Head Sail Won't Drop - Hood Roller Furling

[Mike McDonald]

New problem.  I tried remove my head sail yesterday, and the sail will not release at the top.  I'm not sure if it is the swivel unit that the sail attaches to, or if the sail may be pulled partially from the slot.  I did replace the bearing in the top of the furling last fall, and added the recommended 1/2" screws to further secure the bearing and keep it from falling out again.  Wondering if the sliding swivel mechanism may be stuck on the screw head.  Has anyone experienced this type of problem before.  I'm pulling the mast on Sunday.  Hate to go up the mast if I don't have to.  All ideas welcome. Thanks.
Mike....

[Ed Shankle]

Maybe release the tack, crank the halyard up a couple more inches, release the halyard and give the luff a good pull down if it doesn't drop by itself?

Ed

[Stu Jackson]

Mike, before you break anything, get out your binoculars and maybe a good camera with a zoom and take a look.  Good luck.

[Mike McDonald]

Ed and Stu,
I've been checking with binoculars, and can't see anything obvious wrong at the top. No twists in the halyard, the sail seems to be firmly in the track, etc. when I release the tack and raise the halyard, it seems to raise the whole furling unit. It doesn't seem to move the sail in the track. It seems like the whole unit is frozen to the furling aluminum tube?? I even ran a line from the winch, through the anchor roller, attached it to the tack and tried to put enough downward pressure to break it loose, with no luck. Any other ideas? I'm working on it now. Thanks.
Mike...

[Gary]

Mike,

It is possible that the sail itself is stuck in the extrusion. Have had it happen, not to the point of being frozen but very very hard to pull down. McLube Sailcote is a terrific lubricant that will not harm the sail material, zippers, or canvas....terrific stuff. Spray it has high has you can go or if someone can go up the mast spraying the extrusion/sail on the way down you may find the problem solved.

Gary

[Mike McDonald]

Thanks Gary, I have some sailcote and will try it. Sail is loose as far as I can reach from the deck, but could be stuck up further. It's really stuck solid somewhere.

[patrice]

HI,

Just an idea, have you check the halyard itself.
Could it be stock somewhere and preventing it from going up the mast leaving the sail to go down...   

[Ron Hill]

Mike : it's going to take a trip up the mast to that swivel to find out what's happening.  It could be that one of the excrusions has turned (broken/worn rivets) and it luff rope is caught.

You aren't going to know till someone gets up there and looks at it!!  My thought

[Mike McDonald]

Thanks everyone.  Didn't make any progress yesterday.  Will probably try to go up the mast today.
Mike.....

[Steve W10]

Hey Mike.

I forget what brand of furler I've got, but where the ~6' pieces of foil come together, most brands use some decent, secure fastener (recessed screw of some sort).  Mine just uses roll-pins, sometimes also called split-pins or spring pins (see image).

The first year I had my boat a few of these backed out just a bit and of course I couldn't get my furler past them.  I was lucky in that they weren't right at the top, however, they were far enough up that it would've been awkward to deal with while on the boat.
Just before de-masting I went up and disconnected the sail from the car and slid it down out of the track, then dealt with the pins and car after de-masting.

I refit new ones with lock-tite and haven't had a problem since.

If you suspect it could be something like that and decide to go up the mast, a set of vice grips could help re-seat the pin just to get it down, but I'd mark the culprit so you can address it later (regardless of what type of fastener it is).

Let us know.

Steve

[Mike McDonald]

Thanks everyone for the ideas.  I went up the mast on Saturday, and as I suspected, the swivel bearing unit was jammed on the 1/2" screw heads used to secure the top split bearing inside the furling extrusion.  I couldn't break it loose while at the top of the mast so I released the sail from the shackle and dropped it.  It came down without a problem.  I took the mast down yesterday, and will work on freeing up the unit this week.  I hope it didn't do any permanent damage to the swivel bearing unit.  I'll have to secure the top bearing with a different screw type, maybe set screws.  I'll let you know how I make out with it.  Thanks again for the great support, I really appreciate it.
Mike......

[Fuzzy]

We had the same problem a year or two ago with our extrusion hanging up the swivel unit.  I thought the
extrusions were connected with rivets but I can't remember for sure.  Any way after finding out what the
problem/hangup was, it was fixed and no damage to the swivel.
Larry

[stevewitt1]

Hey all:

My head sail wouldn't lower last fall but for a different reason, just wondering if anyone else has gone through an experience similar to mine:

My head sail's luff cord starts around 8-10ft down from the head and only goes to 8-10ft up from the tack.  with the distance from the head to the start of the cord the sail has a propensity to turn without turning the swivel at the head.  Last year that twist resulted in a trip up the mast to untwist it.  It has a Hood furling system on it with a drum.  I've tightened the halyard almost with a tuning fork.  My last sailboat was an Allmand 31.  I put a ProFurl on that and if memory serves me right Gleason Sails made my head sail and the luff cord ran only a couple of feet from both the head and the tack.

Steve

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[KINGAIR350]

Had the same problem with mine coming down , didnt even budge  even with 2 of us pulling and pulling so broke out the chair and ascended to check it out (bring needle nose vise grips  and other tools w/you)  long story short ,it had turned a complete 180* ,vise grips and a straight slot screwdriver set it free and a good douching w/ mclube on the other sheaves while up there, also sprayed the furler slot while in the area.JAT
Good Luck

[Mike McDonald]

I was able to get the swivel bearing off of the screw heads and lowered to the bottom of the furling, without any noticeable damage. I removed the screws, but need to replace them with something else. I can locate the new screws closer to the top of the furling bearing sleeve, but would like to eliminate the screw head if possible.  I would be interested to know what others may have used.  Thanks.
Mike.....