Roller furler problem

woodster · Mar 24, 2015

Clydo said:
Have original furler which came with my 2003 C310. First couple years
no problem then late last year would not unfurl until gave several
hard pulls; however, it was stuck pretty good. Last Sunday tried
to unfurl and would not unfurl at all. Looked through binocs but
couldn't see signs of halyard problem. At first glance didn't look
like furler line hung up on drum but will take another look next weekend.
Anyone have this problem? Thanks for response.

Clyde Thorington
San Jose, CA

try rinsing the bearings with fresh water several times and see if that frees it up ...it may be clogged with salt residue.....

Calif. Ted · Mar 24, 2015

You need to rinse the bearings as Woodster mentioned. However, if your furler is an early model Schaefer 2100 you are relegated to trying to spray water up from the bottom of the drum. Schaefer corrected this problem by putting some flushing holes towards the top of the lower furling drum. I had to replace my lower furling drum with the new model, at that time Schaefer would give you a break on the price if you called them. I recall it as being about $190, I tried flushing mine and couldn't get it to free up. A friend removed his and soaked and flushed in a bucket and still couldn't get it working.
So check under the furling line on the drum for the flushing holes.

mfarinas · Mar 24, 2015

Calif. Ted said:
You need to rinse the bearings as Woodster mentioned. However, if your furler is an early model Schaefer 2100 you are relegated to trying to spray water up from the bottom of the drum. Schaefer corrected this problem by putting some flushing holes towards the top of the lower furling drum. I had to replace my lower furling drum with the new model, at that time Schaefer would give you a break on the price if you called them. I recall it as being about $190, I tried flushing mine and couldn't get it to free up. A friend removed his and soaked and flushed in a bucket and still couldn't get it working.
So check under the furling line on the drum for the flushing holes.

I also have a 2003 310, and had the same problem with very difficult to furl/unfurl the Genoa. While at the yard in February for bottom paint, the yard manager showed me to spray silicone lubricant at a very thin line between the roller and where the furling shat is.
Will take pictures and post them in the next few days.
Spraying with lubricant did the trick. The roller-furler works very smooth.

JK_Boston_Catalina310 · Mar 25, 2015

When we purchased our boat in 2010 we had the same problem. I went to the manual and found that you are supposed to flush with water and not necessarily lubricated (see attached page).

So I went to flush the furler drum and there was no flush hole. I contacted Schaefer. The tech guy didn't know exactly when but the first several years of this model didn't have the flush hole. He said you could try to rebuild it but he had seen very few successfully rebuilt. He recommended purchasing the new drum. We did and what a difference it made.

The replacement drum was about $140, IIRC, and they are in Fall River, MA so we just picked it up.

I replaced the drum with the mast up. I disassembled the furler first. Used the jib halyard as a temporary forestay. I undid the actual forestay and then did the replacement. Took an afternoon, 4 hours or so but I wasn't in a big rush.

Good luck and fair winds,

Jesse

2 OLD PIRATES · Mar 28, 2015

Hey JK your full of great info. Just learned a few thing from your posting. I'm going to check out the furler this weekend. The illustration is really helpful.

Cheers Mate

2 Old Pirates

mfarinas · Mar 28, 2015

Hi Clydo, as promised, here are two pictures of the roller-furling in my 2003 Catalina 310.
As I mentioned above, I had the same problem, and was able to resolve it by applying silicone lubricant to the ball bearings.
Look carefully at the close-up shot, there is a very thin gap between the cone (yellow strip) and the top of the drum. At the boat yard, the manager applied the lubricant and solved the problem of very hard to furl and unfurl the genoa. I continue to apply lubricant every few weeks of sailing. This has made it very easy to use the head sail.
Hope it works for you.

thinwater · Mar 28, 2015

Halyard tension can be a big issue as they age. Some are not really designed to furl under significant tension.

thinwater · Mar 28, 2015

Halyard tension is also a big factor; many are not designed to function with full tension.

Doug4bass · Mar 28, 2015

mfarinas said:
Hi Clydo, as promised, here are two pictures of the roller-furling in my 2003 Catalina 310.
As I mentioned above, I had the same problem, and was able to resolve it by applying silicone lubricant to the ball bearings.
Look carefully at the close-up shot, there is a very thin gap between the cone (yellow strip) and the top of the drum. At the boat yard, the manager applied the lubricant and solved the problem of very hard to furl and unfurl the genoa. I continue to apply lubricant every few weeks of sailing. This has made it very easy to use the head sail.
Hope it works for you.

Everyone should notice the line SIZE (factory Shaeffer) on Mfarinas' furler.

paulj · Mar 28, 2015

May want to look here..........I have widen the gap here to show location.
Took me awhile to find forsail jam problem.

paulj :troll:

2 OLD PIRATES · Apr 2, 2015

Peter: Are you saying the Halyard Swivel pictured below gets jammed on

THIS???

Could you clarify.

Cheers

2 Old Pirates

Tom J · Apr 2, 2015

Doug4bass said:
Everyone should notice the line SIZE (factory Shaeffer) on Mfarinas' furler.

I found the original furling line to be hard to handle, and it tended to override easily. My new furling line is one size larger, and feels much better and fills the drum smoothly.

JK_Boston_Catalina310 · Apr 2, 2015

2 OLD PIRATES said:
Peter: Are you saying the Halyard Swivel pictured below gets jammed on

Yes, this is another very common problems with roller fullers. If the halyard is wrapping around the forestay when you furl or this furler is moving in a jerky motion it needs maintenance. Really, I spray this with McLube every spring to make sure it is lubricated and turning easily.

THIS???

Could you clarify.

Cheers

2 Old Pirates

The foil that goes over the forestay is in sections. Each section is held together by set screws. What this picture is showing is the result of set screws falling out or not being installed and the foil sections separating. This is usually found when you try to raise the foresail and it gets jammed going up. It can also be the result of a luff tape being worn and catching at these points and causing the sections to separate.

The fix, if the foil is not damaged is relatively easy, put it back together and replace the set screws. But it might involve a trip up the bosun's chair to fix it.

Hope this helped.

Fair winds,

Jesse

2 OLD PIRATES · Apr 4, 2015

You couldn't be clearer ........... thanks Jesse. I checked mine out this weekend to get a clearer picture and it looks to be in great shape.
Thanks for the reply.

Cheers

2 OLD PIRATES

paulj · May 23, 2015

I think my bearings are due...........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5oyS4RotUI

paulj :troll:

Roller furler problem

Clydo

.

woodster

.

Calif. Ted

.

mfarinas

.

JK_Boston_Catalina310

.

Attachments

2 OLD PIRATES

.

mfarinas

.

Attachments

thinwater

.

thinwater

.

Doug4bass

.

Clydo

.

paulj

.

Attachments

2 OLD PIRATES

.

Tom J

.

JK_Boston_Catalina310

.

2 OLD PIRATES

.

paulj

.