Should I lower my furler drum?

[JRM]

As per my previous post, I could easily drop my newly installed drum 4" or so, and with a some more work probably as much as 8-10". But should I?

I have to recut the sails either way. I have enough extrusion left over to lengthen over 12" and still have a spare section. The dollars involved are small compared to the overall cost of the project.

The top of the drum is 8" higher than the tack of the hanked on sail, so I'm not losing a huge amount. But it still seems fairly significant.

Soliciting opinions of those more knowledgeable than I. What do you think?

JRM

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[Stu Jackson]

Why?

Two issues to consider:

1. visibility forward is better with it as is

2. your sail foot will rub on the bow pulpit

We have ours high and find it works just fine. ProFurl, too.

[Cheechako]

In the past I went so the sail tack just at the pulpit top ... so sail clears the pulpit. Maybe it depends on the size your current sail is more than anything. Given low cost and easy I would lower it maybe 8". otherwise wouldn't worry much.

[neilpride]

Is like that to clear the pulpit, lifelines, and to clear the anchor chain, its a bit exagerated , you can drop it few inches and still clear the pulpit, i see in the picture you are using the kind of stalock terminal in the forestay ? no? if is the case , stalocks are wrong in the forestay, if you choose to drop it by the 2 long link bars at the togle keep in mind that this turnbuckle maybe get inside of the drum touching the top part of the drum , and this is a problem, if you choose to drop it by the bars you need to be sure that the top swivel stay aligned with the internal sheave and not so far , my best bet is to use a extra profile section and do it right.

I cant remember if the C42 have a lower telescopic bottom section in the profiles like the facnor?

[Ex-Calif]

I am with the others. If youa re going to sail with all that stuff on the foredeck I would set the height to just clear it as well as the pulpit.

You don't want the genoa snagging anything when tacking.

[model 10]

I adder a second furler and mounted it up a bit but not quite as high as yours is now. I did have the sail re-cut but now I find I could have mounted it even lower because the sail balloons out in such a way as it does not even come close to the pulpit.

[david samuelson]

Hi,
I would lower it too, so that the sail just clears the pulpit and leaving enough room for your anchor to come up without hitting the drum, but ,to do that you will need to add a turnbuckle cylinder (I don't see one in the photo) so 1. you can adjust the turnbuckle and 2. the STA-LOK will be able to go up.
Yes, having a STA-LOK can be risky because if the foils come down they can undo the fitting.
David

[roverhi]

Where did this idea that a StaLok/Norseman will come undone on the headstay?? Seems a totally bogus idea. If you are worried about it, put LocTite on the terminal threads. Then your big problems is going to be getting the fitting apart should you need to. IIRC, some of the fuller mfg included StaLok/Norsemans as part of the package.

Might lower the drum so the sail is just free of the pulpit. On a cruising boat, the pulpit can cause significant wear on a sail that rubs on it for days on end. The higher the foot of the sail, the less chance of a boarding filling the sail and causing major issues the sail and/or rig.

[model 10]

Originally Posted by roverhi

Where did this idea that a StaLok/Norseman will come undone on the headstay?? Seems a totally bogus idea.

I did one of these installs. If you don't fit it all together correctly, the extrusion contacts the nut on the fitting. So as it turns it could unscrew the fitting. It did not seem that hard to set the clearance but it could happen, I suppose.

[david samuelson]

No bogus about it - I've seen it. Anyway, STA-LOKs and Norsemans should always have locktite, wherever they are. One way of reducing the risk on the forestay is to put a penny washer on the wire before the swageless terminal goes on. That way, should the foils come down and after the bottom bearing has been broken and pushed up inside the bottom foil the swageless nut will not go up inside the foil. It just prolongs the inevitable but gives you more time. David

[2kr]

I wouldn't. Reminds me of the time I almost hit a huge shipping buoy in Tampa Bay. Was paying more attention to the woman I had on board than where I was. One more coat of paint on the buoy and I would have hit it. Now I sail with it reefed enough to look under the sail unless at sea with the radar on. I have even thought of cutting it like a yankee...

[jldunn86]

Mount the drum to clear the deck hardware as needed and achieve the best furling line set up. Then set the foil length to allow the tack to be adjustable via an added leader. Tack it down on deck when wanting the best pointing perfromance, then when you are needing to see or avoid up seas tack it with the leader to get it off the deck as needed. JMO.

[model 10]

Originally Posted by jldunn86

Mount the drum to clear the deck hardware as needed and achieve the best furling line set up. Then set the foil length to allow the tack to be adjustable via an added leader. Tack it down on deck when wanting the best pointing perfromance, then when you are needing to see or avoid up seas tack it with the leader to get it off the deck as needed. JMO.

Oh well too late now.

[JRM]

I ended up running into the rigger at the boatyard before I had a chance to call him yesterday. He's booked solid for the next week, so I've got some of his time late next week. I'm going to lower it as much as I can.

I ran a line across the top of the bow pulpit as a measuring reference. The top of the drum is 9.5" above that line at the aft end. I measured up into the furler itself, and leaving enough room to slack the turnbuckle I could lower it 8". That leaves the top of the drum 1.5" above the pulpit. Since that's about as close as I can get it without buying a longer forestay (which I'd rather not, since the current one is less than a week old) and new lower hardware. I can live with that.

That'll still leave me several inches of clearance for the anchor shaft when raising.

Thanks everyone for the advice. The thought of the foil loosening the Sta-Lok had never occurred to me. We used Loctite on it, although for anti-galling during assembly. I "dry test fit" a chainplate bolt too quickly once, welding the nut on, and had to cut the whole thing off in place. Ever since I've been a Loctite, TefGel, and Lanocote evangelist.

JRM

[JRM]

Update...

The furler lowering is done. Snuck it in between rains this morning. Got lucky in that extrusions will fit over the sage fitting on top, so we didn't have to disassemble everything (including the StaLok) just the top.

It certainly looks better, and the top of the drum is less than an inch above the pulpit. I dropped the sails off at the loft today as well, so we should be rolling in the new year rolling in the genoa.

JRM

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