SO 410 in mast furling problem

[joseph]

Dears,

I recently bought the new SO410 with in-mask-furling. The boat is great and work well. However, as the photo below, some part of the line inside the furler is not in the groove properly. I asked for the Dealer and it was because i unroll the main sail when this furling line had no tension on it. We should always have a bit of tension on this line whenever we use the fuller. Indeed I know very well, very well, it has to have the tension on it when furling, and i did try many times with no luck, no matter how high tension it is. what i am doing now is, one guy pull the outhaul and tension the furling line, and the other guy goes up to the deck and guide the line inside the groove when furling.

Just wonder any other sailor has the same issue ? or any comment ?

Thanks
Joseph

  

[Charlie-Bravo]

Your furling line will no doubt go from the furling screw through a pulley under the boom, if the pulley is set too far forward it can lead to a rope not sitting in the groove, and some pulley are attached with a long soft shackle to lower the pulley a little to help with the poor angle the rope leads into the screw.

yours looks strange in that the problem area is in the middle of the screw, ... I would have expected more troubles lower down.

Questions, how new is your furling line ? old soft rope can flatten and not locate nicely.
do you have a side on picture showing the boom pulley location ?
Does the sail furl by hand or are you finding you need the winch?

CB

[joseph]

Hi, CB,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, totally agreed what you said. The pulley under the boom has the poor angel to lead the furling line into the screw.

And, yes, this problem only happens in the lower down.

My boat is new, just arrived Hong Kong 5 months ago. The line of course was new, however, this furling line is becoming not very "Soft" now after few months under this circumstance   I know the soft rope helps the situation. 

Yes, i need the winch to sail furl. i do turn to the wind every time when furling the main.

Yesterday i put one more pulley about the boom vang temporarily, to improve the angel of the furling line into the screw. it helps temporarily.

until today, i still don't fully understand, am i the only one have this problem ?

Thanks
Joseph

    

[Charlie-Bravo]

Hi, nothing looking bad in the photos , and the temporary pulley looks to improve the rope angle even if just a temporary thing.
I am thinking that it should furl without the added pulley, and even though a bigger sail than mine, I would have thought it would furl by hand except in stronger winds perhaps, so, I feel something else is not running free. A bit of a hassle .. but you could take the sail off and spin the mast foil by hand, this will show up any stiff bits, and if none are found maybe review your furling technique, not suggesting you don't know what's what, but you shouldn't be head to wind to furl, but slightly on one tack to ease the path of the sail through the sail slot e.g if looking down from the sky your sail furls anti clockwise, you should furl on a little bit of starboard tack.
Perhaps we will receive a comment from an owner with the same model and furling main to confirm my suspicion that it should furl by hand.

CB

[moonshadow]

I have a similar usspar system on my 469. Although I would think furling by hand would be desired, mine had always needed to be winched in or out. Partly because of the tension needed to keep the furl tight as it is rolled up. I agree that dead upwind does not work as well as a bit of starboard wind as I roll it to help feed properly and with some tension.
I often find that if I release a bit of outhaul and let some wind provide tension as I roll it I get good results. Similar on the way out.
It looks like your problem is occurring where the two pieces of the furling from meet. I would send photos of this to USSpars and get their opinion. I have found them very good with fast help and good advice.

[joseph]

Dear Moon Shadow。Thanks a lot。：）Sounds of silence。

[ragtime]

You are not alone, we and our friend bought new SO 410s and the furling line always crossed the spiral profile of the furling drum. Because the furling drum is made of plastic, the furling line has destroyed the spiral increasing the problem leading to jamming which is absolutely disastrous. Zspars seem to have realised this problem and introduced aluminium furling drums but this does not solve the problem of incorrect angle of entry of the furling line.
One attempted solution to this is to remove the block from the boom and put the block on a line so that the point of entry is nearer the mast. You will have to experiment with the length. To remove the block from the underside of the boom means drilling out the rivets of the block retainer. I replaced this block with a better one. We still have the plastic furling drum which means someone standing at the mast to control the line delivery onto the spiral despite having made the attempted solution. The system is a disaster and b*****y dangerous if you consider what happens if it jams when trying to furl im strong winds. You will not be able to berth your boat in any harbour. It would mean releasing the main halyard and dropping the sail to the deck. Try doing that with a 14ms wind and seas, good luck.
Zspars and Jeanneau, get your nuts together.

[moonshadow]

After another year with my boat I continue to learn. I know that your boom angle is a bit different than mine, but I have only seen this problem occur when my boom is too high which causes a bad lead angle to the drum.

[yvla]

Hi I've exactly the same Issue on my SO410. Comment from the Jeanneau reseller is that everything is well mounted and works fine. But thats not the case. As a workaround I already change the rope upside donw to the pulley which decrease lead angle to the drum. Then before you let out the main sale realease the tension on the rope a bit by hand just before the mast. This is for me solving the issue. When we are with two people on board i always guide the line at the mast. That always works and so I don't damage the plasticque spiraal.
In the past is was alluminium but to lower the cost it's now made of plastique.