Furling problems - excessive forestay sag? Bigger furling drum?

[Franziska]

Hi,

we had also a fair bit of forestay sag on Lady Rover, our 36ft Woods Mira Cat.
It was partly due to the initial creep in the new dyneema rigging.

After adding turnbuckles for an easier adjustment this summer, it's much better, and, the Furlex runs much smoother too.
Interesting enough the twin aft backstays did not fix it, tensioning the shrouds was what helped.

So chances are you need more rig tension too.

Good luck and happy new year,

Franziska

[JPA Cate]

Suspect greater headstay tension will help a lot, unless the Furlex is worn out.

It's easy to take a few turns on the turnbuckle (bottle screw), and see.

Ann

[dakno]

Furlex furlers have a known weakness in the head swivel. The hollow ball bearings can compress and cause head swivel to resist movement. The solution is to replace the balls in the head swivel. You may be able to ease tension on your halyard a bit which in turn relaxes head spinner/swivel thus allowing it to rotate.

[thinwater]

If you go forward and turn the drum by hand, in the conditions described, does it turn freely (down wind with sheet slack so you can feel it)?

Also look at the line on the drum. Is it FULL when the sail is out? Is it jammed? Is there at least one layer on the drum when furled? Are there riding turns or buried strands on the drum? Is the wind level? Line or line with the core out? Photo the furler and leads.

Each of these details matters, though each tends to be minor. Get 2-3 wrong and furling is tough. On a 36-cat, furling on a reach is not going to be easy, certainly not for a small person. Downwind really helps. Over 20 knots... you really should not have had a full genoa up.


You really don't want to furl a flogging sail. You get a sloppy furl and generally some tangles in the sheets. Importantly, the flogging itself adds jerking. Just the very lightest sheet tension. will make it easier.


(My avitar shows a small jib, but I didn't actually used that sail. Masthead 130 genoa, so I know the drill.)

[Oohla]

Perhaps mentioned already, but checking for halyard wrap would be the 1st thing I would do.
https://www.sailmagazine.com/diy/beat-the-wrap-2