BAMAR Furler?

Hi,

We have no problems yet. Can you please describe how the first signs of failure appeared. Also what is the torque tube?
Referring to the operation, the furler is weak and can only furl/unfurl the sail when completely unloaded, meaning we cannot furl it upwind if the sail is flapping. We have to sail shortly downwind and hide the jib behind the main. This is not a big problem and we got used in it.


Edited by panos - 24 April 2009 at 23:51

Hi,
Not really a problem. The same you would do to take down a spinnaker. Just needs some planning ahead. If we are close to the coast we can use the jib to sail a little bit upwind. I see no danger in that. The real danger can result if we cannot unfurl the jib to escape the coast in case of engine failure, but unfurling is less demanding on power and we can unfurl upwind. There is a manual mechanical override but is almost useless since you must really hand outside to engage it.

Thanks Thomas,

I will inspect the torque tube this weekend and post some pictures.
We try to avoid reefing the jib as instructed by North sails. We carry a storm jib instead, that can by hoisted on a removable inner forestay, but we never had the chance to use it until now.
We use all the jib up to 24 knots true wind. At about 16 to 18 knots we takein  the first reef and at 22-24 knots the second one. All above when sailing hard upwind. We never sailed upwind in stronger wind until now. The boat makes 9.5 to 10.5 knots speed and the apparent wind feels very stormy. It is also possible that the wind gauge is under registering the wind speed but I calibrated the instrument during a totaly windless night when the wind speed indicated was equalled to the boat speed and SOG registered by the GPS motoring to any direction.

We have a 540 with a Facnor furler.  So a different boat with a different furler, but perhaps similar problems.  The stainless steel screws holding the joins in the foil were being sheared off we assume by the twisting motion when furling - perhaps made worse if the back stay or headsail halyard tensions had been loosening before foiling.

 

We ended up replacing all the screws with larger ones and we now have the problem of them falling out even though they had been lock tightened in.

 

Our current assumption is that the furler is undersized and cannot cope with the loads we put on it.  Looking at the Facnor size recommendations shows that our furler is at the top end of the size recommendations for this length of boat, however we have a big rig for this size of boat.  The next size up would appear better fit for a 540 Hanse.

 

Perhaps the furlers on the 630's are undersized as well to cope with the loads that a Hanse puts on them.

Hi,

I dont see any clear reason why these screws unscrew. They should not get any load. The torque while furling/unfurling is taken by the shaft key, which is in perfect shape. Only while tensioning/untensioning the sail luff they could get some axial loads. My only explanation is that  they get unscrewd because of extreme vibrations during tacking.
By the way we never sail with partially reefed jib. We either unfurl it all or else we use the storm jib on the inner forstay.
After many experiments during the Aegean rally we found that we have to reef between 18 to 20 knots true. We throw the second reef at about 25 knots and over 30 we change to the storm jib. More wind than 34 knots (true) we did not encounter. We made 8.2 to 9.5 knots close hauled and 11.5 to 12.8 if at around 60 degrees (true).
Yes the 630 can plane on the waves. We need two waves to plane but then the speed climbs to 16.5 to 17 knots and stays there for long.