Im Mast Furling

[Ken Juul]

Article from UK Halsey.  I witnessed exactly what they are talking about on my neighbors boat.  Tack blew out in 15 kts of wind.  Sail is about 5 years old.

Watch the webbing

Sailmaker UK Halsey has a warning this week for cruisers with roller furling mains and jibs. More and more cruising sailboats are being delivered with roller furling mains and jibs. The usual method for attaching the head and tack of these furling sails to the roller unit is a webbing loop. Likewise at the clew, clew blocks, stainless rings or other hardware are attached with webbing that is passed through the hardware and then sewn down to both sides of the sail. The adjacent picture is very typical of what you'll see if you stroll down the dock of a local marina.

When this webbing is new, it is more than strong enough to do the job required. However, as is also evident from this picture, the webbing on this clew block spends all day, everyday in the sun. Likewise the webbing loops on the head and tack of your jib. Sunlight rots and weakens synthetic webbing very quickly and the end result can be a webbing failure at exactly the wrong time e.g. when the wind is blowing hardest.

Another important thing to remember is that the farther south you live, the stronger the sun is. So if you keep your boat in Florida or the Caribbean, this is going to become a problem much sooner than on the Great Lakes or the coast of Maine.

We have two recommendations:

1. Have the webbing in the corners of your sails checked regularly by your sailmaker. If you live in a southern climate, the exposed webbing should be replaced at least every other season.

2. Where possible, have the corner webbing covered by your furling cover as shown in the second picture.

This is truly an area where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Learn more about UK Halsey at www.ukhalsey.com/

[tonywright]

Thanks for the post Ken. I called my sailmaker and pointed him to the article. I might just get the UV protection added.

Tony