A54 Main Sail furling foil weak point
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Dear Forum,
This week I finished a repair that may interest a few of you. From what I know quite a few A54s have had a repair to the foil inside the main mast. Our build number 121 has had a repair on the foil at some point. Unknown who made the repair. As we have bought a new mainsail I decided to do a close inspection of the furling system while there is no mainsail present. I noticed the sail-groove between the lower short piece of foil was not exactly in line with the large part that goes up the mast. Upon closer inspection and disassembly I found a few things. Inside the foil at the point where the two pieces meet is a piece of half-round aluminum rod that connects the two pieces. It is screwed with 8 M4 screws to the inside-back of the foil. I noticed the rod was actually twisted at the point where two foil-pieces meet. Clearly a result of too much torsion force exhibited to the rod. As the rod occupies less then 50% of the diameter surface of the foil this was not a big surprise. It also explained the misalignment of the the sail-groove. The picture below shows the twist in the rod if you look carefully.  So I had the local workshop straighten out the rod again using heat and other clever stuff. Next I drilled new holes in the reinforcement rod, this time for M5 screws to get a stronger connection between the foil and the rod. I also had the workshop prepare a collar for me that slides exactly over the foil.  The collar has a slit to allow access to the sail-groove in the foil. It screws sideways into the reinforcement rod using M5 screws. I also added a few M4 screws into the front half of the foil. In hindsight I should have used rivets for those front screws as the foil has very little "meat" in the wall to tap a thread. This is the result     This will give much more support to the torsion forces exhibited by the motor and I expect the rod no longer to get deformed because of torsion forces. The original repair was actually done quite sloppy. The screws in the rod were only M4, not drilled perpendicular to the surface and clearly not strong enough as some of them ripped out the threads. Other were seized as no Duralac/Tef-gel was used. What also went wrong during the original repair is that the reinforcement part that sits inside the base of the foil (a short piece of the same rod as earlier described) where it is connected to the drive system somehow managed to slide upwards into the foil-tube when they were drilling the hole for the bolt that connects the drive to the foil. The result was that the reinforcement part was not doing anything. Because of this the bolt-hole in the foil turned into an oval giving a lot of play in the connection. So I re-drilled/reassembled it to look like this  Now the bolt goes through the reinforcement and I also added a screw to fix the reinforcement part to the back of the foil-tube to prevent it from moving inside the foil. This makes the connection much stronger obviously. Finally I also modified the outhaul-car to get some better attachment points for the drive system  I hope this is of some help to other Amel owners that may have similar problems. Regards, Arno Luijten SV Luna, A54-121 |
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It is worth noting and should be of interest to any SM and 54 owners that all SMs and most Amel 54s have the same diameter foil. It is 35mm. This changed with the last 54s. In my experience, very few SMs have had a foil failure, and most SMs that have had a foil failure have purchased sails with battens. The Amel 54 was sold with battens standard in the Mainsail. I have seen many more Amel 54s experience this foil failure than SMs, even though more than twice as many SMs were made by Amel. Additionally, you will find that Amel increased the size of the foil with the last Amel 54s produced. If you have a foil larger than 35mm and battens in the main, you may not experience this failure. I suggest that if you have a 35mm foil, you might consider removing the battens. TRANSPARENCY: I do not recommend battens for Amels produced before the Amel 55 and with a 35mm foil. I believe the slight benefit associated with adding battens to a cruising boat's furling mainsail is NOT worth the Risks. Assuming that you would replace the failed 35mm foil with a new 1-piece 40mm foil, the replacement will cost you between 10,000 and 15,000 including labor. The repair kit for the Amel 54 35mm foil was designed by Amel: 
On Sun, Mar 28, 2021 at 10:08 AM Arno Luijten <arno.luijten@...> wrote: Dear Forum, |
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Markus Merz
Just one little addition: When the boat was new I had quite often problems, furling in the mainsail. But one day I noticed that it is necessary to put the boom absolutely horizontal. If you do so, you can reef and furl in any directions to the wind. I never had problems again. All the best Markus SEDA, Amel 54, No 138
Von: <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io> im Auftrag von "CW Bill Rouse via groups.io" <brouse@...>
It is worth noting and should be of interest to any SM and 54 owners that all SMs and most Amel 54s have the same diameter foil. It is 35mm. This changed with the last 54s.
