roller furled jib

[smithel]

i never had a roller furled jib, and mines not working right, cant pull it in to furl up, i think it came unwound, how do you rewind it?, someone said the tension on the headstay has to be very taut to work correctly?Anybody know anything about these?

[john mahoney]

Did it ever work right?
You need to make sure it has all the components. Mine is set up without a headstay. It has a wire sewn into the luff of the jib. If you use a headstay without a snap on furling foil of some kind and dont have it set up right it can cause binding. If it is just a matter of re-doing the line, you have to disconect th sail from the drum, and spin the drum until it has a bunch of line in it. If when you are done and put the sail back on and it doesn't work, you have other problems.

[smithel]

mine i think is the original that came with the boat, the jib is the headstay, so i take it off and rewind it, try again,

[Roger]

Simply wind up the sail by hand, then reattach the furling line, then pull out the sail by hand, thereby winding up the new furling line. Once the sail is out, pull on the furling line to furl it. Perhaps do this a couple of times to ensure that the line is of sufficient length. Some people will wind the sail a few more turns so that the jib sheets take a couple or more wraps around the furled sail before attaching the furling line. This always ensures a snug wrap and still leaves a turn or two of furling line on the drum when the sail is furled.

If that is not resolving the issue you may have bearing binding on the drum at the bottom or swivel at the top. Also the drum mechanism may be binding on the turnbuckle or cotterpins.

If it turn by hand, the problem may simply be a furling line that has an overwrap on it.