Have a 20 month old furler which up until recently has worked very well.

Lately the line has not been rolling up correctly on the drum and when I go to furl the sail in the line fouls. When I check it the line has come off the bottom of the drum. Is the line too thick or has the salt made it stiff and caused problems with it coiling on the drum.

I could'nt find anything in the manual although I did see where I am supposed to put some grease every 12 months for maintenance. What grease is best?
thx in advance

Have you tried getting someone to furl/unfurl it while you are on the foredeck looking at the furler and watch what happens as the line enters the furler


I have never had one of these apart but looking at the picture and your photo I think that the 14's on top are there (they have the Furlex name on them and it should be obvious if the lowers are there as well

The line guard (no 16) appears to wrap around the drum and expand and contract as the line comes on to and leaves the drum to prevent the line from falling of the top or bottom of the drum and I am wondering if it is stuck in the expanded position and not doing its job

It is a simple looking bit of gear so if you watch what is happening as it curls and unfurls it should be fairly obvious what is wrong

On page 47 of this www.seldenmast.com/files/1408026206/595-102-E.pdf it shows you how to remove the covers

Regards Don

I have an older model Furlex with the protruding fairlead. The "line guard housing"(15) around the drum has been removed to allow more furling line for the sail. Now there is nothing to stop loops of rope falling off the drum and wrapping around the stay, this happens when unfurling the jib and not enough tension is applied to the furling line or the line has become simply just slack when the sail is out, it becomes a real pain in the butt.
I found the removed housing in the boat so its going back on and I will do what furlex suggest and remove the first few feet/ meter of inner core of the furling line (drum end) to reduce the coiled rope diameter

thx for the info gents!

I will check things out again and will most probably drop the line size

Donk107 said..

keensailor said..
thx for the info gents!

I will check things out again and will most probably drop the line size

If it has been working for 20 months with that size of line on it reducing the line size should not be necessary to make it work again

I would be looking to see what the actual cause is and as I said earlier it is a fairly simple bit of gear so it should not be to difficult to see what the problem is

Regards Don

May not be the problem but if you have changed a head sail, specifically to a larger one, you need more coils on the drum to furl it, this can cause them to jam up and force them to break because the drum may not have the capacity for the size of rope you are using.

I would definately do what Don suggested first and stand on the bow and unfurl/ furl the jib to see what is happening before changing the furling line

So who are you in love with HG??

I bought a tube of furlex grease several years ago. It has a noozle that you can squeeze grease on to the lubrication points on furler. Bit expensive but works well.

Ramona said..
I used to have the same problem. Dropped the line size down to 5mm and problem went away.

When deploying the headsail keep some weight on the furling line and cleat it off so that there is very little slack on the drum. When furling keep some tension on the sheets and only furl with hand power. I use a dinghy ratchet block as a turning block. Naturally when leaving the boat make sure you have 3 or 4 wraps of the sheet over the furled sail and the furling line properly cleated off.

Dinghy rachet block as a turning block, thats a great idea!

What's the go with using grease, does it cause problems?