Preventing Overriding Turns on Jib Roller Furling Drums

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by svTOTEM

SNIP

Like all things on a boat, continuous line furlers can be finicky.

SNIP

My cat has an endless, or continuous line furler on the screecher and a conventional furler on the working jib. I can's say both work all the time with no problems the endless furler seems to be the easier one to use. But that may be because I only fly the screecher in less that twenty knots and normally less than fifteen knots.

In any case one thing I did with the endless furler was move the blocks a little to provide a straighter run for the line.

For the conventional furler I have noticed that there does seem to be a tendency for the line to build up around the drum and you have to watch that and at times unwind it.

If I was to switch out one I would go with an endless furler on both headsails.

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Query: Are there any single line furlers with sufficient grip on the line to allow partial reefing of a large headsail (not a code zero sort of thing)? It was my understanding that this was not so, and I'd be interested to find that I was wrong.

Jim

Hi Jim. A couple a freinds have the old hood? reefable furlers with a continuous line. They both had problems with slippage. I think the system included a lock of some sort.

[SV Lift]

Ex-Calif - From the info under your name I thought you had a retried maxi race boat. 77ft instead of 7.7m. I was wondering how you would manage that with a tiller but impressed you single hand it!

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by SV Lift

Ex-Calif - From the info under your name I thought you had a retried maxi race boat. 77ft instead of 7.7m. I was wondering how you would manage that with a tiller but impressed you single hand it!

Yeah - A lot of folks make that assumption...

Big difference.

[Vasco]

Nobody has mentioned the size of the drum. Some manufacturers install barely adequate units and the drums are too small resulting in overrides unless you are extremely careful.

[Blue Stocking]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

Hi Jim. A couple a freinds have the old hood? reefable furlers with a continuous line. They both had problems with slippage. I think the system included a lock of some sort.

No lock on mine. I changed mine to the single line SL915, and lifted the drum with 2 Pro-Furl type tangs to the stemhead. Use a ratchet block on the furling line, with the on-drum section of the line with the core removed..

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by StuM

+1 Always unfurl under control.

another

[sneuman]

It's also important to have a block leading the furling line set low and as close to the drum as possible -- otherwise, the line tends to get bunched up in the top third of the drum and jams because there's not enough room.

[BoomBrake]

In addition to the great abovementioned tips, I have less furling line issues when regularly soaking the furling line in a bucket of fresh water for a few hours (sometimes twice) every few months; which gets all the built up salt out. Apparently the highly salted lines cause more friction and potential jamming. Also I notice when the furler is recently greased (service points shown in your manual), there are far fewer jams and overrides, everything operates smoothly as it should.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Alii]

Use the least stretchy line possible, like Vectran. Once rolled tightly on the drum, if you need to reef in a little, the back-and-forth working of the sail and drum won't cause the outer wraps of line to worm their way into the spool. Also helps avoid chafe and wear as the line won't work back and forth so much where it passes through blocks, leads and breaks. I wrestle with a heavy 9oz composite 150% headsail. Last think I want is an override keeping me from taking this big thing in when the wind picks up.