Jammed Furler.

[king11]

Hi All,
I have a new(2 yr. old) Harken furler on my CD 30 MkII, and a 130 genoa, also new. Sailing yesterday in 15-20kt winds, I had the jib furled to about 110%. When the time came came to furl the sails and head for the mooring, I could not furl the jib. Try as I might I could not pull the jib pennant to turn the drum. I managed to pick up the mooring with the jib still flailing about.
After the boat settled down at the mooring, I put the pennant on the main winch, and once I started to crank, the pennant pennant suddenly freed itself at the drum and I could then complete the furl with no problem.
I believe what happened is this; With the jib partially furled, a lot of the pennant is still wrapped on the drum. When sailing, the load on the jim is transmitted thru the clew to the jib sheet on one end and thru the jib to the furling rod and hence the drum at the other end. The only thing holding the drum from turning is the pennant. I believe the load on the pennant caused it to squeeze itself between the coils already on the drum and become fiercely wedged.
I'm wondering if anybody else has experienced a problem like this, and how to prevent it from happening again.

[Roy J.]

I have had the same experience. I now hold slight tension as I unfurl the genoa to assist the pennant to roll evenly onto the drum. I am hoping that with more even wrapping around the drum the pennant will not snag itself.

[Zeida]

Precisely what Roy describes is the problem! When furling AND unfurling, you MUST keep a slight tension on the furling sheet. Otherwise, it becomes tangled up inside the drum with the expected jamming result. A bit tricky when singlehanding, but knowing the consequences of every action helps when looking for ways to do things right.

[Paul D.]

I agree with the above stements. Having installed and sailed with a Harken for the last six years including up to 45 knots of wind, I have never had a problem. To the above I would add.

After six years, the black Harken supplied furling line now has shrunk to it's limit and I have just enough line to furl. I will replace the line within the next two seasons.

If halyard tension is too high then the sail may not furl easily. On our CD33 I hoist the genny by hand and only winch it if I notice horizontal wrinkles in the luff. I then take the tension off each evening and when moored by takin the halyard back to a jib sheet cleat. This saves cordage as it eliminates banging on the mast and chafe. (I do this with the main halylard too; it only adds an additional minute or to to my sailing set up/take down time which is still under ten minutes.)

Uncoil the furling line and spaghetti it out on the cockpit sole before unfurling the sail. If you get a twist that travels through the block and winds up on the drum that could cause a problemwhen it is time to furl or reef.

Hope this helps and all the best,

Paul

[johnny of STORK]

Another thing that will happen is that when you are sailing downwind wing-and-wing, sometimes the jib will collapse under the main, throwing all kinds of slack in the sheet and in the drum. If this happens enough times, there will be wicked overrides in the furling line on the drum, which won't become apparent until you try to furl the jib. Don't ask me how I know this. The solution is to use your whisker pole in that circumstance, so you can keep a little tension between the sheet and the furling line.

Johnny

[bottomscraper]

We had some problems when our furling line was a bit longer that it should have been. The extra line on the drum added bulk that would cause the drum to jam if the line didn't rewind evenly. We took the extra line off and it works much better. We still have enough line so we can get a few wraps of the sheets around sail when furled and have a few turns of the drum left to go.

[jerryaxler]

I've had the same experiences as stated in the above comments. The only thing I can add to the discussion is that we keep tension on the furling line once the sail is unfurled in order to avoid the overlaps that sometimes occur in heavy air when tacking thru the wind. The sail luffing seems to whip the furling body back and forth causing the overlaps.

[Joe Myerson]

Like everyone else who's answered this post, I found that it's important to keep some tension in the furling line. Another trick I learned (from SAIL magazine, I believe) is to coil my black, Harken-supplied furling line into tight figure-8s around my elbow before hanging it from the nearest lifeline.

Heading out from the mooring, I simply take the hank of line and lay it in the cockpit. The figure-8s keep it free of loops. Then, of course, I have to remember to keep it moderately taut while I unfurl the genny.

--Joe

[wlcoll42]

I experienced similar problems with my Harken roller furling on my CD30MKII. Three points to make: 1. As per the other posts, keep tension on the furling line when playing it out; if it is allowed to roll free, it will "backlash" like a fishing reel 2. We worked to insure that the furling line is exactly 90 degrees to the Harken drum. We added blocks, pad eyes, etc. to make this happen. 3. When rolling the sail in, fall off the wind, ease the appropriate sheet, and the sail should come in smoothly. We have not had any problems with our (original) Harken system since these adjustments have put in place. Do not use a winch to bring in line, as this puts tremendous pressure on the drum