Unbreakable Furling Line...

[brak]

On some furling systems (mine included) line is attached by going through a hole tangential to the drum center and then a knot on the end. It would be difficult to imagine this coming undone. Also, consider that force on the line is proportional to size of the leverage, and since furling drum radius is much smaller than length of the sail, force on the line is proportionately less. It may be a significant force nevertheless, but hardly beyond what even a basic line can handle.

However, furling can certainly fail in variety of ways - no doubt about that.

[ranger371]

I use Dyneema D2 Racing line on the Harken furler for my Beneteau First 456 and it works well. The only caveat to some of these hi-test lines (other than cost) is heat susceptability. If the wind get's hold of your genoa while you are deploying, and the line happens to zip out real fast, it can melt the jacket from the heat generated by friction in your deck fairleads, etc. (something I need to remedy with some more cheek blocks).
Good luck,

Mark

[sailingfool]

Originally Posted by ranger371

I use Dyneema D2 Racing line on the Harken furler for my Beneteau First 456 and it works well. The only caveat to some of these hi-test lines (other than cost) is heat susceptability. If the wind get's hold of your genoa while you are deploying, and the line happens to zip out real fast, it can melt the jacket from the heat generated by friction in your deck fairleads, etc. (something I need to remedy with some more cheek blocks).
Good luck,

Mark

CD,

Can we nominate Mark for a Lurker of the Year award. WOW, first post in five years, isn't his post some kind of record!!!

[hellosailor]

Extra turns on the drum: Absolutely!

I've only seen them burst from chafe, and then they burst like a gunshot. That nasty little line in the inconvenient place simply needs to be checked frequently, led carefully (to prevent chafe) and chosen well. Remember that some high-tech lines can saw through steel without chafing much--but they also will snap their own fibers if they are wound on a too tight a radius, typically something like 6x the line thickness may be the minimum they can be rolled into.

I would say to use steel cable with a fabric outer sleeve--but I also believe in never having lines that my knife can't part. Never know what they're going to get wrapped around. Or who.

[sailingdog]

HS-

You just need a better knife...

[TOMINDC2]

We have both a screacher and a genoa. I keep 4 or 5 pieces of new line scraps aboard. In case of a blow, I tie off the furlers at their base to a stanchion in order to prevent swiveling in either direction. I tie a line around the furled sail at chin height as well. It is sort of like wearing suspenders and a belt -- leaving nothing to chance :-)

[captmikem]

I replaced the wire on an Alden 54 with Rekman furling gear with a light Kevlar line. The wire was always getting meat hooks in it and was causing problems. The Kevlar with a Dacron covering was small and light. I had to splice a larger line to it after enough was used to wrap the drum as it was too small to handle, I spliced 7/16 inch Dacron, which gave a good purchase to grab. I could put this on a winch and ease it out easily, or luff a bit and bring it in with a winch. All in all it worked very well. I did the same with a 42 foot HR and again had no problems with it.

[sailingdog]

Kevlar line isn't really a good line for this purpose, since it doesn't deal with bending and compression all that well IIRC. A Dyneema or Spectra based line would probably have been better, stronger as well too.