1. posterid:1700824
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Re: A54 Main Sail furling foil weak point

Roque
 

Hi

 

I certainly agree with what many said about the danger of beefing up a part that was supposed to act like a "fuse" of sorts. And also with the importance of attention and seamanship. Wise and appropriate reminder.

 

But, in this case, maybe we could also consider a few particularities:

 

1.     Usually, in a system like this, the "fuse" part would be the bolt, not the hole being ovalized. Maybe neither was supposed to give in, but the foil was just weaker than it should.

2.     Even very experienced and careful Amel owners have experienced this problem

3.     Both SM and A54s have electrical fuses should the force applied be greater than expected. A54s have an extra electronic safety device that limits even further the force applied.

4.     As I understand, Amel used to sell a kit to reinforce this very part of the foil.

5.     Later A54’s had the foil diameter augmented from 35mm to 40 mm.    

 

 

Based on that, I reinforced mine. Easy to reverse it if I misjudged it.

 

 

Roque

Attika A54 117

Paraty - Brazil


Em qua., 28 de dez. de 2022 às 05:50, Alan Leslie <s.v.elyse@...> escreveu:

Thanks Danny,
Most of the issues with things breaking are to do with overloading, usually caused by mishandling...and having an easy to fix part fail is infinitley preferable to having the major components fail.
In defence of battens, Elyse has short battens in both main and mizzen and we have had no issues furling those sails....but we had to learn how to do it properly, which is not difficult if one thinks about it.
Those battened sails have been on the boat for 9 years now with no furling issues.
Yes we have the elongated hole issue...everybody will eventually....but ours is due to the normal wear not chinese gybes or furling problems....and it is easily fixed.
Sail handling, boat handling etc are all skills that have to be learnt and practised....one must be sensitive to the requirements of the boat...she will tell you when she's not happy...if you're listening and feeling it, you can make things work....if you fight it, you'll end up breaking something.... guaranteed.
Happy New Year to everyone on this great forum!
Cheers
Alan
Elyse SM437


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Roque
Attika A54 117
Paraty - Brazil 
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