Roller Furler will not completely unfurl/furl

Oct 10, 2006
34
- - Port Arthur, TX
I have a 1983 Hunter 27 that came with a Sea Furl roller. The furler was working fine until I tried to unfurl on Saturday. It feels like it is in some type of bind. I manually unfurled the jib, dropped the sail, checked the swivel on the foil which is fine, spun the drum which worked fine. I reinstalled the sail and attempted to furl. It furled approximately half to 2/3rds of the way and bound again. It would not furl. Weather prevented me from dropping the sail to see if the line in the furler drum was binding. I sent the company an email but received an out of the office response dated 2016 so I am not sure they are still in business. Has anyone had this problem? Am I on the right path to looking for a solution? The last thing I want to do is replace the furler but will if necessary.
 
Jul 14, 2015
840
Catalina 30 Stillhouse Hollow Marina
Have you recently tightened the back or front stay? My neighbors does that when too tight
 

JRacer

.
Aug 9, 2011
1,365
Beneteau 310 Cheney KS (Wichita)
My old Facnor furler would bind up if we had the halyard too tight - it was OEM 1992 and Facnor was of little help. Ultimately replaced it with a Selden Furlex 200 and have not had any issues with it since.
 

capta

.
Jun 4, 2009
4,935
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
If there is not enough tension on the furling line it can bind up within itself. I learned that in 70 knots of wind between Newport and Bermuda one very dark night. You got lucky.
 

JRacer

.
Aug 9, 2011
1,365
Beneteau 310 Cheney KS (Wichita)
If there is not enough tension on the furling line it can bind up within itself. I learned that in 70 knots of wind between Newport and Bermuda one very dark night. You got lucky.
Bet that was exciting!
 

capta

.
Jun 4, 2009
4,935
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
Bet that was exciting!
Nothing broke and no one got hurt.
Took the jib down, stuffed it below in the main salon and fell asleep on it. Woke up to 40 knots of wind from a completely different direction. I love sailing in the Gulfstream. NOT!
 
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Gunni

.
Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
Unfurls just fine, will not furl. Sure sounds like too much tension on the luff. Isn't that a Hood furler? Believe Ted Hood invented the furling headsail amongst his many innovations.
 
Jan 11, 2014
12,955
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
The headstay needs to be tight enough to have the furler roll evenly. Hood recommends keeping the forestay tight even at the dock, less movement and less stress on the system.

When rolling up the sail, put some tension on the sheets, this helps the furler to wrap the furling line evenly.

Check the lead not he furling line as it comes out of the furler to the first pulley. It should be at a right angle (if I remember correctly). If the lead is not fair the furler will get foul wraps and cause the problem you have.

Years ago, the Hood Sea Furl 5 got Practical Sailor's best buy recommendation. Had one and it mostly worked well when I followed these practices.
 
Jun 8, 2004
10,445
-na -NA Anywhere USA
Two things come to mind would be halyard wrap and generally one of two causes or both depending on the furler. Loose tune specifically the forestay/loose jib halyard and/or part of the furler has failed breaking apart for example. I would look at the top to see what is going on when furling on a no wind day and maybe a pair of binoculars would be handy. I have seen in the past pieces of the furling connections broken?
 
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