What happened to my CDI furler?

[sailboatmike]

I presume my furler was also fitted by a dealer, however after reading the instruction manual I found a few things that had not been done correctly as described in the manual, such as putting washers to pack out the anti rotation strap.

This is the quote from page 12 of the installation manual

"If after adjusting the lead block forward you still experience the furler lifting up off the bearing, add a piece of PVC tubing over the stay between the halyard top fitting and mast. This will prevent the system from rising up too much. Leave about ¼” play between the halyard top fitting and tubing. "

[Phil M]

I presume my furler was also fitted by a dealer, however after reading the instruction manual I found a few things that had not been done correctly as described in the manual, such as putting washers to pack out the anti rotation strap.

This is the quote from page 12 of the installation manual

"If after adjusting the lead block forward you still experience the furler lifting up off the bearing, add a piece of PVC tubing over the stay between the halyard top fitting and mast. This will prevent the system from rising up too much. Leave about ¼” play between the halyard top fitting and tubing. "

PVC tubing over the forestay between the top fitting and the shackle, not the mast, I presume? Good idea. I've never noticed that the system rises.
Maybe too busy looking at the beach instead of the furler drum.

[sailboatmike]

Yes I presume the same thing, the PVC goes between the halyard cap and the top fitting, I need to put in about 1 inch of spacer I think, I always wondered why my drum would lift if I pulled up, now I know

[paul I]

The drum does rise, and in accordance with Murphy's Law, will probably do so at the worst possible time. I had an issue early on with my where the line in the spool wound to the low side of the drum. It cause the drum to rise and then the whole mess got jammed. Crawling out to the pulpit to free it up while underway is not fun.

You do need enough play for the drum to rise to be able to adjust the forestay turnbuckle. After that, the play is not required unless other adjustments are needed. My solution is to attach a used spreader tip to the forstay about 1/4" above the furler foil. It works fine and the drum hasn't ever risen again.

[Phil M]

Now that I think of it, there was a time or two when the line did seem to Jam at the bottom of the spool, and I could never figure out why it would do that. Adding a piece of tubing at the top is a relatively easy fix.

[sailboatmike]

From this thread it seems many dealers didnt read the instructions when installing our furlers or they were just too lazy to do the job properly.

I do a preseason rigging check in which I check every bit of rigging, pins wires, toggles etc, because we live mast up I wont see those parts up the top close up for many months. I have now added removing, inspecting and cleaning the furler to the list, really its only a 10 minute job at best and many nasties can lurk under all that gear

[Phil M]

From this thread it seems many dealers didnt read the instructions when installing our furlers or they were just too lazy to do the job properly.

I do a preseason rigging check in which I check every bit of rigging, pins wires, toggles etc, because we live mast up I wont see those parts up the top close up for many months. I have now added removing, inspecting and cleaning the furler to the list, really its only a 10 minute job at best and many nasties can lurk under all that gear

What do you mean by inspecting? What ELSE can go wrong?

[sailboatmike]

From this thread it seems many dealers didnt read the instructions when installing our furlers or they were just too lazy to do the job properly.

I do a preseason rigging check in which I check every bit of rigging, pins wires, toggles etc, because we live mast up I wont see those parts up the top close up for many months. I have now added removing, inspecting and cleaning the furler to the list, really its only a 10 minute job at best and many nasties can lurk under all that gear

What do you mean by inspecting? What ELSE can go wrong?

Rivets coming out, broken strands on the wires, worn pins, elongated holes, swages cracking, turnbuckles coming undone, the list is long and I dont want my mast to come crashing down, not only could it seriously hurt or kill someone it would be very expensive to repair.

As they say an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of fixing