Stiff roller furling

[Chawes]

Hello we ae on a Morgan Catalina Clasic 41. The roller furling is so stiff it is hard to furl with the winch. I want to lubricate it.
The markings say Gatar 363A. I am unsure of the manufactuer as we have owned the boat less than a year. On the barrel there is a set screw. Is it possible to add lubricant here if do what lubricant. Grafit. One drop. ANY help is appreciated as I find it dangerous.
Clary

[gjordan]

I have never heard of that brand, but many early furlers had regular ball bearings in them that worked fine for a while, but needed replacement fairly often. My early Hood Furl would start to get stiff about every other year, but the bearings were available from any car parts house for less than $10 so I changed them at the first sign, which usually ment when hit by a squall and the damn thing didnt want to roll. If I remember correctly Hood wanted about $80 for the exact same bearings. Maybe someone on CF will be familiar with that brand or go talk to a rigging shop (look for the old guy) and find some information. Taking it apart may be very hard the first time, but re-assemble with an good anti sieze compound and the next time will be much easier. Good Luck. _____Grant.

[Ray-Dianna]

Hi, just a thought on this fuller, how tight do you have the head sail? On our boat if I over tighten the up haul it gets extremely hard to furl, relax the line some and it is instantly easier to furl.

[jeremiason]

I had a problem last year with my furler...

Birds were crapping on the swivel at the top of the sail, which caused it to freeze up.

Remove the sail, lower the halyard and check the swivel.

Mine cleared with a fresh water flush.

[markwesti]

I second what Ray-Dianna said , but it does have to do with the design of your furling unit . On ours , a ProFurl (about 20yrs. old) the top swivel gets connected to the halyard , so if it's to tight it locks up . But because the unit has a Alum. "spar" for the sails luff to ride in you don't need a lot of halyard tension .

[Chawes]

OK thanks I have dropped the sail so it us not the halyard tenting. I will try to open it and lube. Thanks for your imput.

[barnakiel]

On our roller (different make) it got stiff when one of the bearings corroded.

I removed the drum and replaced the bearings.

You must locate the spot where the stiffness occurs. If you disconnect the drum from the foil then lift the foil a bit and turn it by hand. This should be completely free wheeling - next to zero friction.

b.

[krafthaus]

Originally Posted by Ray-Dianna

Hi, just a thought on this fuller, how tight do you have the head sail? On our boat if I over tighten the up haul it gets extremely hard to furl, relax the line some and it is instantly easier to furl.

We had this same problem last year. Easing the genoa halyard solved the problem.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by krafthaus

We had this same problem last year. Easing the genoa halyard solved the problem.

Be watchful though.

Easing the halyard too much will end up in the infamous wrap.

Normally, clean and well set up furlers have little (if any) problem overcoming the halyard tension (unless you tension your halyard with a very powerful winch).

You know the tension is right by looking the sail getting tight along the luff as you haul up the halyard.

Cheers,
b.

[gjordan]

If you have to loosen the halyard for it to furl easily then you have friction issues. A properly working furler should turn free with any normal halyard tension. A loose halyard will give you a poorer setting sail, or if you keep it tight for going to weather, then you have to go forward to loosen the halyard to roll the sail? That defeats the whole purpose of roller furling. With my old Hood furler a squall instantly put a lot of strain on the halyard/furler and it would be very difficult to furl. New bearings and even in heavy winds it furled reasonably easy. Since no one has mentioned that they are familiar with your brand of furler, you may need to have a rigger come and have a look. If you plan on keeping the boat for a long time or go cruising to far off places, having an expert show you how to change bearings and what tools are needed for the job would be a wise thing to do. And then put a spare set of bearings and any special needed tools in a seal-a-meal bag for future use. Almost all bearings are standard and can be bought at a local bearing house or good auto store. If anyone suggest buying from the marine manufacturer, there is probably a profit motive behind it. Changing out bearings is much cheaper than blowing out a genoa. Good Luck, ____Grant.

[krafthaus]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Be watchful though.

Easing the halyard too much will end up in the infamous wrap.

Yes agree for sure. I set it so the shackle at the tack just had the tension off it and then the furlor worked much better.

The halyard angle at the swivel at the head of the sail is important to avoid halyard wrap too. Too little angle can be a problem.

[rognvald]

Chawes,
Before I would do any experimentation, I would do a complete inspection of the furling unit from top to bottom. You may find something as simple as Jere reported or something much more complex. Using force to "fix" any problem on a boat will cost you big money in the end. Good luck and safe sailing.

[pcmm]

I'll add: NEVER, NEVER ,NEVER use a winch to furl your headsail!!!!!!!! you can do a great deal of damage to both the furler and headstay using a winch. With a winch its too easy to apply too much force without realizing it. you should be able to furl by hand. Check the bearings and the stay also to make sure it hasn't "unwound" and expanded causing some of the friction.

just because the boat came with the furler also doesn't mean it was installed correctly. Most boats spend more than 905% of there time at the doc so an incorrectly installed furler might no be noticed if the boat only gets used a couple of times a season.

clean and flush everything and then carefully inspect the whole thing ( ideally on the ground)

edit: There is a VERY active Morgan Out Island 41 group on facebook that can help. search for "Morgan OI 41 Owners group"

[sogin]

Originally Posted by markwesti

I second what Ray-Dianna said , but it does have to do with the design of your furling unit . On ours , a ProFurl (about 20yrs. old) the top swivel gets connected to the halyard , so if it's to tight it locks up . But because the unit has a Alum. "spar" for the sails luff to ride in you don't need a lot of halyard tension .

I also have no experience with your furling unit but we ran into a problem with our ProFurl exhibiting similar symptoms. In our case the foil has slipped fractions of an inch down into the furling drum and this caused it to bind the system. We were able to use extra tension on the halliard to help pull up the foil and then tighten the set screw.

[sartorst]

While at the top of a friends mast I had one of those oh $hit moments when I saw that the top 12 inches or so of the for-stay had been un-layed and only the center strands were tight! Turns out he had been using a winch to furl the head sail because he was letting all tension off the halyard and most likely was twisting the halyard