roller furler headaches update

[Gerard]

I got to my boat twice this week. On Wednesday I checked and the cup is falling, not the drum rising. This led me to the conclusion the forestay must be too long. Mark's reply fortified that belief. Today I dropped the sail, removed the 3/8" clevis pin, lifted the spool assembly and tightened the forestay turnbuckle *a lot*. As much as I was comfortable doing. It helped quite a bit, but not totally, leaving me to believe maybe I do need to tighten it more. I also encountered the following problems:1) The "luff" of the furler (not the sail) is twisted around the forestay. This must have happened late last year and I missed it. It does a full 360 degree twist from the bottom of the forestay to the top. When I take off the forestay (next trip) will this twist easily back into place?2) the 3/16" clevis pin won't go back into place. The drum assembly doesn't drop far enough down now to clear the bottom of the luff. I have checked the thrust washer and main bearing and everything seems to be in place. I'm hoping the increased tension is hindering the movement and I can get the pin through when the forestay is off.Does anyone have any thoughts on my first question of removing the cup? Thanks for all the input. I'm still amazed that so many of these things seem to be working right!

 

[Jeff Peltier]

More thoughts

To answer your question about the cup. Yes it needs to be there because it is the base for the bearing (or bushing depending on which model you have) on which the spool spins. This thought occured after your last explanation. 1. There should be 3 washers between the bottom of the cup and the bracket to hold the turnbuckle in place. This keeps the cup fairly tight on the turnbuckle.2. The forestay needs to be quite tight. If you tighten the turnbuckle all the way down and you have mast rake of more than 6", your forestay is too long. Borrow or buy a loose gage to check the stays for tention if your not sure how tight the tension should be.3. The twist on the extrusion would be of concern to me. Some times you can correct this be over twisting the other way for a day or so. It's also possible the extrusion is bad as this shouldn't happen under proper storage.4. It is possible the luff extrusion is too long if you can't get the pin back in after you tightened the forestay in which case you would have to cut a couple of inches off the extrusion.Without being there to see the setup and feel the stays makes for more of a challenge. But it sure seems to me, this was not set up correctly in the 1st place which only adds to the challenge.Hope this helps,Jeff Peltier

 

[Gerard]

Thanks Jeff...

... for all your input. I appreciate the ongoing dialog. In response to your ideas...1) I have put, over the years, 5-6 washers under the cup, helped marginally.2) I have a loos gauge and tune the rig each spring. I'll need to do it again after I finish with the forestay. I've never checked the tension on the forestay, however, as the furling luff is in the way. Is there a way to measure tension on the forestay?3) Rats!! I was hoping (and still am, I guess) that I could simply straighten the extrusion when I take off the forestay tomorrow.4) I agree. The extrusion may well need to be cut and it is becoming apparent that the whole thing was not installed properly at the start. There may be a trip to the rigger in my future after all.

 

[Jeff Peltier]

tension adjustment

Your right in that you can't measure the forestay tension with the furler on. Typically, the forestay is set first to get the mast rake set and the upper sidestays are tensioned using the gage. Because of the angles, once the sidestays are properly tensioned, so will the forestay. The lowers would be set less in the case of the H26 to allow the mast to bend (approx 6" is a good starting point).Hope that helps clairify that.Jeff PeltierPS: It just occurred to me that the reason you have a twist in the extrusion is that when you tentioned the forestay (same as shortening), the luff extrusion (which it appears is cut too long), is now causing the whole unite to bind between the top and bottom. When you turned the bottom, the top did not turn because it was binding on the top clevis. This would cause the twist. More than likely cutting a couple inches off the extrusion would solve the problem.

 

[Richard Graef]

extrusion twist

I sail a 26 and have had a problem with a twist in the extrusion also. I have a CDI furler. After working with CDI, I found that the jib halyard had worked its way ( probably through tension down the leech of the jib while tacking and sheeting) through the cap at the top of the extrusion and even into the channel on the extrusion that the forestay is in. With both the halyard and the forestay in the space meant for just the forestay it caused more resistance at the top of the extrusion than at the bottom while furling in the sail. This caused a twist.  Thru CDI I got another extrusion and an oversized cap which has a pin in it so that the problem should not occur again.  Hope this helps.Rick GraefS/V Sandpiper