furlling

hey...i couldnt get my jib to furl after a great sail, I ended up having to do it by hand...nothing happened when i pulled the line.....help

I have problems all the time pulling the jib in. If the cord wasn't wound right or is ever loose while sailing can get enough slack inside to tangle. Sometimes the line even comes out of the bottom of the housing.

Take disconnect the job so it can spin freely. Now get the cord unraveled and spend quality time putting it in with out slack.

What I've seen happen most often is the furling line gets loose off its cleat. With the jib changing side on every tack, the furling line loosens up in the drum and eventually a loop droops at the bottom of the drum.

When this happens, the furler is likely to get stuck when you try to use it. As hailremus said, spend some quality time rewinding it.

I haven't found a perfect solution. I just try to make sure the line is tight in the cleat, but that's hard when I have kids jumping on the front trampoline

thats exactly what happened, the line was drooping out of the bottom of the drum...never had that issue with the rolling furling on my hunter 146....is the best solution to take the drum apart and rewind or leave it intact and wind by hand??

You can leave the whole setup in place and simply rewind the furling line manually.

Note that you have to rewind it in the "right" direction, otherwise the loop used to secure the jib when furled will not be on the outside. Don't ask me which direction is the right one, I always get it wrong! You'll have to try it in one direction and get lucky..., or try it again in the other.

Good luck,
Xavier

When you get it lined out get a block with a becket and put a system like this:

D------------------

With the line coming out of the drum thru the block and tied back to the the bridle and tie off. with the line tied to the becket going to a cleat on the crossbar. For every foot you pull on the line it will fur two. The jib will furls real fast and easy. Works GREAT.

Doug

could you explain further or post some pics...not quite following you on this

This sounds great, but I can't figure it out. Please spell it out slowly and completly. Where do I attach the block? Do I start with the drum wound? Could you post a picture. Thanks

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Bob

If I understand DougHobie17 correctly the line coming out of the furler goes through the block, and is tied to the bridle (i.e. under the furler). There is another line attached to the becket of the block, and this line goes to a cleat on the cross bar.

I haven't tried this yet, but this system would simply allow you to furl the jib faster (i.e. one inch pull on the line attached to the becket corresponds to two inches on the furling line). However, I fail to see how this would help prevent the furling line from getting tangled when it gets loose.

I've had this problem on every boat from my current Getaway to a Peterson 44' I use to own. If you don't keep tension on the furling line, you're about guaranteed to get a jam in the furler. And a jamed furling line on a 44' cruising boat when you'r trying to reduce sail in a storm is no fun

Here are other ideas I toyed with on the Getaway. My first idea was to re-route the furling line (from its current straight shot from the furler to the crossbar) such that it would first go through a small block on the port hull bow, then back to a cleat further aft on the port hull (near the middle crossbar).

However, one factor to consider is that the angle the line comes out of the furler must be such that it doesn't rub on anything. As I routed the line to the side toward my bow block, it chaffed against the edges of the opening in the furler housing. Then I had no furling line at all

At this point, I'm trying to figure out how I can modify the furler housing so that the opening points to port. Haven't found the right answer yet, but I love these projects, and when I find a solution I'll post it.

I guess it was too early this morning when I posted my comments

DougHobie17's idea should work fine as long as you're careful to ensure that the block is nug against the furler housing when the jib is unfurled!

When the jib is unfurled, the furling line rolls inside the housing. The reason it can get loose is that the free end of the line outside the housing gets off the cleat. But if, as Doug indicated, you run the line through a block and tie the end back immediately under the furler, you can do so in such a way that there is no slack in the line when the jib in unfurled. No slack = no risk of jams.

Thanks Doug, very cool idea I can't wait to try it!

If little people are rolling all over your boat and keep releasing your furling line then perhaps you should attach a stainless clip to the end of the line and attach it to your bar or wire.

Better yet put it attach the furling line to a quick replease pin and stick it in the one of the plentiful holes in the tesion adjustment system (not to be used as a replacement pin to the one that holds your mast up). Tie a small red ribbon to it and even the most clueless of all boat hand should be able to remove it as you come into dock or the beach.

Guys:

Here is a photo showing block and how I have attached it to the line to crossbar. I have never had problem with the Hobie furler system. Sometimes I have had the reacher not furl right. If you are not dead downwind sometimes it wants to furl funny due to wind getting into it at wrong angle.

http://www.thebeachcats.com/modules.php ... _photo.php

http://www.thebeachcats.com/modules.php ... _photo.php

This 1 to 2 system work GREAT as I have to furl y 60 sq ft reacher at C mark when the wind is above 12 knits.

Doug

Wow I feel left out. I have never had a problem with my furler. With the sail up and furled turn it clockwise looking down on it 3 or 4 rotations to prewind the drum, before you connect the sheets. If you don't the jib will not completely furl. When sailing I don't lock the line and haven't have it fall out. Just luckly I guess. Maybe a larger line could be used?

My wife and I just picked up a used Getaway and really are having fun with it. We have looked all over to see if there are any clear pictures of how to properly set up the jib and the furler.

Also, any advice on how tight our shrouds should be? We were on a small lake and got hit by some different direction waves caused by jet skis and power boats and our mast was swinging back and forth making this loud thumping from the shrouds getting tight and slack. Kind of a disturbing sound. We are thinking they need to be tightened up a bit. Any suggestions or advice would be great.

Tightening the shrouds won't help much because they're mainly pulling down rather than preventing rotation. The back and forth rotation you experience is the normal result of wave action in combination with low wind. It's the same as if you leave your cat on a mooring in a choppy area.

The only real solution I've found to this is to rig a rotation bar (as used on an H20) with a couple of strong bungies (the black kind with little give). This dampens the sideways movement of the mast. You can disconnect them when you're sailing with decent wind as the wind will be enough to keep the mast oriented.

Also, your shrouds should always have a little amount of slack as you don't want to keep your rig under tension when you're not sailing (this could pull your hulls ou of shape).

Enjoy your new boat!