26M CDI RF - Problems with installing Jib

[roystrutt]

I have a 26M with CDI roller furling for the jib - new owner

I am having problems fitting the jib to the luff - I manage to get it up the channel so far and then the friction just makes it impossible - leaving about 5 feet of sail to go

I have tried a Teflon spray lubricant - this did improve it but I still cannot reach the top

I wondered if I was using an incorrect sail - although it is marked up as the 26m RF Jib

It measures 25ft on the edge with the luff tape
21 ft 4 in on the other dimension - and 11ft at the foot of the sail

The luff tape does fit through the cutout in the luff OK but each inch needs careful feeding to avoid jamming

Could anybody help with the problem ?

Thank you

Roy

[craiglaforce]

I had the same problem.
Bought a thing called fastrac from West marine.


http://camdenboatworks.com/catalog/prod ... 029c122301



It is a piece of sail about 3 inches long that you goop up with dielectric grease and hoist and lower in the luff groove a couple of times to grease the groove.
It looks like a tiny jib that you attach the jib halyard and downhaul to before attaching the jib.
Made a huge difference.
The tube of grease it comes with is small (plus I stepped on it accidently, works good as a deck and shoe lubricant also) so I bought a much larger tube at radio shack. seems to be the same stuff.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?c ... id=64-2326

[Dimitri-2000X-Tampa]

I thought you weren't supposed to use anything other than silicone lubricant for these sorts of things?

When I haul up my Genoa in the track, besides the obvious problem with the luff tape kinking up to prevent it going in the track, I find that there is an issue with the weight of the sail too. To get it up those last couple of feet, I have to basically lift the lower part of the sail up with my hands so that the luff tape will keep threading. A good trick is to step on the downhaul with your feet as you use both hands (pressing the sail between them) to force the bottom part of the luff (where your hand level would be when standing) up higher in the groove. This always works well and to get proper tension on the luff, you want to end up with the ring up a few inches from where it ties off at anyway. This is because the luff will stretch back down from top to bottom when you are ready to tie off the ring. If you don't do this, you may end up with some horizontal wrinkles near the luff which is not good for performance.

[craiglaforce]

Its been working well for me and it is sold specifically by fastrac for this purpose. I just lube the groove once in the spring. 2 or 3 years now and no problems. Before this I would wrap the line around a wooden handle, stand on the trailer tongue and pull so hard to hoist the jib that I thought I would break something. Even with all this it was almost impossible. Now it slides right up and I can easily hoist from the foredeck.
The lube says it does not attract dust and is highly resistant to salt water. It is clear stuff and you can't see it on the sail.

Im no expert on the stuff, but it has done the trick for me.

[Chip Hindes]

I'm about 99% certain that "dielectric" grease is a fancy name for silicone.

[craiglaforce]

I just looked at the 2 links I posted above to check to see what the goop is.
Apparently the Radio shack stuff is PTFE lube and the Fastrac is some proprietary stuff they claim is better than PTFE. So my previous assumption was wrong that they were the same stuff. They just looked the same. Both lubes seemed to work fine.