The Squeaky Furler Gets, What?

[Starbuck]

The Profurl on my newly-purchased boat is harder to roll up than I think it should be. What should I use to lube the drum bearings? And what about the head?

[GordMay]

Profurl drums and swivel mechanisms are pre-lubed & sealed.
What does your manual say?

http://www.profurl.com/

[Rod Headlee]

I found lubricating the headstay with "Dry Lube", a teflon spray lube, eliminated most of my squeaks. I went up the mast and sprayed a whole can down the headstay. Ours is the Schaeffer roller furler, my bearings are lubed with a fresh water rinse.

[Vasco]

Profurl uses sealed bearings. Check your halyard tension. If it still is difficult when you ease the halyard your bearings may be shot. It does happen with Profurls.

[hellosailor]

Make sure you don't have too much stay tension, or the mast raked too hard back. When the head/back stay are too tight, that can often make furling drums bind.

Good idea to check all the rig tensioning with a Loos Gauge if you haven't already.

[jstevens]

The other possibility it halyard wrap. This happens when the halyard lead from the head of the sail to the sheave is nearly parallel to the forestay. The furling operation may be trying to wrap the halyard around the forestay rather than swivel around the forestay.
Profurl is supposed to be immune to halyard wrap (their assertion), but is easily checked when you furl the sail. Watch the halyard to see if it starts to move when the furling seems to bind. This condition can be relieved by changing the halyard tension, but severe cases require a block or fairlead below the sheave box to pull the halyard away from the forestay.

John

[Quadrille in JB]

Here's a bad example of halyard wrap on my Pro-Furl. Just went up the mast today to correct it. It's unwrapped but I need to replace the halyard. What's a good and affordable line to replace the headsail halyard with?

[Clamdigger]

I've always had good performance from Samson brand halyard lines on my own and other's boats when they replaced their halyards. Obviously you want low stretch, high strength for this application use Samson 'MLX' or XLS Extra', both of which I've used and got long service life from.

Get a copy of the Samson 'Line Selection Guide' from their rep at the next boatshow you attend. They're really nice people to deal with and enjoy discussing lines and ropework. SamsonRope.com

Not affiliated just a satisfied customer for over 30 years

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Quadrille in JB

Here's a bad example of halyard wrap on my Pro-Furl. Just went up the mast today to correct it. It's unwrapped but I need to replace the halyard. What's a good and affordable line to replace the headsail halyard with?

If it is a rope halyard, just end-for-end it. Most of our halyards are spectra core, polyester cover. They last a really long time. The spectra does creep a bit, so they require occasional re-tensioning.

Ann

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Make sure you don't have too much stay tension, or the mast raked too hard back. When the head/back stay are too tight, that can often make furling drums bind.

Good idea to check all the rig tensioning with a Loos Gauge if you haven't already.

I know that this is in answer to an antique post, but just in case someone is reading the whole thing, the above is quite incorrect. The tighter, and hence straighter the forestay is, the better the foil will rotate around it. Many times poor furling is due to inadequate tension on the stay, with the resultant sag increasing the torque required to rotate the foil and wind up the sail.

Perhaps the poster really meant halyard tension rather than stay tension; this would be true in some cases where the bearings increase drag forces when overloaded.

For the chap who just posted: you might get better results if you started a new thread of your own rather than tagging onto a 12 year old thread.

Jim

[Quadrille in JB]

Thanks for the recommendation. I was already leaning toward Sampson XLS extra T for the new halyard. I checked online prices and west marine isn't too much more expensive. So in the interest of getting it quickly, I'll stop by West Marine this morning and get my new halyard. It's always reassuring to have someone else confirm my choice.