Rolling Furler - Sail repair

[mbills2]

Hi All,

A friend of mine has a boat with a roller furler and his sail is damaged. He would like to take the sail down and repair it but he doesn't know how. My boat doesn't have a rolling furler so I don't know the correct way to disconnect it either. There are probably different ways for each brand but can someone go over the steps that need to be taken to take the sail down for repair? He could possibly repair it on the deck if possible but the tear on the sail is near the top (head?) of the sail. I've searched the internet and google for answers and have tried my best to look at his furler and figure it out but I've come up short so I've come here to the experts!

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Mike B1026]

What brand of roller furler?

 

[seadaddler]

More info

OK first what boat year and model and if you know who makes the mast Selden or who ever.
OK is it the jib or main sail.
Nick

 

[RichH]

Most probably a CDI system with a 'clever' halyard restraint. Most other furlers have top swivels and the halyard, etc. attachment is obvious ... so my bet its a CDI.

Heres a link for you to find 'various' operating manuals for the variations of the CDI furler:
http://www.sailcdi.com/ffmain.htm

 

[mbills2]

Thanks for all the replies. I don't know the make of the furler, the boat is a Watson (I don't know the year) and I was told everything on it was custom. I can try to find out the other info next time I see him. I'll take a look at the link you supplied and see if that helps us too. Thanks!!

 

[Warren Milberg]

Most common brand name furlers have an upper swivel that connects to the head of the sail and all that is needed is to drop the headsail halyard and pull the sail down. As Rich notes, CDI has an internal halyard usually cleated at the top of the drum. If it's a CDI, be sure you have an additional line tied to the halyard when releasing it to make sure it doesn't run up the foil as the sail comes down and get lost.

The only other really unique system I know of is SpinTec. On those furlers, you either need to go aloft to disconnect the head of the sail or have a special device used from deck level which reaches up to a fitting on the sail head to disconnect (very awkward system, IMHO).

 

[Hermit Scott]

Get a pair of binoculars and look at the top of the sail and see what's keeping it from being pulled down. There is some type of halyard(rope) holding it up. Unroll the sail, release whatever it is holding it up and give it a yank to bring it down.
When I bought my furler I looked at many different brands. There may be some older ones I don't know about, I am relatively new to boating myself. But this should not be a difficult task unless you have a swivel that is jammed/corroded on the extrusion.