Roller Furler Issue

[hhcribbs]

Good afternoon, today during light winds (10 - 15 Knots) the family and I found it very difficult to unfurl / furl our roller furler. It is an original piece on a 1980 Hunter 27' Cherinubi. At about every 320 degrees it would bind...with a little pull it would release and turn another 320 degrees. This happened on the water while head-up and also at the dock with no wind. My guess is bearings, but I have very little experience troubleshooting these and none of my dock hangouts were around to consult with. Any suggestions or ideas where to begin the process?

Thanks in advance all!

Fair winds!

Howard

 

[isaksp00]

It could be a bearing, or maybe a bent foil or connector. I snapped a connector on my Harken H23 furler while lowering the mast last Fall, and now that it is repaired it turns very smoothly - it bound somewhat before, as yours does. While repairing, I saw that the connector had actually been bent slightly by the prior owner. Does the jib head swivel slide completely smoothly up the foil? If not, it may be bent where it binds.

 

[Bill Roosa]

Had this problem for a while till I inspected the angle that the halyard intersects the top furler bearing. If the halyard is close to parallel with the forstay the bearing will hang up due to twisting. In my case there was a bail installed that brought the halyard to the recommended > 15 degrees that was busted. The bearing was fine but just did not like having the halyard angle very small.
Take your binos and inspect the top bearing and all the hardware at the mast.

 

[John T1594]

Considering the model and age of your boat, it's likely that you have a Hyde Stream-Stay furler. If that is the case, your bearings are shot and need to be replaced. You can get new parts from Rig-Rite in RI but they are expensive and a pain to install. Check the archives on this site for more advice on this furler.
Don't neglect this. I had the entire furler and forestay detach from my boat when the bearings froze,

 

[Barnacle Bill]

It would be nice to know what brand of furler you have as that may have some bearing (no pun intended) on the cause. But, the biggest reason for furling failure is halyard wrap. If the angle of the halyard is not right, then when you rotate the furler, the halyard can wrap around the forestay, binding it up. If your halyard is too loose, then this can happen, but in either case the cure is to install a halyard restrainer. Furlex gives them to you as a part of the kit. Harken wants extra money for it. Pro Furl has the top piece above designed to prevent halyard wrap. Look up and see if you have any issues on top.