Difficulty Furling Genoa

[highseas]

Trying to preserve halyard is my thinking there,and to take load off upper bearing,masthead sheave.I think to see the headstay at top properly, you may have to go up mast to inspect.The angle for halyard to sheave should be 7deg.,and less than 1ft. below sheave to head.Another way headstay can be damaged is by tightening furler drum when tensioning stay and letting wire spin.

[FruiVita]

I don't know if the MK2 and "Unit 2" are the same but I don't see separate halyards for the roller furler and the genoa.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by seadrift

I'm curious about the efficacy of slackening the halyard when the furler is not in use. When my 130% genoa is wrapped around the Harken MkII foil, the whole lot becomes a pretty solid mass, and slackening the halyard does not relieve tension at the tack connection to the drum (in my case a 10" strop, so that I can see under the sail when unfurled). The only way to reduce strain on the whole thing is to slacken the halyard before furling.... not a likely manoeuvre for most people. Or is it just a case of halyard preservation?

Did you see my post? Have you checked the state of your forestay at the top?

[highseas]

Fru vita,lower genoa and lube bearings top and bottom with drylube,it will be easier to sight up foil/forestay with binocs to inspect from deck.Then try running halyard a bit looser than before.That may help.When its blowing,trying to get first few wraps takes some strength.

[FruiVita]

A bit confused by the halyard slackening advice. If the current problem is caused by the halyard being too taut then shouldn't I loosen the halyard when operating the furler and tighten it when it's fully furled/unfurled? The boat is 70 miles away and I won't be able to examine the rig until tomorrow but I'll let y'all know what I find. I know the halyard is pretty taut because I gave it a good tug when the banging against the mast was driving me (and probably my slipmates) crazy). First thing I may do, after spying the top of the forestay, is loosen the halyard and give the furler a try.

If I'm going to lube the top and drum bearings, what's a good dry lube? I take it WD-40 isn't advisable?

[Wrong]

Originally Posted by FruiVita

A bit confused by the halyard slackening advice. If the current problem is caused by the halyard being too taut then shouldn't I loosen the halyard when operating the furler and tighten it when it's fully furled/unfurled? The boat is 70 miles away and I won't be able to examine the rig until tomorrow but I'll let y'all know what I find. I know the halyard is pretty taut because I gave it a good tug when the banging against the mast was driving me (and probably my slipmates) crazy). First thing I may do, after spying the top of the forestay, is loosen the halyard and give the furler a try.

If I'm going to lube the top and drum bearings, what's a good dry lube? I take it WD-40 isn't advisable?

Solution:

[gjordan]

I am not familiar with your brand of furler, but if it has sealed bearings, they may be in bad shape. I had an old Hood Seafurl on my 44 when I bought it, and it worked well until I got caught in a squall, and it was terrible to furl. I disassembled the whole thing and went to an auto parts store for replacement bearings(at about 1/3 the price of buying them from Hood). It made a great difference in ease of furling. All of the points about halyard wrap are important, but if the bearings in your upper swivel are bad, it will probably still happen. Good Luck, and Good Sailing._____Grant.

[Vasco]

The furler is a Harken. The size is 02. (Harken circa 1988) I have one of these furlers. It should not require a winch to furl. The bearings are Torlon (not sealed) and should be flushed with fresh water. That's all that's required as far as the bearings go.

Your problem is either halyard wrap (very common on Harkens) or too much halyard tension. To prevent halyard wrap the swivel should be within a few inches of the top of the foil. Check with binoculars.

Slack the halyard a bit if there's too much tension.

I have the same unit on a CS36M and never have had to put the furling line on a winch. If furling in strong winds and there's a lot of weight on the sail just ease the sheet and let the sail flog a bit before furling.

The bit about 4 or 5 inches of loose luff at the bottom near the drum seems to suggest that the sail is too long in the luff for your boat. The whole luff should be taut. It may be that the previous owner put a pennant on the top swivel to prevent halyard wrap and the pennant is too long. Adding a pennant at the head or the tack is often done to prevent halyard wrap when the sail is less than a full hoist.

I would drop the sail and check it out.

[FruiVita]

Again, thanks for the advice, everyone. Upon examination of the foul and top swivel, there's no halyard wrap. I loosened the halyard and unfurled the sail at the slip. Winds were ~6kn from astern so the genoa filled. After giving the torque collar a good bath of WD-40 I tried furling and although it required a bit of tugging I was able to get her back in without a winch. If there's near zero wind tomorrow I'm going to unfurl and pull down the sail so I can get a good look at - and lube - the top collar. With loosening the halyard I've nearly resolved the problem but I want to give the whole setup some TLC. Thanks, gang! Love the power of shared knowledge in this forum. I aspire to someday soon be on the giving end of such experienced wisdom.

[bizzy]

I have a cheap profurl from austrailia. it has a small pully at the top and the halyard turns with the furler , a better system i have not found !!!!

[bizzy]

SORRY ITS REEFURL

[Vasco]

Originally Posted by FruiVita

Again, thanks for the advice, everyone. Upon examination of the foul and top swivel, there's no halyard wrap. I loosened the halyard and unfurled the sail at the slip. Winds were ~6kn from astern so the genoa filled. After giving the torque collar a good bath of WD-40 I tried furling and although it required a bit of tugging I was able to get her back in without a winch. If there's near zero wind tomorrow I'm going to unfurl and pull down the sail so I can get a good look at - and lube - the top collar. With loosening the halyard I've nearly resolved the problem but I want to give the whole setup some TLC. Thanks, gang! Love the power of shared knowledge in this forum. I aspire to someday soon be on the giving end of such experienced wisdom.

Harken bearings do not need WD40 and it is not recommended. All it requires is a good fresh water flush. WD40 on the Torlon bearings will attract dirt and grit and make them worse.

[jstevens]

As Vasco posted, you need to wash that WD-40 off the bearing. Harken recommends periodic cleaning with soap and fresh water. The only lubricant they recommend is McLube Sailkote, which is a dry lubricant. I'm sure other dry lubricant would work as well.
I have a 30 year-old Harken that is still working well. I did have a halyard wrap problem, which was solved by a retaining block below the halyard sheave box.
Are you sure you don't have a halyard wrap problem? Did you observe the top swivel and halyard when furling the sail? It does sound like your headsail luff may be too long for the furler (loose luff at the bottom of the sail). If you have the sail re-cut to fit the foil you need to be sure that you don't have halyard wrap as installing a retaining block may further reduce the luff length that can be accommodated by the furler.

John

[tamicatana]

WD40 is not really a good lubricant, but is a water-displacement (hence the "WD") corrosion blocker, best used for loosening rusty bolts

Ball lubricant: Sailkote is a good choice, and in my experience best results have come from this:
OneDrop Ball Bearing Conditioner and Lubricant - For Everything That Rolls - McLube

All that said... depending on conditions, I find it easier to furl downwind. Have you tried that?

[FruiVita]

Interesting comments about WD-40 not recommended - or even bad - for the bearings. From the Harken Unit 2 instruction manual:

"It is strongly recommended that a light lubricant such as WD-40 or LPS-1 be sprayed directly into the bearing races of the halyard swivel and the tack swivel...".

Having said that, I can see how a good, firm, fresh water rinsing would dislodge grit so I'll give that a shot and then hit it with the WD-40.

As for furling down-wind, I have not tried that on the basis that a full sail presents more opposing force when trying to furl. I've always heard that furling and dousing sails should be done with the boat in irons. Then again, "always" for me amounts to about 2 years of learnin'.