MacGregorSailors.com

Hi all,
I have a recently purchased Mac26M that i am getting used to and discovering the little jobs that need doing!
One of those is the Genoa furler. I can hoist the Genoa fine by pulling on the sheets with little effort however when it comes time to furl the sail back up it is a different matter. It seems to be stuck solid if just pulling on the furling line. I haven't tried winching as i am afraid of damaging the system so have gone up on the foredeck and by a mixture of rolling the sail manually and pulling the line there i can get it started and part furled, at which point the line to the cockpit works fine.
Is this normal? Should i try winching it to get it started or is there some lubrication/maintenance that is required?
Regards and happy sailing,
Mike

This may not be the cause of your issue, however, we had a similar problem. I believe the cause to be a kink or bend in the furling system plastic extrusion mounted on the forestay. The furler took on a bend where it lay across the spreaders when bungeed to the mast for trailering. After changing trailering procedures to include removing the spreaders, primarily to get away from the mac dance required to get the spreaders under the safety lines, the furler could lay flat the full length of the mast and the kink straightened out for the most part. The furler now runs freely with no binding.

Marc

It is not normal and there are a bunch of things that can cause the problem.

- Check to make sure your furled halyard is running freely (as mentioned, if it is rubbing on something that can make it hard)
- Check to make sure you do not have a bind in the drum
- Make sure the jib halyard is not binding/wrapping up by the mast hound

Most often caused by not keeping a slight amount of tension on the furling ling when unfurling. Not doing this will allow the line to wind incorrectly and "lock-up" in the drum. Ever deal with a backlash on a casting reel?. You may have to unwrap the line at the drum, while furling the sail by hand. Worst case will be to feed the line backwards through the drum, one wrap at a time with the sail unfurled; then carefully furl the sail without allowing the furling line to wind on the drum. When done, you should leave one wrap on the drum when the sail is furled.

~Rich

Thanks all. Great advice. I'm up at the boat tomorrow so will check and test it again.
Mike

Also, what is the diameter of the line around the drum. If it is too thick, you will be forcing too much into a small space when fully unfurled. You will then have a difficult time trying to furl the Genoa until the drum can spin without anything binding.

Ray

Hi Mike!

You might also check that the line comes off the furler at a right angle to the drum. The dealer installed the first fairlead too high on my Mac, and the line bunched up at the top and jammed up every time. I have a lower one which I will try installing this season.

- Brian

seahouse wrote:Hi Mike!

You might also check that the line comes off the furler at a right angle to the drum. The dealer installed the first fairlead too high on my Mac, and the line bunched up at the top and jammed up every time. I have a lower one which I will try installing this season.

- Brian

On my Mac the furling line comes out of the drum and goes under the port side bow cleat. This seems to keep it at the proper angle. I use 1/8" Sta-Set Polyester Braid (from West Marine). Works well for me. Originally I had a bigger type of line...don't remember specifically what size it was...but the furling drum would get over full.

And completely agree with the earlier comment from Rich...must keep tension on the furling line when you are allowing the sail to un-furl...other wise you could end up with a back-lash mess inside the drum. BTDT...

Good Luck.

Cheers,
Jim

My line is the appropriate diameter because I can manually roll it up to fit, which is what I had to do.

My boat will be out of storage next month and I'll have to check the deck cleat thing - thanks for that Jim!

- Brian.

Hi again all and thanks for the posts. The solution to the problem appears to have been the simplest thankfully. Keeping tension on the furling line when setting the genoa did the trick and now it furls easily every time. Thanks.
Mike