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Main Furler - Sail stuck / jammed

Ben "Santorin LO"
 

Hi Group,

When left the electrician for few mins to go through the main control panel (above the steering) in order to reinforce, clean up and do the contacts - he was playing too much with the main fuller button - from here I believe you can guess what happened...

Right now the sail is well stuck can't move in or out (closed position). Do anyone has an idea how to release?

It happened to me once previously but was 50% out so was able to shake the boom, then in / out few attempts and released. This time seem to be much more complicated.

Please any 
CW Bill Rouse
 

Is it stuck, or is there a blown circuit breaker?

If stuck, the furling foil can be released from the motor gearbox:
image.png
CW Bill Rouse Amel Owners Yacht School
Address: 720 Winnie, Galveston Island, Texas 77550 
View My Training Calendar


On Thu, Oct 29, 2020 at 12:26 PM Santorin LO via groups.io <santorinlo18=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
Hi Group,

When left the electrician for few mins to go through the main control panel (above the steering) in order to reinforce, clean up and do the contacts - he was playing too much with the main fuller button - from here I believe you can guess what happened...

Right now the sail is well stuck can't move in or out (closed position). Do anyone has an idea how to release?

It happened to me once previously but was 50% out so was able to shake the boom, then in / out few attempts and released. This time seem to be much more complicated.

Please any 

Ben "Santorin LO"
 

Hi Bill,

The motor is ok, and operational. the sail was opened with NO out hauling, and then closed again and then opened again by the electrician ALL within the mast without out hauling - what caused the sail now to be 'messy folded' in the mast.
Ian Park
 

Do as Bill says and use the winch handle, but on my previous boat (not AMEL) the furling main jammed a few times - usually when rolled too loosely. I found it helped to pull downwards hard on the leach of the sail. You may need to release or slacken the short rope on the clew first. It may help too if someone can reach up and push the sail/foil inwards (away from the mast slot). Good luck.
Courtney Gorman
 

Start by furling as tightly as possible then streach the out haul loosen and repeat 


On Oct 29, 2020, at 2:00 PM, Ian Park <parkianj@...> wrote:

Do as Bill says and use the winch handle, but on my previous boat (not AMEL) the furling main jammed a few times - usually when rolled too loosely. I found it helped to pull downwards hard on the leach of the sail. You may need to release or slacken the short rope on the clew first. It may help too if someone can reach up and push the sail/foil inwards (away from the mast slot). Good luck.

CW Bill Rouse
 

You have a problem that probably includes the sail twisted backwards on the foil. The guy might be a good electrician, but keep him off the boat. 

Drop the motor and gearbox about 30mm by loosening the 4 bolts  Untie the mainsail from the outhaul. While pulling on the clew of the mainsail, use a winch handle in the manual furler turning a little clockwise and anticlockwise until you have all of the sail unfurled. You may have to go up the mast to pull the sail out. 

Best,

CW Bill Rouse 
Amel Owners Yacht School
+1 832-380-4970 | brouse@...
720 Winnie, Galveston Island, Texas 77550 
www.AmelOwnersYachtSchool.com 
Yacht School Calendar: www.preparetocastoff.blogspot.com/p/calendar.html


   


On Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 12:55 PM Santorin LO via groups.io <santorinlo18=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
Hi Bill,

The motor is ok, and operational. the sail was opened with NO out hauling, and then closed again and then opened again by the electrician ALL within the mast without out hauling - what caused the sail now to be 'messy folded' in the mast.

Ben "Santorin LO"
 

Thank You Bill, Ian and Courtney,

Tried all already, except of releasing the gear and try manually - will give it a go tomorrow morning and will update.
Matt Salatino
 

We furled too loosely and jammed once. We got ours loose the same way. Back and forth, tighten the furler, tighten the outhaul, loosen a bit, then repeat... a lot.

~~~⛵️~~~Matt

On Oct 29, 2020, at 2:04 PM, Courtney Gorman via groups.io <Itsfun1@...> wrote:

Start by furling as tightly as possible then streach the out haul loosen and repeat 


On Oct 29, 2020, at 2:00 PM, Ian Park <parkianj@...> wrote:

Do as Bill says and use the winch handle, but on my previous boat (not AMEL) the furling main jammed a few times - usually when rolled too loosely. I found it helped to pull downwards hard on the leach of the sail. You may need to release or slacken the short rope on the clew first. It may help too if someone can reach up and push the sail/foil inwards (away from the mast slot). Good luck.

Nick Newington
 

The trick I have found is to make sure there is plenty of outhaul tension. It needs to be tightly rolled in and out, always keeping the outhaul as tight as possible. Keeping a really good eye on it even when it is calm.
I have also found that there needs to be loads of downward tension on the leech. 
On my 54 I use kicker tension in addition to sheet and track to keep that leech tension tight. 
If for a moment I do not pay close attention then a jam ensues.
Ironically the stronger the wind the less likely a jam. Maybe it is the concentration of the mind rather than anything else.

Nick
Amelia
Amel54 -019
Leros Gr




On 29 Oct 2020, at 20:13, Matt Salatino via groups.io <helmsmatt@...> wrote:

We furled too loosely and jammed once. We got ours loose the same way. Back and forth, tighten the furler, tighten the outhaul, loosen a bit, then repeat... a lot.

