My new sails arrived Friday so I went up to install them yesterday since there was no wind. I have a Harken roller furler. All went well except as I rolled in the head sail, the halyard wrapped around the top of the furler making it hard to roll the sheets around the sail. I tried easing the hayard a bit, I tried tightening it some too. I've not had the problem before. Any tricks I'm missing? Seems I read about others with the same problem, but I can't find reference to it. Thanks!
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Mark Swenson
Everett, WA
Hull #1016, unnamed
You are probably having this problem because your new sail is shorter than your old one. If there is too much distance between the sheave where the halyard exits the mast and the top of the sail, the halyard will wrap around the stay. This can be a serious problem that is easy to fix but it is very important that you fix it. If you force the sail to furl by pulling very hard or use a winch you can twist the headstay to the point that it breaks. You can add a pendant (short piece of cable or strap) that lets the top off the sail to be raised higher so that no more than 6 inches of halyard is exposed. You can also install a halyard restrainer. It is basically a special purpose block that mounts high on the mast within six inches of the top of the sail. If there is more than 12 inches of halyard exposed I would complain to my sailmaker and ask why they didn't measure the boat and make the sail the correct dimension.
Good sailing
Bob Uehlein
Island Time C36 424
Charlevoix, MI