First Cruise

[supersailor]

The sails had been dragged down to the boat and put on, the stove had been converted, the galley got a new faucet and built in soap dispensers, the head a new combo shower head and faucet and soap dispenser, the kerosene tank for the diesel heater relocated and improved and a bunch of interior varnishing done, it was time for the club shakedown cruise to the San Juan Islands. We start in Port Angeles and cross the Straights of Juan de Fuca to reach the good cruising grounds. The first problem showed up immediately. The jib refused to unfurel. The problem was that the swivel at the top of the mast was spinning only one way The forecast was for 8-10 knot winds from the north (the direction we were going) in Juan de Fuca and 5-7 knot winds in Haro Straights. The decision was made to disconnect the jib sheets and unfurel the jib by hand. That meant that I would need to either drop the jib or manually refurel it when we reached Mosquito Passage. By the time we reached our tack point at the Trial Islands just south of Victoria, the wind was blowing 18 knots out of the north east. The weatherman had lied! The 18 knots held as we reached our next tack point at the Lime Kiln Point Light House. It was still 18 at out tack to Mosquito Passage. When we got to the sail drop zone, it was still blowing 15-18 and the bow was hobby horsing. Also the rubber dink was tied to the fore deck. How to get the unruly jib down? I went forward and tried to pull it down in the little room that the dink wasn't occupying but it was very stubborn. I didn't want to try dumping the dink in the water with the sails up so I went back to the to the cockpit to ponder the problem. The solution was that I dropped the main, then disconnected the sheets and then spun the boat in circles until the jib was furled. It took a lot of spinning around but I didn't have to deal with a wildly snapping sail. The next morning, at Roche Harbor, the sail was unfureled and dropped to the deck. The swivel spun freely in both directions. A half a dozen or so of us scratched our heads over it. We lubed the heck out of it and re-raised the sail. It has been fureled and unfureled about a dozen times since then and it is working perfectly but I do worry about Murphy. The furler is a Harkin Series 2

The rest of the cruise went without a hitch. It was in the mid to high seventies at Deer Harbor and actually hit 80 at Friday Harbor. We made record time going back to Port Angeles from Friday Harbor. It is 52 miles and we made it in 4 1/2 hours. The tide was just roaring behind us all the way home. We went through Cattle Pass like a planning powerboat. Bumpy but quick. It started raining just as we tied up. Great first cruise!

 

[rbonilla]

nice Bob.... sounds like fun.... except for the headsail issue...

 

[Loren Beach]

The passage of Time

Only guessing, but I wonder if there's something amiss with the bearings in the top swivel? I wonder when it was new?

Apropos of whatever, our rigger tells me that my new Harken mk 2 Furler... new... in 1995 !... is getting to about the end of its reliable life span and when we schedule a new forestay (like maybe next year) we should replace that furler as well.

A lot of "late model" Ericson's from the 80's might be at the point where this former state-of-the-art equipment is now rather long in the tooth.

Ours (and Bob's furler) will probably continue to work ok, but at some point I can see some preventative maintenance (i.e. replacement) approaching for these mechanical systems.

No great wisdom here, just ruminating.
:nerd:

Cheers,
Loren

 

[Christian Williams]

Troubleshoot headstay tension. Sagging headstay can impede top of the furler, and since sag is different depending on conditions can mean a condition that comes and goes.

I didn't watch all of this, but see if it applies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzcHvxBCjF8

Also, I think Harken recommends only water as lube. But get the dirt and salt crystals out.

 

[Rick R.]

Ahhh white knuckle jibs! Ours is currently not unwinding all the way. Flummoxed!

 

[supersailor]

Ah! This swivel had a disaster 2 years ago. While sailing in the Gulf Islands, the jib settled to the deck. The halyard was still at the top of the mast. The upper and lower halves separated and the lower half settled with the jib while the upper half stayed at the top of the mast. Most of the bearings are somewhere in the Gulf Islands. I sent the swivel to Harken. They rebuilt it for free but said that if it happened again, a new furler was in order. They rebuilt the swivel for free so the next furler will be a Harken! Rick, check to see if you have enough line in the drum to unfurel all the way. The drum could have slipped (check to see if all the screws, etc. are tight).

 

[supersailor]

Christan,

Thanks. Good video. When the swivel was sent to Harkin a couple of years ago, the Engineer I talked with indicated that normally no lube is needed but that some dry lube is ok. I used Mc Sail Lube and the swivel is still working after a dozen or so uses. When the Gale warnings are lowered, I will drop the jib and thoroughly wash out the swivel.

 

[Shelman]

The top end of the furler gear can also be sensitive to halyard wrap if the angle of the halyard is not just right. (which can inadvertently change with different head-sails)
I had to fiddle with this issue on my boat when I got it. Further issues were stemming from a halyard block that was too large and was actually rubbing against the foil under certain conditions.