~~~⛵️~~~Matt

On Oct 29, 2020, at 2:04 PM, Courtney Gorman via groups.io <Itsfun1@...> wrote:

Start by furling as tightly as possible then streach the out haul loosen and repeat 


On Oct 29, 2020, at 2:00 PM, Ian Park <parkianj@...> wrote:

Do as Bill says and use the winch handle, but on my previous boat (not AMEL) the furling main jammed a few times - usually when rolled too loosely. I found it helped to pull downwards hard on the leach of the sail. You may need to release or slacken the short rope on the clew first. It may help too if someone can reach up and push the sail/foil inwards (away from the mast slot). Good luck.

Ben "Santorin LO"
 

Thanks again Bill (and Matt) - your way seem to be the one as well as your observation re the problem description, the one thing I am very confident about, is that if your way doesn't work and you wouldn't be able to suggest another way - no one will...
Ben "Santorin LO"
 

Agree - but this mainly apply to no normal furl / unfurl under normal circumstances. this must be the reason that in 10 years never had this issue before...
Ben "Santorin LO"
 

As suspected and expected - did Bills's step by step, literally in 5 mins crisis is over! 

Thanks you all. Now another thing, the gear seem to be weak / maybe finished (from before the episode), and looks like will have to do at least one leg without. Now when easily furling/unfurling manually, was thinking - how to 'lock' furled in sail without fitting the gear back to its place???
Alan Leslie
 

With a winch handle locked into the manual furling socket and a line around it to the  base of the mast to prevent it from turning.
Alan
Elyse SM437
Ken Powers SV Aquarius <ken@...>
 

Hello,

While in Fiji, SM007 and SM2K262 were parked next to each other.  JP had a problem with his main, it was not unfurling completely.  So I volunteered, and JP hoisted me up SM007's mast.  What we found amazed both JP and myself.  There was a fiberglass ring around the sail about 1/2 way down the sail.   So JP could only unfurl 1/3 of the main, and then it would get stuck.  Together we worked the ring back up to the top, unfurled the main and dropped it.  We found that the ring had separated from the Mainsail Swivel.  We were able to reattach the fiberglass ring back onto the Mainsail Swivel with some 5200.  This could have been a bigger problem if happened at a different time.  The Mainsail Swivel on Aquarius SM2K262 is different than that of SM007.  Aquarius does not have the fiberglass ring, so at some point there was a change in the Mainsail Swivel.  When dropping your mainsail on a Super Maramu, one should verify all the parts on the Mainsail Swivel are tight and well attached.  If you have this ring on your SM, I would suggest using some 5200 on it and make sure it never becomes a problem in the future.

I was wondering if anyone else had this problem.

All the best,

Ken
Aquarius
SM2K262
Currently in Krabi Thailand
Germain Jean-Pierre
 

Hi Ken,

I remember the event; quite a surprise indeed

Jean-Pierre Germain, Eleuthera, SM 007, NZ


On 31/10/2020, at 10:59 AM, Ken Powers SV Aquarius <ken@...> wrote:

Hello,

While in Fiji, SM007 and SM2K262 were parked next to each other.  JP had a problem with his main, it was not unfurling completely.  So I volunteered, and JP hoisted me up SM007's mast.  What we found amazed both JP and myself.  There was a fiberglass ring around the sail about 1/2 way down the sail.   So JP could only unfurl 1/3 of the main, and then it would get stuck.  Together we worked the ring back up to the top, unfurled the main and dropped it.  We found that the ring had separated from the Mainsail Swivel.  We were able to reattach the fiberglass ring back onto the Mainsail Swivel with some 5200.  This could have been a bigger problem if happened at a different time.  The Mainsail Swivel on Aquarius SM2K262 is different than that of SM007.  Aquarius does not have the fiberglass ring, so at some point there was a change in the Mainsail Swivel.  When dropping your mainsail on a Super Maramu, one should verify all the parts on the Mainsail Swivel are tight and well attached.  If you have this ring on your SM, I would suggest using some 5200 on it and make sure it never becomes a problem in the future.

I was wondering if anyone else had this problem.

All the best,

Ken
Aquarius
SM2K262
Currently in Krabi Thailand

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