Urgent Need of Answer

[Santana30]

Alright, I am leaving for a trip this Friday and went out for a quick sail today just to check over everything and the head sail furler line broke out of the furler.

I cannot figure out how to get the line back in the furler drum (or if it even needs to go into the drum and can just be wrapped around and knotted somehow?).

Any one had this happen to them before? Unfortunately the furler is scratched up pretty bad and i could not get the name or model off of it and do not have any literature for it either.

Any advice would be great, I've only got a couple days to get this thing going, so the quicker the better!

On a lighter note, thanks to everyone who responded to my post "first trip." As I said we will be leaving this Friday (10/8/10) and are still planning on hitting the tortugas by Monday at the latest. Also, thanks to all who gave me advice regarding the interface cable for openCPN, I ended up ordering a global sat USB cord, and it works great, a few degrees off when compared to my on-board GPS, but nonetheless, a quite excellent back-up.

[sailorboy1]

Broke mine 2 years ago. Since I didn't what to take the whole thing apart I threaded the line in and out the holes on the drum and then tied it off. Has worked find for 2 seasons this way and I've now noticed lots of boats with the line the same way.

[Santana30]

Thanks Don Lucas,

I ended up just wrapping it around several times and feeding it through the top of the guard and tied a stopper knot. Took her out today and the furler is slightly harder to pull and does wrap straight, so it looks like I'm going to have to figure out how to get into that drum and feed it back through. There is only one 1/4 in. hole in my drum but i can not feed it straight through, I think there is a bolt that secures the rope.

If I can't figure it out tomorrow, I'll take some pictures and get the model # and see if anyone else can figure it out.

[Dockhead]

Check the manual! I think in netspeak it's "RTFM"!

Every furler is different. Just in case you have a Selden Furlex like mine are, the basic principles are like this:

1. There is a chrome plated sheet metal guard which is attached to the furling line fairlead with four screws. Take out those screws plus the two clamping the end of the fairlead to the back of the guard, and you can remove the guard, and the fairlead will disengage from the locking block below the furling drum.

2. Now you can get at the furling drum itself, which as you will see is in two parts held together with Torx screws. Take these out and separate the two halves.

3. The end of the furling line goes through the hold in the middle of one half of the furling drum and bends over to be clamped under the inspection hole. It will be obvious when you have it apart how it works. Once the line is in place, clamp the furling drum back together again. The inspection hole exists so you can see that the end of the line clamped down in the right place.

4. Take a couple turns around the drum (the sail is all the way out, right?) before putting everything back together again. Be sure the furling line fairlead is aligned in the right direction before you tighten the bolts.

That's it. Easy peasy. If you don't have a Furlex, you will need to rummage in your collection of manuals or get the appropriate manual online. The Furlex manual is available here: http://www.seldenmast.com/page.cfm?id=6597

[capngeo]

Maybe I'm reading the OP wrong, but it sounds like he has an "endless line" type of furling system. If so, with the sail already rolled, tape one end of your line tightly with electrical tape, feed the end into the drum while turning the sail "in" manually... Remove the sheets first!

Route the ends of the lines through the fairleads back to the cockpit and splice with a reduced volume end-to-end splice

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Santana30

Alright, I am leaving for a trip this Friday and went out for a quick sail today just to check over everything and the head sail furler line broke out of the furler.

I cannot figure out how to get the line back in the furler drum (or if it even needs to go into the drum and can just be wrapped around and knotted somehow?).

Any one had this happen to them before? Unfortunately the furler is scratched up pretty bad and i could not get the name or model off of it and do not have any literature for it either.

Any advice would be great, I've only got a couple days to get this thing going, so the quicker the better!

On a lighter note, thanks to everyone who responded to my post "first trip." As I said we will be leaving this Friday (10/8/10) and are still planning on hitting the tortugas by Monday at the latest. Also, thanks to all who gave me advice regarding the interface cable for openCPN, I ended up ordering a global sat USB cord, and it works great, a few degrees off when compared to my on-board GPS, but nonetheless, a quite excellent back-up.

Yes, the manual is always best. But sometimes the unit won't come apart or you are underway.

I have used a clove hitch with a back-up knot twice and succeded. As long as the drum has some roughness (set screw heads, corrosion, tape) it will hold, and be certain to maintain some turns on the drum over the knot, for extra security.

Sail Delmarva: Hood Seafurl 800 Bearing Replacement

But this is only a battlefield expedient.

[Dustymc]

a few degrees off when compared to my on-board GPS

Ignore the furler for a couple minutes and check the datum setting on your GPS.

[muskoka]

Santana,

Post a photo! Someone here will not only identify the brand, model and shipping date. But you'll probably also get some good advice on how to solve your problem.

[skipgundlach]

As noted by others, all furlers are somewhat different. However, other than code zero continuous feed models, I'm expecting there's a hole at the inner top or bottom for you to feed the line into and then knot off so it doesn't pull back out.

Of course, you'll want to counter-rotate the drum a few times before doing this so you'll have a few wraps on it to allow for extremely tight winds which may result in higher winds requiring more turns...

HTH

L8R

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