hood furling system jammed

[garyw]

Hi

On my catalina 34 1986 , it appears I have the original  Hood model furled either the  810 or 915.   Today I had difficulty furling the jib . I was able to furl about 1/3 of the sail and then even when using a winch couldn't furl it further.     There was only 1 line coming out of the furler and I read that I should have a continuous loop.   Would that explain my difficulty and do I need to redo the line so that it is a continuous loop .  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Gary W
Summer Wind
Boston , Ma

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

You should be able to find a name and model number on the drum. My guess is that you have a single line model and not a continous line model and that the line is just wound unevenly on the drum. I would suggest that you unwind the sail aii the way out and inspect the drum and line as you try to furl it in. The problem may be obvious to you at this point. Hope this helps.

Mike

[garyw]

thanks i'll try that

gary

[pablosgirl]

Hi Gary,

I have the same single line Hood furller as you on our '88 model.  A pretty durable unit.  You may need to clean the drum bearing.  You should flush the bearing with fresh water at the end of every outing to flush the salt out.  Otherwise the salt will build up in the bearing and make it rough.  To do a deep clean to get the dirt out I flush the bearing with WD-40.  This can get messy, so you should put plastic garbage bag down on the deck around the base of the head stay and cover that with cloth rags or oil absorb pads.  Attach the red straw to the nozzle and then spray from the top to flush out the dirt and salt.  Wipe down with clean paper towels to remove the excess.  You will be amazed at what this will do to help the roller run smooth.  You also may want to take the sail down to inspect and clean the to swivel bearing too.  This does not tend to get as dirty.

Pablo

[Jim Hardesty]

Don't forget to look up at the top swivel.  You may be getting a halyard wind or have a bad swivel.
Jim

[Ron Hill]

Gary : Read my post in the Critical Updates and make sure that you have not "popped out" the upper bearing!! 

The Hood continuous line or single line units have the same upper bearing problem!!

A thought

[Mike McDonald]

Regarding the upper bearing upgrade, I had a problem with mine last year, after the upgrade.  I installed 1/2" pan head screws through the side of the furling, into each side of the bearing, a couple of inches below the top. Unfortunately, the swivel bearing jammed on the screw heads, and I was unable to lower the sail in the the fall.  This Spring, I removed the screws, and then used set screws very close to the top of the unit.  I drilled and tapped through the aluminum extrusion and into the bearing, and installed 8-32 set screws, so that there would be no screw head to interfere with the swivel bearing.  I used Loctite on the screws as well.  I hope that the screws will hold in the aluminum.  It is very thin for threads.  Time will tell.  Just put the mast up Saturday, and probably won't be sailing for a few weeks.  Good luck.
Mike......