How to tension forestay with roller reefing?

[Giulietta]

Here is something off the Harken site...theirs allows it.

see here.Harken: Adusting headstay length on J/105

If you can adjust lenght, you can expose the steel stay.

[wysiwyg]

All, thanks for the advice.

The unit is a Harken Cruising 1. You can get to the turnbuckle (obviously) by sliding up the drum unit, but there is no length of exposed wire.

The furling foil is made up into a tube that cannot be disassembled (deliberately) and extends the length of the forestay. The top drum for the head of the sail and the bottom drum for the furling line slide onto the foil.

I'll take a fresh look at it when I get to the boat this afternoon.

[T34C]

You don't have to measure the headstay tension. Observing the amount of headstay sag while undersail is probably a better indicator, assuming everything else is adjusted properly.

[dougyoung]

Ok, I'll ask. How much sag should there be?

[T34C]

If you google "headstay sag" you will find several good articles on the subject. Take a look. You may then have some more questions about specifics.

[Rickm505]

If you have access to the turnbuckle, what's the problem??

The Harken site has directions for tuning both masthead and fractional rigs. Follow the directions and tune your rigging. This shouldn't take more than a couple of hours and will be time well spent.

Rick in Florida

[Rickm505]

Headstay sag, is a subjective topic. What I've been taught is probably not what others have been taught.

In 5- 10 knots of wind, on a close reach not more than a couple of inches of sag. 15-20 knots not more than 6 to 8 inches of sag.

More sag is detrimental to the furler tubing.

Rick in Florida

[Valiente]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Giu-

Unfortunately, not all furlers have that feature. The Furlex unit on my boat doesn't.

My ProFurl apparently does. I bumbled my way through servicing the thing last fall and I'm glad I had the "destruction manual". As this is the first time I've had a furler (former hank-on purist!), I can see why they are a great convenience. I can also see about nine ways in which they can screw up royally or fail outright if neither serviced in a timely fashion or used improperly. We got a minor wrap on the drum last night trying to unfurl the last couple of inches, and while it was easy to fix, the temptation was strong to just keep grinding on the sheet.

Luckily, the thing induces paranoia in me, so to the bow went the wife and we fixed it. I'm still tinkering with various blocks to lessen tension on the sheet and furling line runs. Like the hydraulic steering, I find the lack of direct mechanical feedback of a hank-on sail (which you can FEEL getting stuck or jammed easier, I think) to be a bit of a liability. I actually discussed with my wife the wisdom of putting the tiller back on the rudder and bypassing the hydraulic steering for short-haul sailing. I miss the "feel" of a tiller more than I thought I would.