Newbie

[jimbo530]

Hi all
I have just joined your community asI know from now on I will need lots of help.
I have just bought my first sailing cruiser ,a Verl 27 .She is an old boat with lots of charactorand the problems that go with it.She has been fairly neglected and needs some work to get her sea worthy.
My main problem at the moment is the roller reefing headsail.While feeding the headsail into the track it will only travel about 10 feet and then jams.It is free at the gate and if I take the sail off the bearing will freely move up and down the track.
I think the sail has been left furled all winter without any maintance.

Any suggestions.

[sailingdog]

It would help if you said who made the roller furling unit. Have you inspected the foil grooves to see if they are damaged at all. That is a common reason the sail won't continue up the foil, even if the head swivel will. Another problem could be the wire luff of the sail could be damaged. You should check that as well. Leaving it furled all winter, provided it wasn't left out in the snow all winter, isn't all that big a problem IMHO.

[tdw]

Sounds to be like one of the joins in the foil is out of alignment. Some older style furlers have small elongated u shaped pieces that lock into the foil at the joins. They are know to be troublesome and can become dislodged. Try taking hold of the bottom end of the foil and twist. If only part of the foil twists then this might just be the problem. (Info on Fulrer model would certainly help)