[C320-list] New topic...jammed main roller furler on 2002 (Donald Lawson)

[Henderson, David]

Bob, The main furler on my 2005 will occasionally jam while unfurling,
and the sail will start to wrap around on itself if I attempt to force
it with the winch.  By experimenting with different potential solutions,
I have learned to remedy the problem by climbing up on top of the
deckhouse, grabbing the foot of the sail near to the mast with two hands
and pulling downward and outward. In doing so the sail always unfurls
feely and easily, with no sign of the jamming that I experienced when
pulling on the outhaul with the winch.  I know it must sound a little
mysterious and unorthodox, but it works well every time.  

I assume my jamming problem is likely the result of the halyard tension
being wrong, but I have yet to take the time to figure out how to
tension it properly  -  its just too easy to take the shortcut of
climbing up there and yanking on it. 

Dave Henderson

Dottie B.  #1049



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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 21 May 2011 19:19:47 -0400
From: Robert Seastream <robert.seastream at comcast.net>
To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Subject: [C320-list] New topic...jammed main roller furler on 2002
Message-ID: <C523B012-E986-4EDC-9197-F99ED6F6BA75 at comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes

All:

We put our sails on today.  The wind kicked up as we were securing the  
main outhaul in preparation to furling the main, so we decided to furl  
it with my wife on the furling line and me just holding the clew and  
'walking' it in, then attaching the outhaul later.  Unfortunately,  
this apparently furled it rather loosely, so that on trying to unfurl,  
some of the sailcloth folds on itself and binds in the gate in the  
mast to the furler, stopping things.  I don't think it's wrapped on  
itself beneath the outer folds.  Tried to winch it out, no good.   
Didn't want to force it, fearing breaking the car for the outhaul on  
the boom, or something worse.  Going to try tomorrow by attaching a  
line to the clew and then directly to one of the jib winches, along  
with liberal application of Sailkote along the gate.  If that fails,  
I'll have to invoke the yard rigger.  Anyone else ever suffer this  
folly or other such jamming?

Bob Seastream
Intuition # 906


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