Keeping a roller furling unit reliable through the years means periodic inspection and maintenance.

Few would dispute the fact that roller furling systems have made sailing easier and more enjoyable. Yet it occurred to me that as I age (and require periodic maintenance), so do those furling systems made ten, twenty, and even thirty years ago. Some of these units are probably on their second or third owner. The original owner’s manual may have been misplaced long ago, and the research driving the first owner toward buying a particular brand is likely lost on the current owner as well.

Today, there are a wide variety of headsail furling systems out there and they are all slightly different. Some roller furling systems are designed to go over existing headstays without any modification, while others replace the original headstay with their own extruded aluminum foil. Others required modifying the existing headstay to accommodate installing the foils. There are furling systems that have their own built in turnbuckle mechanism. There are furling systems that utilize the existing headstay turnbuckle and there are furlers that are fixed-length with no adjustment other than link plates or toggles. The bottom line is not to take your furler for granted and to become familiar with the particular technical details of the brand on your boat. Read the manual and if you don’t have one, it’s easy to get one. Most manufacturers have websites where you can download the manual from.

To keep this article from becoming a five hundred-page reference book I’d like to focus on just two types of headsail furling systems: furling systems that work by making sailing more enjoyable, and the second type of furling system, those that make sailing a test of patience and risk fouling at the least opportune moment.

A tale of two masts: the mast on the left risks tangling the spinnaker halyard in the upper roller furling swivel. The mast on the right uses a halyard diverter to keep the jib halyard from getting wrapped in the upper swivel.

If your headsail furling system is of the later, troublesome style, the first thing to check is the set up of the upper halyard swivel. Halyard wrap is the number one reason for a jammed furling system. If you ever experience resistance when furling the headsail, look up at the halyard swivel and make sure the halyard has not wrapped or partially wrapped itself around the headstay. It’s good practice to periodically look up when furling the headsail, as halyard wrap can ruin both the halyard and the headstay--an expensive proposition. Another common problem is a furling system that will partially furl then stop, and then furl again, and then stop. You can complete the furl in the end, but operating the furler wasn’t smooth or consistent. What is happening is that the halyard is starting to wrap at the top, locking up the furling system, and then unwrapping when you ease the pressure on the furling line. The solution is to check your upper halyard swivel position, and to make sure it is high enough to keep the halyard from wrapping. Halyard diverters are one means to do this--the restrainer holds the halyard back against the mast keeping the halyard from wrapping around the foil. Another solution is adding a pennant to either the tack or head of the sail which allows the upper halyard swivel to get close enough to the sheave box and keeps the halyard from wrapping and out of harm’s way.

If your furling system has ball bearings take the time to clean and rinse out all the dirt and salt that’s accumulated over the years, a task easily done with plain old soap and water. Resist the temptation to use solvent-based lubricants to clean the bearings as these risk harming the bearing material and can also allow dirt to accumulate. If the furling system is an older system and has seen heavy use, consider replacing the bearings. Furling systems built in the late seventies and early eighties used stainless steel and nylon bearings. Today, they are almost exclusively made out of Torlon, a very hard, non-corrosive synthetic material. Some of the manufacturers offer replacement kits that make it easy to upgrade and replace those old style bearings. Remember, everything you can do to make the rotation of the foil easier is going to translate into an easier pull on the furling line.

Next on the check list should be an inspection of the foils or extrusions for any kinks or bends that might make the foil rotate poorly. Pay especially close attention to each joint where the extrusions are spliced together. The mechanics of these splices varies by manufacture; they are all the same in that any signs of separation or fasteners backing out will need retightening or replacing. Remember, too, that the halyard swivel needs to slide easily up and down the extrusion. Imagine getting caught in a storm unable to furl the sail, then lowering the sail to the deck only to have your halyard swivel get stuck on a misaligned extrusion splice three-quarters of the way up the headstay. Get the picture? Ugly.

The halyard swivel must be able to slide easily up and down the extrusion without becoming caught on any misaligned extrusions or fasteners that have backed out.

The drum assembly at the bottom of the unit will have bearings that need cleaning as well. If your system has a tack swivel assembly, ensure it spins freely like the halyard swivel. The tack swivel is there to improve the shape of the sail when reefing by allowing the middle of the luff to furl first, helping flatten the sail. The top portion of the drum is where the foils are attached. There is usually a casting designed to hold the foil for rotation. Check the manual, but also check all the fasteners here, and retighten them if necessary as well. If you have a turnbuckle at the bottom of the headstay, now is a perfect time to lift up the drum assembly and inspect the turnbuckle and visually verify that the cotter pins are still in place and that the turnbuckle is set for the proper headstay length. Also check the attachment point at the masthead--sometimes the toggles there will develop cracks. If for some reason you do not have a toggle, get one, and adjust you headstay length accordingly. Take a look at the swage fitting--is there any cracking? Is the wire coming out of the swage fitting in good shape? Sometimes a halyard wrap can damage a forestay, so look for any unusual bending or broken strands. If you have the furling manual, double check the ending length of the top foil as most manufactures need a specific dimension at the top.

The right diameter line and the right length of line are crucial for the furler line to wrap properly.

The furling line has maintenance needs too. First, make sure there’s a good lead exiting out of the drum; on some systems the drum opening can rotate slightly, changing the lead from its original position. Look for a ninety-degree angle for the furling line feeding onto the drum. If the line does not spool evenly onto the drum it will be harder to pull back out when it’s time to furl the sail. It’s not a bad idea to use a ratchet block on the end of your furling line to provide just enough drag on the line to keep the line evenly tensioned as it goes back on the drum. Check that you are using the recommended diameter and type of line specified by your manufacturer. Either too large a diameter line or too much line length can cause the drum to bind. If you are using a continuous single line reefing system, the wrong size line might not hold. Trace the route of the furling line too--any friction in this setup will only add to the pull. Use easy running ball bearing blocks to run the line aft and avoid sharp radius turns.

Before re-hoisting the sail onto the furling system, don’t neglect the standing rigging. It should be tensioned and set up appropriately. Once the side stays are tensioned correctly and the rig is centered, tighten the backstay and make sure you are able to get plenty of tension on your forestay. Without enough headstay tension, there will be too much headstay sag to furl the sail well. Tighten the headstay or shorten the backstay depending upon the balance of your boat. Finally, put the sail on, hoist it and furl it up on the properly adjusted headstay.

Taking an hour or two to go over the system with the manual will ensure that your furling system works like new, and in some cases, better than new. You might even learn a few things that will be beneficial to this year’s sailing season, or at the very least avoid a potential snafu on the high seas.