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Need help, rolling furling get stuck after unwinding 5 feet of sail

11K views 24 replies 14 participants last post by  knuterikt 
#1 ·
I've been searching about the issue, but didn't find anything related.
My problem is with rolling furling just unwinding a bit of sail and gets stuck. Helped by hand but it twisted a bit and didn't go. Think problem could be at top, so I will appreciate some guidance, as where to start looking or trying.

thanks in advance.

Juan Luis
 
#4 ·
#5 ·
Yeah is is most likely halyard wrap. I assume you have already made sure any spare halyards you might have aren't interfering. You can also try changing the halyard tension to see if it releases.too tight with bad bearings might bind, and too loose will be more prone to the halyard wrapping. If necessary un wrap the sail and drop it down so you can inspect the swivel. Make sure it turns smoothly even with load on it.
 
#6 · (Edited)
This is a common issue and there have been a lot of discussions about it in previous threads. The "halyard wrap" problem occurs when the top portion of your halyard, from top roller to the top halyard block, wraps tight around the stay, stopping the roller from turning. It's often caused by too little halyard angle from the top sail roller up to where the halyard exits the top block so that the halyard can wrap around. When tensioned, the halyard needs to actually be pulled back at an angle to the foil a bit so it can't wrap around when the foil rotates. This can be a difficult thing to picture in words but is likely what's happening. The furling manufacturers have installation diagrams which specify the optimum distances and angles for the top set-up which might clarify the idea. The distance and angle from top roller to block is the key.
 
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#8 · (Edited)
Think have a couple of issues as you all suggested. Halyard is tangled with auxiliary halyard. But weather has been nasty and is difficult to work with 40knt wind and the vessel jumping like a bull. Thanks to you all. Will post later how story end if the boats stands the beating.
 
#10 ·
Might be a long shot, but have you checked your forestry/ back stay tension. I once fought a furler for months before it occurred to me (thanks to advice from a sailnet member) to tighten my back stay. My boat was rigged with an adjustable backstay. Increasing the tension straightened the furler and solved my jammed fuller issues both for furling and unfurling.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Halyrad wrap.
From your pic, It may be that the splice in the terminal end of the halyard is too thick and too long and the splice cant enter into the throat of the masthead sheave. If the halyard was fully tensioned, it wouldnt be 'sticking out' like this and the connection of the halyard would be 'behind' the top swivel and between the swivel and the mast.

If you have any 'pendent' between the tack of the sail and the bottom drum of the furler, remove it or resize it. Otherwise, that halyard is not all the way 'up', the halyard between the mast head sheave and top swivel and the stiff halyard splice is fouling the top swivel. I offer betting odds that there may be a smaller diameter high tech line with small length splice in your near term future. The only near term cheap solution would be to cut the splice off and learn to tie a 'halyard hitch' and then seize it well.
http://www.animatedknots.com/halyar...ge=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com
BTW once you apply a halyard hitch to a halyard you can NEVER safely go up the mast on that halyard !!!
 
#12 ·
I think Rich has it. That halyard looks very thick (probably double braid), jamming in the sheave before pulling the sail all the way up. The distance between the head of the sail and the sheave looks very close which would normally be a plus except for the thickness. If there is a pendant on the tack, maybe shortening it a bit, 2-4" would work. I would try that or a knot before springing for a new halyard.

Aquarian's comment is also true. If there is a lot of sag in the forestay, it makes it harder to rotate the furler because you are trying to rotate an arc instead of a nearly straight line.
 
#14 ·
I had the same problem, and in my case as well, the top swivel was binding. It was a lousy furling system, and I replaced it with an Alado roller furling system and never had a problem since. The Alado is rated very high by Practical Sailor Magazine and it is among the least expensive systems.

Good Luck,

Gary :cool:
 
#15 ·
I had solved the issue. What I did was to lose halyard, and start playing with the furling, rolling, unrolling, until the end of the halyard came aligned with the stay, then put some tension, not much, but enough to keep it in that position. So we are sailing again with full genoa. Thanks to sailnet and all you people.
Regards.
 
#17 ·
I'm not sure what you mean by a hanked on furler...never seen such a creature!

If you think it is a swivel problem your best bet is to untie your sheets and manually unwrap the sail then drop it to the deck and check the swivel. Make sure you test the swivel under load. It may spin free when it is loose, but jam under load.

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#19 ·
What you have is the same as the new structural wire furlers used on many very large racing yachts. forestay turns with the drum. Facnor is one of the manufactures of the new furlers which are use on many of the large racing trimarans. the new systems use a zipper luff or soft hanks. the swivel is part of the forestay so it does require a good look often because a failure could result in rig failure. the draw back is that you need to remove the forestay to service the upper swivel.
 
#21 ·
could be the water lubed the swivel but I would still be a bit concerned about what condition it is. it still could have halyard wrap but the lower swivel is just a bushing and should not make it jam. the other thing to consider is that the forestay tension does change depending how you tighten the fib halyard which could effect the way the upper swivel works. I have seen bearings that are smooth when loaded bot get stuck when allowed to run without a load on them. this happens on sheet blocks when the ball bearings get worn and the ball bearings have flat spots on them.
 
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#22 ·
So I hauled the jib up now that it is spinning and it unfurls just fine but gets halyard wrap towards the end (was probably the problem to begin with).

I have played with loosening the yard and rolling and unrolling as well as keeping tension on the sheets when furling and almost every time it gets wrapped. Good news is I can unfurl it now, lol. Any advice?
 
#24 · (Edited)
Agreed. If there is too much exposed halyard and it parallels the forestay it will be inclined to wrap. It is more likely to happen if the sail is too small.

More halyard tension, not less, will reduce the tendency to wrap, assuming the swivel is not binding under load.

One solution to prevent halyard wrap is to install a bullseye fairlead a few inches below the sheave box at the masthead and run the halyard through it. That will increase the angle differential between the halyard and the forestay, thus preventing it from wraping.

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