Roller furler explosion

[LakeMac26C]

As you can guess, I'm having some serious issues with my roller furler. The PO gave me like three paper manuals for a CDI Flexible Furler 2, but the parts on mine don't quite match up to the diagrams. So my first question is, what kind of furler DO I have???

So onto the problem. At first, the furler worked great! The sail rolled up and out nicely without so much as a couple ounces of resistance. Butter smooth. Then it started to get more difficult and I would get the notorious "bird caging" where the furling line would wrap itself in a knot inside the drum. Now, it either bird cages or the inner drum separates from the outer housing completely!

I've tried to take the furler apart and was nervous the internal turnbuckle was coming undone and I was going to be demasted. The turnbuckle looked fine, but I noticed the PO had wound the furler the WRONG way. I set it now for the correct way because the headsail has a small protective fabric cover that is now exposed, correctly, when I furl it. I have been making sure I have a slight tension on both lines when furling and deploying the sail. I believe I have a good sheeting angle from the line to the drum. There were no mechanical issues inside the drum that I could find; all the hardware was clean and spun freely by hand. I always make sure I have a few extra wraps on the drum when its furled, too. I haven't taken the furling foil off the headstay yet to see if there is anything going on there.

This issue makes it dangerous to sail because of how much of a struggle is needed to get the sail furled on the water. I often have to go forward for an extended period of time with tools to unjamb it. And now the inner drum popping off from the cover is scaring me. Anyone know what is going on? I'll attach more photos soon.

[Jimmyt]

Your furling line should be led onto the drum perpendicular to the drum. The furling line should not exert a force up or down on the drum.

if your photo doesn't show the true angle of your furling line, then maybe I'm wrong. But, it looks like furling will exert an upward pull on the drum...

The CDI Furler does not have anything to retain the spool in the housing (other than gravity). It is screwed to the extrusion, and the top of the extrusion rotates and slides freely on the forestay. So, if you exerted a strong pull on the drum and your forestay has a bit of sag, you may have simply pulled the assembly up the forestay.

Do you have the manual on your Furler? Im guessing not based on the comment about not knowing what Furler you have. A parts breakdown, exploded view, etc. would be helpful in figuring out what might have gone wrong. My hunch is, when you get it apart, the problem will be obvious.

The good news is, if the sail was furling the wrong way, the PO may have just failed to put the Furler together properly, or failed to lead the furling line onto the drum properly. You might get lucky and be able to correct an error and be back in business (I hope).

Sorry I can't be more help. My Furler looks nothing like that.

[NiceAft]

I'm presently out of the country (Zurich), so I can't look at my furler; it looks like your line is rubbing against the outer housing, that shouldn't be. Can you rotate that housing so there is no contact?

Shouldn't that housing be covering the spool that the line wraps around?

Again, out of the country, Can't look at mine.

https://www.sailrite.com/CDI-Furler-Flexible-FF1

[LakeMac26C]

Your furling line should be led onto the drum perpendicular to the drum. The furling line should not exert a force up or down on the drum.

if your photo doesn't show the true angle of your furling line, then maybe I'm wrong. But, it looks like furling will exert an upward pull on the drum...

The picture is just a demonstration of the problem. I think I was tooling on it when I took this pictures so I'm sure I removed the furling line from the pulley that sits near the base of it. I believe it is at a good angle to the drum for proper operation, but the system does look a little odd. Maybe an older version of the CDI furler?

it looks like your line is rubbing against the outer housing, that shouldn't be. Can you rotate that housing so there is no contact?

Shouldn't that housing be covering the spool that the line wraps around?

Again, out of the country, Can't look at mine.

https://www.sailrite.com/CDI-Furler-Flexible-FF1

Yes. It is potentially rubbing against the drum. I've tried to adjust the antirotation strap a few times and didn't get much satisfaction on the alternate angles, but I'll give it another try. Yes, the cover should be totally around the inner drum which has the furling line around it. This is the popping problem I was talking about. I believe I was hauling on the jibsheets to deploy the headsail and that's often when the inner drum pops out of the top of the assembly. Very scary when it happens, but it appears its only gravity that holds the assembly down. It does have a screw to hold the luff foil onto the inner drum, but there is no bearing on the top to keep the whole furler from rising on the headstay.

