Roller Furling Line Excess on O'day 25

May 14, 2012
68
Oday 25 Shoal draft Mystic
My 25 has a 9.9 on a transom bracket. My furling line is long enough to get sucked into the prop when I am setting sail and have my eyes in 10 different places while going through my mooring field. I have it led into the spool so it is just long enough to allow the jib to be unfurled but there is an excess that I have to keep my eye on. I got it wrapped in the prop and had to fend off moored boats while I anchored and pulled the prop to free the line.
What is the best way to deal with the line? I have a cleat just past the winch. A place to stow the line would be great, without anything protruding into the cockpit or having to cut into the boat.
 

Ward H

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Nov 7, 2011
3,645
Catalina 30 Mk II Barnegat, NJ
On my 25 I unfurled the sail, cleated it off and marked the tail of the line at the cleat. I then cut the excess off, leaving about 6-8 ft that I coiled and hung that on the cleat.
On my C 30 I coil the excess line, then hang it from the stern rail using a clove hitch. I also store the line this way when the jib is furled.
I try to coil all line instead of having it just lay around the cockpit. Less chance of tripping or slipping on it.
 

jviss

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Feb 5, 2004
6,745
Tartan 3800 20 Westport, MA
long enough to get sucked into the prop when I am setting sail
I don't follow this. I assume that as you are setting sail, the line is in the cockpit, and getting shorter.

As for excess line, it need only be long enough for you to get a good grip on it in a comfortable position when it's set, so you can furl it.

As you furl the sail, and the line is getting longer, you should be dropping it into the cockpit.

If this isn't working for you, you might look into continuous line furlers.
 
Jun 29, 2010
1,287
Beneteau First 235 Lake Minnetonka, MN

Cut it off to a better length. You can also coil it and loop it over your life lines.
 

JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
On my 25 I unfurled the sail, cleated it off and marked the tail of the line at the cleat. I then cut the excess off, leaving about 6-8 ft that I coiled and hung that on the cleat.
On my C 30 I coil the excess line, then hang it from the stern rail using a clove hitch. I also store the line this way when the jib is furled.
I try to coil all line instead of having it just lay around the cockpit. Less chance of tripping or slipping on it.

Ward do you tie a clove hitch with the coil loop and the end of the line to the railings? I really need to work on my cockpit line tidiness also.
 

Ward H

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Nov 7, 2011
3,645
Catalina 30 Mk II Barnegat, NJ
Ward do you tie a clove hitch with the coil loop and the end of the line to the railings? I really need to work on my cockpit line tidiness also.
I used to coil the line similar to what Grog Knotts calls a gasket coil. Then I hung the coil from the rail using the bitter end and a clove hitch.
Recently, thanks to @jssailem who shared this video
, I started coiling the line in a figure eight. I hang as shown in the video.
Of course if you have cut off the excess line, a small coil won't tangle enough to worry about coiling in a figure eight.
To keep the cockpit tidy on the O'day, I kept the unused mainsheet coiled laying on the bridge deck and if I was staying on a tack for a while I'd coil the jib sheets and put them on the corners of the bench/bulkhead.
On the C30 I have cabin top winches so I hang all lines off the winches in figure eight coil. If the winch is in use, I drop the line into the cabin.
 

JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
Awesome, I've been having twist and kinks in my halyards!
 
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pateco

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Aug 12, 2014
2,207
Hunter 31 (1983) Pompano Beach FL
I used to coil the line similar to what Grog Knotts calls a gasket coil. Then I hung the coil from the rail using the bitter end and a clove hitch.
Recently, thanks to @jssailem who shared this video
, I started coiling the line in a figure eight. I hang as shown in the video.
Of course if you have cut off the excess line, a small coil won't tangle enough to worry about coiling in a figure eight.
To keep the cockpit tidy on the O'day, I kept the unused mainsheet coiled laying on the bridge deck and if I was staying on a tack for a while I'd coil the jib sheets and put them on the corners of the bench/bulkhead.
On the C30 I have cabin top winches so I hang all lines off the winches in figure eight coil. If the winch is in use, I drop the line into the cabin.
I have been coiling this way since college (NAVY). However I use a different finish. I drop the last two loops of the coil, and bring the end of the line to the hand holding the coil. This gives me a long loop to create the finish instead of a single line. Using this loop to tightly wrap the coil, you end up with a loop instead of the tag end of the single line when your done. This allows the coiled line to be hung from a hook in your line locker, or if you leave a larger loop, from a winch on your deck or mast. It looks like this when done.

Loop Coil.jpg


ps; I recently cut a cheap bungi cord in half, and tied a short section with the hook to each of the outside edges of the middle frame of my bimini top. I use these hooks to hang my excess jib sheet lines when not in use. Keeping them both off the deck, and out of the weather.
 
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May 29, 2018
457
Canel 25 foot Shiogama, japan
Cut the furling line to a good working length.
Tie off the bitter end to anywhere, life line, pushput or unused cleat.
This will mean you can find it easily and if some line goes over the side only half the length will be in the water as the other half will lead back to the boat.
If you want to get serious, fit a padeye near the last lead (near the cockpit coaming) of the furler line and tie off there.
One question though, Why don't you have the same problem with your foresail or spinnaker sheets?
Gary
 
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May 14, 2012
68
Oday 25 Shoal draft Mystic
When it happened, I had just raised the main and went to unfurl the jib when I noticed the line got snagged, which was already uncleated to save time. My cleat is outboard of the cockpit and I have nowhere to hang it from besides the winch or jib cleat. I will try tying off the bitter end next time out. My previous boat, a Bristol 27, had a handy coaming cubby for such things and the engine was in a well.
Besides this furl line, I have to deal with the dingy line which got snagged once, and the mooring bouy line. Those two things are really only an issue in dead wind when the boat doesnt get blown away from the mooring spot fast enough.