In my experience, very few SMs have had a foil failure, and most SMs that have had a foil failure have purchased sails with battens. The Amel 54 was sold with battens standard in the Mainsail. I have seen many more Amel 54s experience this foil failure than SMs, even though more than twice as many SMs were made by Amel. Additionally, you will find that Amel increased the size of the foil with the last Amel 54s produced. If you have a foil larger than 35mm and battens in the main, you may not experience this failure. I suggest that if you have a 35mm foil, you might consider removing the battens.
TRANSPARENCY: I do not recommend battens for Amels produced before the Amel 55 and with a 35mm foil. I believe the slight benefit associated with adding battens to a cruising boat's furling mainsail is NOT worth the Risks. Assuming that you would replace the failed 35mm foil with a new 1-piece 40mm foil, the replacement will cost you between 10,000 and 15,000 including labor.
The repair kit for the Amel 54 35mm foil was designed by Amel:
On Sun, Mar 28, 2021 at 10:08 AM Arno Luijten <arno.luijten@...> wrote:
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Arno. Great solutions thank you. As with many things it’s not if but when, so when our foil goes I’ll be looking back to your photos. But also wanted to report: no foil issues yet: and no battens. Possible correlation supporting Bill R’s theory.
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Thanks again. Porter McRoberts S/V IBIS A54-152 Society Islands WhatsApp:+1 754 265 2206Www.fouribis.net On Mar 28, 2021, at 7:53 AM, Markus Merz <markus.merz@...> wrote:
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Hi Bill,
Thanks for your additional remarks. In my case they kept the wider slot to insert the sail on the original foil and replaced only the part just below. I'm aware that Amel has this repair set but in my opinion it is not strong enough as the rod that goes inside the foil has a very hard job in resisting the torsion simply because of the surface area of the intersection that is way smaller then the size of the intersection of foil tube itself. My foils are indeed 35mm and at the colllar it now measures a bit over 40 mm. Amazing to see what a new foil would set me back. I hope my solutions will keep me away from that headache. As said before, the original repair on our foil was done quite poorly and I don't think Amel or its associates made that repair. Amel probably just supplied the parts. Cheers, Arno |
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Scott SV Tengah
Great work, Arno.
Thomas (Garulfo) inspected my foil a few months ago and said it looked fine, but do you suggest A54 owners with the 35mm foil do this as a preventative measure? Do you have the drawing for your reinforcement piece? Thanks! -- Scott 2007 A54 #69 SV Tengah http://www.svtengah.com |
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Hi Scott,
Thanks for the compliment. It depends on your particular situation if a reinforcement would make sense. The main point would be if you have a connection in the foil at a low point, say in the first meter of the foil. This is where the torsion forces are the worst. If the connection is purely depending on the rod inside the foil you will have a problem at some point. I image the worst being a Chinese gibe (that should never happen, but....) with a partially furled sail. The rod inside has not enough intersection space to be stiff enough. A circle shape has a much better resistance against torsion then a flattish bar. This is why the collar makes such a difference and why the total of 12 fixation points really prevent the twist in the tube. I have no drawing at the moment but I will try to come up with something shortly. The collar is actually made from a piece of anodized tube that had the exact right inner diameter. I will look if I can find the exact specs of the tube but I choose it here at FKG on basis of what was available. I was lucky to find this I suppose. FKG used a router to cut the slot. The holes are all done by myself with the connecting rod in place using a small drill-press. The important bit is that the screws are sideways in the rod from two sides and not just from the back. You want to have al the materials act as a system making it much stronger then the individual parts. I did have to use some persuasion to get the slight deformation at the top end of the small piece of foil back into shape. The rod twist caused the top end to skew a bit. Using a big plier and a lot of protection-cloth to prevent markings by the pliers worked for me. In all cases do check if the reinforcement inside the base of the foil is seated properly to support the bolt going through the foil. Regards, Arno Luijten SV Luna, A54-121 |