[LakeMac26C]

Here are some pictures of the setup. I know that the opening of the furling drum is on the wrong side. I had to work out a serious knot/line jambing/popping issue I was having and it was 100x easier working on it facing forward. Hopefully I can get this straightened out. I did notice that the headsail is in rather sorry shape and should be replaced anyway. If I don't have any luck with this furling system, I think I'll just go back to a hank on jib and new headstay. This furler is a PitA to trailer and to rig every time. And because its giving me so many serious problems on the water, the furling feature is not an asset. A standard jib with a downhaul seems like a good enough option for me.

[KonstantinAtHouston]

I'm not sure if this could be a contributing factor, but my furler uses 3/16" line, which looks considerably thinner than what yours is using.

[LakeMac26C]

I'm not sure if this could be a contributing factor, but my furler uses 3/16" line, which looks considerably thinner than what yours is using.

Good point. The furling line does seem unusually thick. Its hard to get the right number of turns on the drum without it rubbing on the body of the furler. I'll have to buy some more line and try it out.

[Russ]

The furler line should NOT be nylon as it stretches. Some form of polyester is what you need. Like what sheets and halyards are made of.

My furler line is substantially thinner than what you have.

[pitchpolehobie]

Ive used paracord 750 in mine and it works well. Even 3-16 seemed to get caught in my furling drum based on how the PO had the fairleads positioned. The paracord is smooth and glides thru easily. Its important to fuse the ends so the internal strength bearing lines do not retract from the sheeath. Ive used it this way for 18mos and no issues at all. I havent found a new line was worth the money. I would NOT use any smaller paracord as it could be hard to pull if you need to reef in a blow.


Furling line is black, cam is used to hold briefly when singlehanding then tied to horn cleat.

[Highlander]

I think u have to turn the drum around 1/2 a turn so as the opening is facing aft or did u just have it like this for working on it ?
here the manual for the CDI #2 furler which I believe u should have , I know the had the CDI #1 furler
https://www.sailrite.com/PDF/FF2-Online-Manual.pdf

hope this helps u out , if the furling line is bunching up & or twisting it,s likely needing to b untwisted by unfurling the furler then run the line thru ur hand by pulling it thru with the other hand & let the line tail spin as it untwists itself u might have to do this 3 or 4 times , I do this all the time with my excess sheet lines to keep them from twisting or coiling into knots same with my halyards

J

[KonstantinAtHouston]

I'm not sure if this could be a contributing factor, but my furler uses 3/16" line, which looks considerably thinner than what yours is using.

Good point. The furling line does seem unusually thick. Its hard to get the right number of turns on the drum without it rubbing on the body of the furler. I'll have to buy some more line and try it out.

Please do not forget to tell us about results. It's very important -- episode with confirmed results makes new contribution to collective knowledge of this great community, while questions and discussions with no confirmation remain, well, just questions.

[Russ]

Reefing line is black, cam is used to hold briefly when singlehanding then tied to horn cleat.

What is a "reefing line"? And what is the green one?

[LakeMac26C]

The drum is rotated in some of the pictures to open forward just to simplify repairing it. I normally use it with the opening facing aft. I will surely post if there are any positive changes with the setup. I think I will try to get a smaller diameter line for the furler/reefing line and make sure there are no kinks in the line. I've done something similar with anchor rode by trailing it in the water while sailing to get all the set out of the line. Of course, that's braided nylon and this line is typical yacht braid. The sheeting angle is also suspect as the PO simply had a tiny pulley near the furling drum as it worked its way aft to the cockpit. Maybe I need to move the eye strap or fairlead somewhere better?

Can someone send me a picture of the bow of their boat and how the furler initially runs through the boat?

That .pdf is really nice and is essentially the same as the manual I already have. The principle difference is in all the diagrams I've seen, the furler has two separate attachment points on the drum for the sail: one for the tack of the sail and another one on the opposite side for the halyard. Mine only has one place to attach both and it seems very haphazard. It doesn't seem like there is a place to attach them separately. That's why its so confusing to find official information about my system...no labels, model numbers, or nothing.

[pitchpolehobie]

Reefing line is black, cam is used to hold briefly when singlehanding then tied to horn cleat.

What is a "reefing line"? And what is the green one?

Furling line is the black one. Doing two things at once when I typed that. The green is my port jib sheet.

[LakeMac26C]

I took the furler luff foil off the headstay and was happy to find that there was no damage to the foil or the headstay. So that's not my problem. I'm going to WM now to buy some 3/16" line and start there. I assume at this point the problem is with the drum sheeting angle. Maybe I'll install some deck hardware to improve the operation of the furler. Or maybe the thinner line will make all the difference.