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Added a Johnson lever under the forestay, as many here have done. Adjusted the shrouds and etc. etc. Awesome.

So...the furling line runs up the port side in the little space under the stanchion mounting brackets, and then at the bow it used to run through a fairlead in front of the furler drum to turn it up to about the middle of the drum so it would wind/unwind relatively evenly. Since the lever raised the drum about 8 inches or so, the line which used to enter the drum at about 90-degrees and from the deck level, now has to be raised a similar height to reach the drum properly. I have found that the only reasonable solution is to put clamp-on fairleads or blocks on the bow pulpit rails (two direction changes) to route the furler line from the center of the drum and at the correct angle back to the cockpit where it used to once was.

Has this been everyone's experience when adding a Johnson lever under the forestay?

Yep, at least with my install. I didn't even think about the angle of the line until I was re-spooling the furler line on the drum then had that ah-ha moment. I ended up doing the same thing but only required one block mounted to the base of the pulpit stanchion. I installed the shorted Johnson though so the height change wasn't too dramatic.

I am facing the same issue. Any chance of posting a photograph please?

innervations wrote:I am facing the same issue. Any chance of posting a photograph please?

LOL...i wuz hoping for some volunteers to do that also...

It's always the stuff I think people would find too boring and not worth photographing that piques someone's interest... I'll take a shot of the block positioning and upload it tomorrow. You'll just have to use your imagination on the furling line routing since the mast won't be up.

Yep, this is what happens. I recommend the "hose clamp fairleads" you can just screw onto the stanchions that they sell at West Marine.

OK, as promised, a photo of my Harken clamp on block.



I tried to find the original receipt after looking it up on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Harken-Furling-Sy ... +stanchion

They want $52.27 for their's but I am pretty sure I bought it from a shop in Lenexa, KS for $10-15 bucks.
Good luck with your mod. Hope this helps.

mastreb wrote:Yep, this is what happens. I recommend the "hose clamp fairleads" you can just screw onto the stanchions that they sell at West Marine.

That's exactly what i used... I'll get a pic of what i did and post it...because it's sunny and warm here and i can walk outside barefoot and don't have to shovel snow off the boat cover.



Okay okay, i was just joking!

Thanks Azzarac. Much appreciated.

I used the clamp-on bulls-eye type fairleads like the Spinlock WL/1 further back on another boat, for shallow angle changes of the furling line. Cheaper than sheave types at about $20, and for shallow angles of bend, not enough friction to be noticeable. But a ball bearing block like the one in the picture above is best for that last turn.

I have small ball bearing blocks clipped to my lifeline stanchions with shackles now (but with the original stand-up block near the furler), but it's not so good as if the line gets slack, the blocks and line can get tangled and jam. Too much of a good thing (ball bearing blocks) is not necessarily a good thing. One of these days, I'll change them out for the WL/1's, for both the furler, and the spinnaker tack line.

I also used the harken clamp on blocks on the stantions, I actually bought 2 and put 1 further back on the stantion to help run the furling line and it works great. but i found that I feel i need to move the hounds up father than 8 inches? did anyone else find they needed to do that?

But those little blocks work well as they swivel and tilt to meet the angles needed to keep the line from chaffing

Okay, finally got a picture. Wasn't a weather delay, just a lot of work...

So here's what i did. The line feeds in towards the top or bottom of the drum based on how much line stacks up and self-adjusts.
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=C64C38D6 ... 216676&v=3

On the bright side, i hear from other friends that the weather may be turning up there and things are starting to thaw??

It looks, from here at least, like it needs to move up a little. The line should be square to the middle of the drum, so the fleet angle is the same both sides of center. But it could just be the way it looks from waaaay over here, of course.

Tomfoolery wrote:The line should be square to the middle of the drum, so the fleet angle is the same both sides of center.

You are correct, and I figgered it might look like that. I tried to explain that it goes up or down depending on the way the line is coiling on the drum. This just happened to coil at the top first then spilled down to the bottom. I have tried it in several spots and that seems to be the best so far...it looks different each time I do it.

There is also a bit more slack in the furler as far as twist goes because of the extra connection points, so it tends to rack back and forth more than before when furling or unfurling...twists when you pull the lines. Do you experience that also?