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Hi Scott,
I made a quick sketch with all information required. Regards, Arno |
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Hi Bill, Mago del Sur 54#40 |
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Scott SV Tengah
That's very helpful Arno. Thank you. On Tue, Mar 30, 2021 at 6:19 PM Arno Luijten <arno.luijten@...> wrote: Hi Scott, |
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Martin, Many people never recognize the extra strain on the furling motor caused directly or indirectly by the battens. In my experience, the issue at the collar of the foil is almost always caused by the battens. It can be mitigated by carefully and properly furling the sail. However, when sudden weather conditions occur, the same careful and proper furling is usually "gone with the wind." I am a believer in preparing a cruising boat to mitigate the problems with sudden and unplanned conditions, especially when those conditions might occur 1000 miles from shore. Bill
On Thu, Apr 1, 2021 at 4:32 AM Scott SV Tengah <Scott.nguyen@...> wrote:
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Danny and Yvonne SIMMS
Hi all, and Bill. I agree with Bill about the battens. However at risk of irritating you by repeating myself I will again mention the stiffness and strain put on the furler motors, gearboxes and foil by salt buildup in the bearings of the swivel at the top of the sails. I think every one has experienced stiffness in the manually operated mizzen furler. In my case so much so I feared damage. Now having rinsed both the gear box and the swivel with fresh water, allowed to dry and then applied silicone spray the mizzen only needs the locking pin removed and it self launches with just the pressure of wind. If the winch handle was left in place severe personal damage could occur by its rapid spinning. Because the mainsail and headsail are motor driven we don.t feel the strain but see it in foil damage. On the SM this is seen in the elongation of the holes connecting the foil to the gearbox. I lower all the sails periodically and rinse the swivels with a hose of fresh water. Furling the mainsail in a breeze is very noticeably easier after this is done. Bare with me when I repeat that on a previous yacht, in the middle of a 1200 mile ocean passage the headsail swivel became totally jammed with salt encrustation and we had to physically unwrap the sail before we could lower it. Once the salt was washed out it was fine. Regards Danny SM 299 Ocean Pearl On 02 April 2021 at 02:39 CW Bill Rouse <brouse@...> wrote: |
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Sv Garulfo
Hi all, I do agree with the batten comments and ours were removed a while back. Another source of foil abuse, I believe, are the final moments of the furling process. We are very careful to make sure the outhaul traveler never touches the bumper, and that we never tighten the last bit of the sail flat with the furler. Best, Thomas GARULFO A54-122 Raiatea, French Polynesia On 1 Apr 2021, at 10:36, Danny and Yvonne SIMMS <simms@...> wrote:
Hi all, and Bill. I agree with Bill about the battens. However at risk of irritating you by repeating myself I will again mention the stiffness and strain put on the furler motors, gearboxes and foil by salt buildup in the bearings of the swivel at the top of the sails. I think every one has experienced stiffness in the manually operated mizzen furler. In my case so much so I feared damage. Now having rinsed both the gear box and the swivel with fresh water, allowed to dry and then applied silicone spray the mizzen only needs the locking pin removed and it self launches with just the pressure of wind. If the winch handle was left in place severe personal damage could occur by its rapid spinning. Because the mainsail and headsail are motor driven we don.t feel the strain but see it in foil damage. On the SM this is seen in the elongation of the holes connecting the foil to the gearbox. I lower all the sails periodically and rinse the swivels with a hose of fresh water. Furling the mainsail in a breeze is very noticeably easier after this is done. Bare with me when I repeat that on a previous yacht, in the middle of a 1200 mile ocean passage the headsail swivel became totally jammed with salt encrustation and we had to physically unwrap the sail before we could lower it. Once the salt was washed out it was fine. Regards Danny SM 299 Ocean Pearl On 02 April 2021 at 02:39 CW Bill Rouse <brouse@...> wrote: |
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Scott SV Tengah
I finally got around to removing my mainsail and checking the foil. It seems I do not have the two piece foil like Arno and others. There is no short piece of foil and long piece of foil - it is one continuous piece.
