Joe Clark

[Joeclark57]

My jib furler on my 1983 Catalina 30 with a 150% genoa is very hard to winch in when sail is extended. Is there a maintenance issue I need to attend to. The line for the furler passes through eyes on the outside of the stanchions and seems to pass freely. Is there an internal lubrication needed?

[FarCry]

There can be many causes. First it'd help if you told us the brand of your furler. How tight is your halyard? If it's too tight it can cause binding and be very difficult to pull in. Have you tried to pull the line at the base of the furler, as a way to bypass any resistance of the eyes it passes through? Did the problem start all of sudden or has it been getting worse? What is the backstay tension like? Too loose and you'll have a lot of droop in your forestay making it hard to furl a headsail. Are you trying to furl on a reach or dead into a 30kt wind? Maybe you could try and furl your sail on a down wind run with the main blanketing your headsail. Does it unfurl easily?

[Joeclark57]

I'll check on the manufacturer this evening. I have only owned the boat for two years but it has been consistently hard for the entire time. The sail eases out in a breeze. But my head stay seems to sag when I am pointing up in a stiff breeze. I am installing a back stay adjuster in a week or so as I begin this season. I just read about furling that big sail in by going down wind and using the main as a shield and will try that this season.

[Gene T]

Go forward and manually turn the furling drum. It should move easily. You should be able to tell if it is binding at the top of the mast. That assumes it is a reefer furler not just a furling drum on the stay. Again we need to know what you have.

Gene

[sailingdog]

Too much or too little halyard tension, too much or too little backstay tension, bad lead on the furling line, neglected bearings, forestay damaged from previous halyard wrap, etc. are all reasons the drum/furler might be difficult to work. You need to eliminate them to find out what is the true cause. Saying what make/model furling unit you have is generally a good idea, as is posting photos of the problematic piece of equipment.

I'd highly recommend you read this POST to help you get the most out of sailnet.

[svHyLyte]

Joe--

For furling you need a tight headstay and a firm, but not overly tight halyard--some even ease the halyard when they are preparing to furl. (As you describe, the sail unfurls easily when it's not loaded up. You need to replicate that minimally loaded condition when you furl.) When one furls, in most all cases a foil on the headstay is revolving with the bottom drum while the furling drum at the head of the foil/sail has to remain fixed with the foil revolving in its bottom half. An overly tight halyard loads up the top furling drum eccentrically, which applies a horizontal load on the foil at that point. If the headstay is sagging off, the foil is curved which makes it ver6y difficult to rotate around the stay. With a "squeezing" load at the top due to an overly tight halyard, you really have to torque up the foil to get it to revolve. (Shoot some SailKote into the bearings in the top drum from time to time to help).

Adding a back-stay adjuster is one way to tighten the headstay but, from what you desacribe, it sounds like the turnbuckles on the backstay should be tightened up and inch or two. One can adjust mast shape and headstay tension with the back-stay adjuster. One adjusts luff tension with the halyard, regardless of backstay and headstay tension.

FWIW...

[QuickMick]

I had the same problem... cause 1 was halyard wrap...but in my case that made furling impossible... cause 2 was the top drum needed lubed... that fixed her right as rain. oh one other thing, the PO had used line on the bottom drum that was wayyyy too fat 1/2 or bigger......seemed to jam up in the bottom, i replaced it with some 3/16" and that helped a lot too