LM 32 to hard to bring out and in the furling mainsail.

[bojenjoe]

Dear LM-Owners in the world,

I bought my LM 32 last year in GB.

Now I have the problem that my furling system

for the main sail goes very, very hard to bring

out and in, not good by strong wind. At my last trail I breack

the reef rope of the main sail, so hard goes the furling system.

The furling system is: Easy Reef at the mast

and the main sail is from Maxi Roach.

Has any one an experience with this main sail furling system?

Is it better to rebuilt the furling main rigging system to a simple

lug Lazy Jack system to have a reliable system in difficult

situations on sea.

Thank you very much

your Josef from Germany / Bavaria

[oceandancer]

Hi Bojenjoe,

I have exactly the same sail on my lm27 which is now 20 years old. You do not mention which mast you have, this is important as the problem you have may be in the mast, not the sail.

My mast is a Z Spars Z300E. Whatever mast you have it is important to keep the ball races at the top and bottom of the furling drum well greased.This is an annual task according to Z Spars. It may be necessary to take off the mainsail and extract the furling drum in order to do this properly. Make sure all the balls are present in the race, clean out the old grease and any rubbish which has accumulated and re pack with a waterproof grease.

The profile of your mast, particularly the slot width and the type of battens used are also important. You don't mention battens but these can be a major source of problems if they are incompatible with the slot. If your mast is fitted with plastic extrusions along the slot consider removing them to make the slot wider. Very thin fibreglass battens, much thinner than the original Maxi Roach diamond section are available, these may be a bit whippy and the roach may not stand up well, however, I have fitted them to good effect.

The fit of the battens, particularly in their pockets at the foot of the sail is another problem area. The battens tend to twist and develop a spiral around the mast after several years use, they will not sit well in the pockets and are difficult to pass through the slot,  but they can be replaced.

The way you furl the sail is very important to efficient use and this is the primary cause of problems with all in mast mainsails. The sail MUST be furled and unfurled with the wind ahead.
If you try to furl it with wind in the sail it will not furl vertically and folds will develop in the leach making it very difficult to unfurl again.

Friction - this is a very important consideration on all LMs fitted with furling mainsails. It is nigh on impossible to get the outhaul and furling line to run really free on account of them having to be routed around the wheelhouse.

This is how I get over it. When UNFURLING get hold of the outhaul along the boom and pull the sail out of the mast rather than through the blocks. You can stand on the aft deck to do this.

When FURLING make sure that the mainsheet is released from the jaws of the camcleat. I know yours is on the roof and this may be overlooked, it must be FREE TO RUN. Before furling get hold of the outhaul rope once again along the boom and pull out a good quantity from the sheave. You will find that, as you furl, the outhaul will go taut again - pull out some more to keep the friction down.

When the friction has been eased in this way I am then able to use the winch to furl the sail safely . DO NOT use the winch if the furling line is really tight as this will furl the sail in a non vertical fashion, the lower edge being pulled ahead of the rest of the sail and this is the cause of more problems when unfurling.

That's quite a lot of advice and some of it may not be appropriate to your boat but I hope that it gives you some useful points.

Regards

Mick Legg

[petedg]

Hi Josef
To see if it is a problem with the furling system or the sail I would suggest that you remove the sail and see if the furling system on its own runs smoothly. Once it all runs smoothly without you can then refit the sail and try again. It is important that the boom is at the correct angle and and if there are battens it is important that they are parallel to the mast when furling.
Regards
Peter