Non furling, furling Genoa.

[squirty34]

Facnor SD180.

We have used it over 10 times this season without difficulty. But yesterday....

Has started jamming. Furls in for a while then hits massive resistance. Almost like I am winding up a very strong spring somewhere. I have not trapped other ropes and am mystified.

With much in and out, it finally furled in nicely.

Anyone come across this before, and without fitting a better one what is the problem and the repair solution please.

Andy

[Smokeys Kitchen]

Originally Posted by squirty34

Facnor SD180.

We have used it over 10 times this season without difficulty. But yesterday....

Has started jamming. Furls in for a while then hits massive resistance. Almost like I am winding up a very strong spring somewhere. I have not trapped other ropes and am mystified.

With much in and out, it finally furled in nicely.

Anyone come across this before, and without fitting a better one what is the problem and the repair solution please.

Andy

I do not know what your rig looks like, but on our previous boat we had an adjustable backstay on a fractional rig. We were pretty new and did not realize that our backstay needed to be at least a certain tension to enable the forestry to be taught enough to allow the furler to spool up without drag. Too loose on the backstay and the furler would not work well, if at all.

[squirty34]

Thank you for the thought. We are not fractionally rigged.

[UNCIVILIZED]

From your description of things you make it sound as if the headstay wire is unlaying itself inside of the foil. Though in truth the problem could be any number of things. How's the halyard restrainer look?

Start by taking some telephoto pics of things at the masthead, shooting them both vertically, & horizontally from several boat lengths away. So that there are multiple perspectives. And then enhance them on the computer to look for obvious issues.

Also, take off the sail & see how well things function without it. Along with taking a number of pics of the foil/analyzing it with bino's, to look for problems at the joints of the sections.

And if you're up for it, a trip to the masthead is often insightful. Take your camera & a few basic tools along.

[guyrj33]

If your sail isn't hoisted all the way up on the foil you might be experiencing halyard wrap.

[MartinF]

Halyard wrap would also be my first line of enquiry. Has someone slacked off your halyard by mistake? - tighten it hard. If you lower the sail and the end of the halyard (I'm guessing it is wire) is curled like a loose spring, that's it.
Good Luck,
M

[MartinF]

Further thoughts. Check that the halyard swivel turns easily under load. Consider lubricating it. If the sail is shorter than the foil you need to add a rope or wire leader to the head of the sail or the foot so that the halyard swivel is as close as possible to to the top of the foil

[Yes maybe]

Hi Andy,

Had a similar problem with Facnor furler on FP Lavezzi 40.
Ours had issues with tight sections of wind in or out and would jam. So had to man handle it by turning back and forth until, it would move by furling line.
This is what I discovered: Facnor use non- metal ball bearings, not sure what they are made of.
Non serviceable, except you can try flushing with fresh water (as per manual).

Tried this and got a lot of black dust out. Worked 20% better for a few days..
Seems the ball bearings get flat spots on them, from normal use.

Replaced (POS) Facnor with Furlex. Problem solved, pockets lighter..

Regs
Boris.

[AndyinAbudhabi]

Hi Andy,

Had the same issues as Boris. Ended up replacing the top swivel.

Trip up the mast and release genoa tension and you'll soon see if it's the swivel.

Cheers,

Andy

[cristee]

Beware halyard wrap.
A halyard with insufficient tension can allow the top swivel to turn and wrap the top of the halyard around the forestay. Subsequent furling of the jib will cause the halyard to grip the forestay and try to turn it. I think this may have happened to you as you felt it spring as you tried to turn the forestay. If you try hard enough, by using a winch to furl the sail, then the forestay will be twisted and can break. It happened to me.

[UNCIVILIZED]

It's correct that the head of the sail should be at, or very near the top of the foil to assist in preventing halyard wraps. So for this reason if your sail is short on the hoist, & you plan to add a pendant, do it at the bottom end. Another perk of which is that it's a lot easier to adjust a pendant's length down there than at the sail's head.


On bearing, yes some equipment makers have their heads where the sun doesn't shine when it comes to materials. I have several blocks with a rated 2t working load (5t breaking load) that came with composite bearings in them that had ZERO UV stabilizers in them. This from a very prominent UK sailing hardware manufacturer.
DOH!


So it pays to ask both what the bearing materials are, if they're UV stabiized, what sort of care & replacement sked they need to be on, etc. And to pick up (or have sent to you gratis) some extra replacements, on top of those which will be going into the piece of hardware being repaired. Since dropping them accidentally when installing them is all too common.


On that, one key tip, aside from installing them when the unit is on land, & being worked on inside of a cardboard box or tray, so that you can't have any try & escape. Is to use shaving cream or toothpaste to hold them in place until the bearing race is sealed. And then fully rinse out said "adhesive". Especially in the case of toothpaste, given that it's mildly abrasive, & does tend to like to leave a tiny film behind, as we all know.

[lamadriver]

Ill buy off on Halyard wrap as possibility

I had a similar issue recently . a cotter pin on the forestay turnbuckle and moved and was catching on the inside of the lower drum unit. It woudl trun half way and then just about lock up and you had to force it around.

Worth a look .

[squirty34]

Well the diagnosis came to a head when the entire forestay came down. The forestay wire had unraveled inside the furler causing the jamming. Apparently not that uncommon for the brand of furler we had. The yard had seen it many times before. Passed a rig inspection because it was all hidden inside the furler and could not be seen. We do have a halyard deflector and it did not look like wrap. Thanks for all your help.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Sorry to hear things got FUBAR, & hopefully no one got dinged when gravity kicked in. Is the rig okay otherwise? And so others know what to be alert for, what brand & model of furler was it? Also, where inside of the foil did things come unlayed?

Good luck sorting things out. And I hope it doesn't cost you too much lost sailing time! That, & pain in your wallet.


PS: For the newbys out there, it's a good idea to leave a halyard or two led to a strong point forward if you can, all of the time. Such as a spinnaker halyard to the anchor roller, or a stout padeye. This in addition to an inner forestay of some sort unless you're doing a lot of tacking. Call it a seat belt for the spar.

[squirty34]

I had a quick thinking crewman who ran the spinnaker halyard forward and tied it off to the anchor roller. That and getting the main in very quickly indeed seems to have saved the rest of the rig. We currently have two lines forward at high tension pulling the main forward. Hopefully new forestay delivered today and fitted tomorrow.

The Boatyard was surprised we managed to save the mast etc.