The sail groove appears to be perfectly aligned all the way up the mast. For those of you that have a lower and upper section, approximately where do they meet? It seems in Arno's case, they are more or less near the lower mast winches? The only issue I see is where I'm pointing in the photo. The bolts have created an elongated hole in the foil. I understand the repair there is to simply cut the foil a bit shorter and redrill new holes? -- Scott 2007 A54 #69 SV Tengah http://www.svtengah.com |
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If a 54 has two pieces of foil, it has been repaired. There are 2 sizes used in the 54 model line. 35mm the same as previous models was used at the beginning of the A54 production. The last 54s have a 40mm, also used on the 55 and 50. 
On Sat, Dec 24, 2022 at 7:16 PM Scott SV Tengah <Scott.nguyen@...> wrote: I finally got around to removing my mainsail and checking the foil. It seems I do not have the two piece foil like Arno and others. There is no short piece of foil and long piece of foil - it is one continuous piece. |
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Scott SV Tengah
Hi Bill, so does that mean if the foil is one piece, it has not been repaired? Does the new shorter piece, post repair, somehow have more meat to avoid future elongation?
It took 5 years and over 30k miles before the holes in my unrepaired foil to elongate, so it seems I can just cut the foil per your instructions and continue on? I presume there is enough foil at the top of the mast to do this a few times?
From: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io> On Behalf Of CW Bill Rouse
Sent: Monday, December 26, 2022 3:37 AM To: main@amelyachtowners.groups.io Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] A54 Main Sail furling foil weak point
If a 54 has two pieces of foil, it has been repaired.
There are 2 sizes used in the 54 model line. 35mm the same as previous models was used at the beginning of the A54 production. The last 54s have a 40mm, also used on the 55 and 50.
On Sat, Dec 24, 2022 at 7:16 PM Scott SV Tengah <Scott.nguyen@...> wrote:
-- Scott 2007 A54 #69 SV Tengah http://www.svtengah.com |
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Scott, answers in red: Hi Bill, so does that mean if the foil is one piece, it has not been repaired? Does the new shorter piece, post repair, somehow have more meat to avoid future elongation? The original foil is one-piece. If there is more than one piece, it has been repaired. Every one I have seen that was repaired failed because of a furling jam caused by battens jamming during the furling process. It took 5 years and over 30k miles before the holes in my unrepaired foil to elongate, so it seems I can just cut the foil per your instructions and continue on? Yes, but as you know this assumption isn't scientific because the elongation depends on other than normal use. I presume there is enough foil at the top of the mast to do this a few times? Yes, if the amount cut off doesn't exceed about 100mm each time. This issue did not start until Amel and Amel owners started using Vertical battens on the mainsail. At the time Amel started, it was with the 54 and the Sailmaker was Incidence Sails. Today, Incidence will refuse to make a sail with vertical battens for an A54.
On Sun, Dec 25, 2022 at 4:00 PM Scott SV Tengah <Scott.nguyen@...> wrote:
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Stefan Schaufert
Dear Scott,
The other option is to fill this part with liquid epoxy (for the inside - drill a small hole a little above to use a syringe).
After curing, drill a new hole for the screw through the epoxy.
That's it.
Merry Christmas & best regards
Stefan
A54 #119 Lady Charlyette, currently San Blas |
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Danny and Yvonne SIMMS
Hi all,
I would add a note of caution here. Overloading any system will cause failure, it is important to have the fail point at an easy fix low cost point. What causes overload when furling? Forcing furling when the sail is overloaded or the bearings at the top of the sail becoming clogged with salt.. What happens? the hole elongates and eventually has to be redone. So you reinforce this area so it wont wear and the signal that you are overloading it is lost. What happens. Well there are apparently a number of 54s that have experienced a fractured foil. Expensive and apparently Amel are no longer stocking replacement foils.
SMs have the same issue with the hole elongation. They also have a problem with the attachment point for the mainsheet to the boom fracturing. The cause? Over vigorous use of the electric winch or uncontrolled gybes. So do you want the attachment to fail, or do you want a broken boom.
So, we need to learn from the signals and modify methods rather than push the fail points higher up the cost/risk scale. This applies to systems throughout any boat
Kind Regards
Danny
SM 299
Ocean Pearl
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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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