Rollr Furling stiff sometimes

[sailing11]

Hello,
My Roller Furling will not allow my jib sail to fully open sometimes. It just stops 3/4 of the way when trying to open the sail.



I then have to walk up to the bow and turn the furling with my hands using everything in the fort to get it to let the sail out fully.



When it grabs, it kind of feels like something is binding. The top of the sail is not binding, and the furling line appears to have lots of room and doesn't look like it is binding.



Any thoughts as to what I should look at next?





Thanks!

[AKA-None]

Is your halyard tight? Usually when my furler behaves like that it’s because the sail is loose.

[a64pilot]

Take a hose and wash the bearing out with fresh water, can’t hurt and needs doing every now and again anyway.
Lower the sail and get the top bearing too.
Don’t lube it with anything

[Nord Sal]

Look up. Is your halyard wrapping around the forestay?

[sailing11]

Found the problem. Halyard is wrapping around the forestry. It is not wrapped when the sail is 3/4 of the way out, but if sail is complete out then it’s wrapped so I can’t drop the sail as the halyard being wrapped causes me to not be able to drop the sail and take a closer look. Any ideas of what to do next?

[sailing11]

Here's a video of it:


https://imgur.com/user/sailing11

[wiekeith]

If the halyard wasn't so chafed I'd suggest winching it up really tight to dissuade it from wrapping around the forestay. Other than that, your best option may be to climb the mast and unwrap it by hand.

Another option may be to remove the sheets and physically pass the whole sail around the stay a few time to remove the halyard wrap. But you're going to need a windless day for that.

Assuming the system once worked fine, I suspect there's a friction problem with the top bearing, so that will need sorting out once you do get the sail down.

Oh, and if the halyard is chafed, as it appear to be in the video, best to remove that section before recommissioning

[Godshalk]

4 ideas:
1. adjust halyard tension, tighter or looser
2. raise the tack with a shackle or two to shorten the halyard above the upper swivel
3. if you can get it down, inspect the upper swivel
4. install a block on mast through which halyard runs to change the angle to the upper swivel

[SeaBreeze-1]

Originally Posted by sailing11

Found the problem. Halyard is wrapping around the forestry. It is not wrapped when the sail is 3/4 of the way out, but if sail is complete out then it’s wrapped so I can’t drop the sail as the halyard being wrapped causes me to not be able to drop the sail and take a closer look. Any ideas of what to do next?

You can try this:

On a calm day, completely unroll the headsail, including any turns by hand that may wrap the halyard around the foil. If you can ease the sail at this point, do so and remove the sail tack a the base of the furling. If the sail won't drop when you loosen the halyard, remove the sheets so that you can "unroll" the sail and fouled halyard from around the foil. Once you have been able to get both the sail and halyard in the proper position, drop it all down and clean/service the upper bearing. Rehoist and check to see that, once tensioned, that the head of the sail is up high enough so that the halyard doesn't start to wrap again.

One of the most common causes of halyard wrap is from a sail being too short for the foil. This exposes too much halyard and creates a narrow angle between the halyard and foil, increasing the chance of wrapping. If your sail is a bit too short, add pennant to the tack so that the entire sail is raised up a bit. When set properly, your halyard should have an angle of about 10-15 degrees (or so) off of the foil.

Also, do not over tension your halyard, it's counter productive. "Snug" up the halyard so that any wrinkles in the luff " just disappear". It takes the load off of the bearings and reduces stretch on the sail. Once you're out sailing, you'll be able to make small tension adjustments until you get the right shape again. That's another thread... entire forests have been knocked down writing about that subject.

[LeeV]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Take a hose and wash the bearing out with fresh water, can’t hurt and needs doing every now and again anyway.
Lower the sail and get the top bearing too.
Don’t lube it with anything

[Dan_K]

My rigger added this to prevent the same problem with my furler.

[chrisr]

we had this exact problem recently. it was only after we destroyed the forestay and headsail halyard that we got it sorted out

1. distance fm halyard to swivel needs to be a minimum. fit a strop etc between sail and top swivel if necessary

2. wash out / lubricate top swivel. dismantle if possible. in our case the swivel was not salvageable and had to be replaced (abt $2000 by memory)

cheers,

[sailing11]

Thanks for the tips guys. I untied the sail and took it down completely. Added a carabiner to the bottom of the sail to raise it about 4 inches. Raised the sail and it is now sitting nicely at the top. The problem was that the sail was not high enough which caused too much halyard to be exposed. Now there is about 2 or 3 inches of halyard so it can't wrap at all!

[Godshalk]

Great photo, thanks!

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by sailing11

Thanks for the tips guys. I untied the sail and took it down completely. Added a carabiner to the bottom of the sail to raise it about 4 inches. Raised the sail and it is now sitting nicely at the top. The problem was that the sail was not high enough which caused too much halyard to be exposed. Now there is about 2 or 3 inches of halyard so it can't wrap at all!

technically (and subject to what else goes on a deck eg fouling lifelines etc) you'd be better to put the carbiner at the top...between the sail and the swivel

but glad to hear you are on top of it

cheers,