

If the core is stripped, when the sail is completely unfurled the unstripped (the part with the core) should be in the drum and ready to wrap. Also the core must be sewn into the cover where it is stripped or the core will gradually move and well, the outcome won't be good.

Other causes of furling problems is line that is too long, loose wrapping, and too little backstay tension. The forestay needs to be taut so the sail furls. If there is sag in the forestay it is harder to furl. When furling the sail maintain some tension on the sheets so the sail furls tightly and the line wraps tightly without over rides.

 

[dlochner]

Isn’t it the other way around? When fully FURLED (all Sail wound around furler) how much line is left on the drum...or have I called it wrong all these years?

Greg

Details, details, details. Yes you are correct. It should be unfurled. And just to be consistent, my last post is backwards, when the sail is furled there should be very little uncared line out of the furling drum.

 

[Tally Ho]

Details, details, details. Yes you are correct. It should be unfurled. At least I got it right in my last post.

Just making sure Dave...I could [easily] have been calling it incorrectly for the past 10 years. But I know exactly what you meant. Good advice about sewing the remaining core To keep it from moving. I had not thought of that.

Greg

 

[dlochner]

very little uncared line out of the furling drum.

Damn Autocorrect!!! should read "uncored line..."

 

[Tally Ho]

Damn Autocorrect!!! should read "uncored line..."

Have you been drinking again?

 

[Meriachee]

This seems dumb. Why not use a smaller line? 5/16 seems like a little large.

 

[FastOlson]

Also check the lead from the furling drum. The initial swivel block must be set to have the line enter it at 90 degrees to the center of the drum.
For an O'Day 25, quarter inch line ought to be plenty thick.

 

[dlochner]

Have you been drinking again?

What makes you think I stopped?

This seems dumb. Why not use a smaller line? 5/16 seems like a little large.

The slightly larger line is easier to grip.

 

[Project_Mayhem]

Also check the lead from the furling drum. The initial swivel block must be set to have the line enter it at 90 degrees to the center of the drum.
For an O'Day 25, quarter inch line ought to be plenty thick.

5/16th partialy uncored is what the boat came with. It worked so well at the dock so I'm not ready to give up quite yet. Can you be more specific when you say 90 degrees?

When the sail is fully unfurled how much line is left? There should only be 3 or 4 wraps.

There's about a foot in the cockpit and the spool is full

Friction is a monster, but that is usually caused by tortured leads, send a few pictures of how you lead it from the drum, should be to an articulating block on the bow pulpit. Don't strip the core as dlochner pointed out, only the cover, when necessary

I think it's an articulating block on the pulpit. It's on a spring. Even though it's not functioning 100%, stripping the core did help a lot

Other causes of furling problems is line that is too long, loose wrapping, and too little backstay tension. The forestay needs to be taut so the sail furls. If there is sag in the forestay it is harder to furl. When furling the sail maintain some tension on the sheets so the sail furls tightly and the line wraps tightly without over rides.

When furled, the sheets wrap around the sail a few times and there's enough on the spool to pull more. I'll try pulling the furling line all the way, disconnect the sheets in the cockpit and unwind them a bit. This way when I go to unfurl it, it's not sucking so much line into the spool. I also think you're onto something when you say loose wrapping. There's a good chance that I was much more attentive when testing at the dock than I was on the water. Loose wrapping would mean there is little to no tension on the furling line and thus it takes up almost the same volume as it would with the core.

Last time I partially furled the sail in heavy winds the wind got under the wrapped part of the sail. I'm used to sailing dinghies so I find a slightly overpowered boat fun to handle. We had 20knt winds last weekend without any reefing. Boat handled it better than expected. So did my guests

 

[Ward H]

One pull on the sheet and it spun like crazy.

This may be the issue.
When unfurling the jib, you should keep some tension on the furling line as it wraps around the drum. This will help it to wrap the drum neatly.
If it runs free and fast you can get overlaps or poorly wrapped line.

 

[FastOlson]

90 degrees is a right angle. i.e. the lead from the furling drum is straight out, sighting from the center of the drum. Many boats have a problem fitting the first swivel block for that line due to not having the 'right' place to anchor that block. When it's led poorly, the coil on the drum will pile up against one end or the other.
To a certain extent, blame the boat builders for not designing the area by the forestay attachment a bit better.
And, as noted, do keep enough tension on that line when feeding it out that it does not flop around and produce an overlap and jam on the drum.

 

[BigEasy]

The spool on my furler would always fill up too soon and then jam. I also noticed on the blocks and fairlead that there was quite a bit of dust coming off this older line. While it seems to be holding strong, does the increased friction of a dried out line have a significant effect on the performance of the furling?

Time to buy a new furling line. I replaced mine this season because of the same problem you’re having. Problem solved. As others have mentioned, unfurl sail slowly with tension on the furling line to get even wraps on the drum
w/o bunching & jams.

 

[Ward H]

To add to Big Easy's post, old line can swell and the surface can be less slippery. Edited to add (line needs to be a bit slippery to roll on the drum neatly) Also note different line types/manufacturers may not be exactly 5/16. IE: New England Sta Set 5/16' is slightly smaller than their 5/16" VPC.

I had the same type issues on my O'day. Solved it buy installing new NE Sta Set 5/16" with the first 10' at the drum de cored. Most of the 10' was the permanent 4 wraps on the drum, laying nice and flat. The rest was well buried under cored line when the jib was out around 40%. There was no issue with loss of strength or stretch of the de cored section.
This was on a Furlex 100 Furler.

 

[Meriachee]

The slightly larger line is easier to grip.

So is 1/2", and 5/8" is easier yet, but they won't fit in the drum and that's the point. It's not like a sheet that gets played all day.