[Public-list] Furler/forestay halyard wrapping

[J Bergquist]

Eddie-

I have been up my mast 8 times in the past 3 weeks. I have looked
closely at my forestay and have not noticed any wire separation, so I
don't think this is a problem for me. I am not sure why I don't have
this problem. Actually, you're making me think maybe I should go back up
and check before I pay with a fallen mast...

However, I am not sure how the halyard snagging on the headfoil would
unwind the forestay? Maybe your furling system is a little different
than mine. I have a harken furler. Mine works by a drum at the base of
the forestay which has a slot that a headfoil track fits into. At the
head of the sail, there is a bearing which can spin around the headfoil.
What happens when you have the sail hoisted is the drum turns the
foil/track and this rolls up the jib. The bearing which is attached to
the head of the sail has 2 parts: one which is attached to the halyard,
which does NOT spin, and a second which is attached to the head of the
sail, which spins with the foil. What was happening when I snagged the
halyard was that a sharp edge on the spinning foil would catch on the
halyard (which is NOT supposed to spin) and this would prevent the
foil/track from rotating. The reason this occurs is because the lead for
the halyard allows the line to be too close to the foil. As I mentioned,
I alleviated this problem by covering the halyard with a piece of shroud
roller (basically, small pvc pipe), which cannot be snagged because it's
not fibrous. The sharp edge on the end of the headfoil doesn't snag it,
so the foil rotates cleanly and the sail rolls up while the halyard
doesn't snag. 

Nowhere in the mix does the forestay have any twisting moment applied to
it. Even if the halyard snags, since the foil just rides over the
forestay, there's nothing to snag it. 

My best guess on why I never had this problem before in 2 years of use
is that there used to be a black plastic cap which covered the outside
of the foil/track and which prevented the sharp edge of the track top
from touching the halyard. I think this piece was glued on and the glue
failed so it started to slide down over the track. This resulted in the
sharp edge being exposed and the halyard snagging. That's just a theory.


Boy a picture sure is worth a thousand words!

Kind regards,

J Bergquist
Calliope #287

-----Original Message-----
From: public-list-bounces at alberg30.org
[mailto:public-list-bounces at alberg30.org] On Behalf Of
EddieDiver at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2004 9:29 AM
To: public-list at alberg30.org
Subject: Re: [Public-list] Furler/forestay halyard wrapping

What about the "fact" that with the separation of the 19 strands you may

have lost 50% of the wire strength? I went aloft and took a digital
picture of  
the wire separation. One can see light between the wires. The 3 riggers
said  
that as the forestay flexes when the boat hits waves or a gust of wind
forces  
the forestay to pull harder, the wires will work harden and become
brittle. 
When  the first of the wires break, all is lost.
 
 Ed. Schroeder
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