roller furler failure

[sailaway]

Had a problem with furling jib would not come out. I have a 1986 pro furl. Got back to  the dock furler would not turn.  Took the jib off every thing check out OK.  Put the jib back on every thing is OK now. I think maybe the halyard shackle got caught on the furling foil. Has any one had a problem with the furler. Charlie

[learjetzz]

Charlie,
Your right mine had the shackle problem too ,  cheap fix.

[Stu Jackson]

The "trick" with a ProFurl unit is to always assure yourself that the halyard tang is as high as possible, past "The Darth Vader" black top halyard keeper.  Others may not know this, but ProFurl is the only unit (I know of) that doesn't require a separate halyard restrainer, since the top section has one built in on the top of the uppermost foil and the top swivel.

Sometimes halyards stretch, and when that happens, it can allow the tang AND the circular ring halyard connector to slip below the Darth Vader - this is not good and is most likely the cause of your issue.  And I think you "cured it" when you re-snugged the halyard after re-raising the jib.

I regularly check mine.  Sometimes I think it stays up there only because of the bowline knot I tied on the ring with the halyard!    Even if the ring could slip past the DV, the knot keeps it all up there!!!  I don't like snap shackles, even if I can see 'em and touch 'em.

So, regularly raise your halyard and keep it tight.

If your jib's luff is not full foil length, many folks also have a pendant at the top of the foil, keeping the tack of the sail as low as possible.  I've found it's better (and may also be in the ProFurl manual) that it's best to keep the pendant at the tack of the sail, rather than the head.  For the ProFurl unit, this works better MUCH better than at the head.  I have my pendant on the tack, and find I have better and safer visibility forward under the foot of the jib.

[Ken Juul]

To amplify what Stu said about keeping the head of the sail as high as possible.  Almost all furlers can suffer from halyard wrap around the top of the forstay if the distance from the sheeve to the head is too long.  With the halyard basically parallel to the forstay, it doesn't take much halyard slack and a slightly sticky upper swivel to wrap the halyard around the forestay, once the slack is gone, furling stops.  Two ways to counter this....keep the halyard as short as possible or add a halyard restrainer.  The retrainer is just a turning block placed a short distance down the mast so that the halyard approaches the swivel at an acute angle instead of being parallel.  The restrainer is in red in the picture.

Rather than add hardware, I too prefer to raise the sail as high as I can and use a tack line at the bottom.

[Freshwater]

Here's a related question. I recently acquired a C34 (and have all of three hours sailing time on her under my belt as of yesterday!). The prior owner said it was his practice to ease the genoa halyard a little bit (an inch or two) when not sailing to take pressure off the rig. Any thoughts on whether this is a good idea, or whether I should just leave the halyard taut?

[Ted Pounds]

When I bought a new genoa my sailmaker said the same thing.  I believe it was to keep from prematurely stretching the sail. 

[Stu Jackson]

Freshwater,

The rig's a lot stronger than the sail or halyard, so on its face, the concept as expressed to you is nonsense.  However, Ted's right that easing the halyard is good for the sail, by not having constant tension on the luff of the jib when it's not being used.

That said, it does little good if you furl your jib and then loosen the halyard, 'cuz the jib's tightly rolled and you could still well have that tension on the luff when it's furled.

That's why I have our jib pendants down low, so that before I furl the jib, I loosen the pendant, then furl it.  The pendant is low stretch thin line that runs between the D shackle at the furler drum and the tack cringle of the jib a few times, and gives me the leverage needed to tighten it once the jib is unfurled.    

I leave my jib halyard at the mast on a cleat.  It used to be brought back to the cockpit, but since I don't need it on a daily sailing basis, I've freed up the port side for a cunningham.  I only tighten the halyard as discussed in my earlier post.

************

Ken, just to repeat, halyard restrainers are a very good idea, ONLY NOT for ProFurl units, they are simply not required.  Read about the "Wrapstop" here:  http://www.profurlamerica.com/us/reefing-furling-systems/classic.htm

This design is unique to ProFurl and is the only make of furler I know that doesn not require a halyard restrainer.