Headsail Furlers: Maintenance Tips for Safe, Smooth Sailing

An endless line furler perched on a mini sprit, plus a headstay drum furler, covers a wide wind range. Ralph Naranjo

Most riggers recognize that ­minimal maintenance doesn’t mean maintenance-free. Headsail furlers are a good case in point. 

Now in their third or fourth iteration, headsail furlers are practically a bulletproof product in the salty realm of marine hardware. However, time and fatigue, measured in terms of use and misuse, results in worn-out parts and the potential for a critical failure. As with a rusty anchor chain, such failure can occur at the most inopportune moment. Preventing furler failure involves knowing what to look for and when it’s time to replace parts or upgrade.

For example, sailors getting ready for an offshore passage or a lengthy cruise should consider how long the headstay has been hidden inside the foil. In some cases, a roller furler may have been added to an older headstay. Today, most ­manufacturers provide or recommend a new headstay when a new system is installed. When an old system is fully disassembled for inspection and the components look to be in good shape, reassembly should include at least new bearings and a new headstay.      

The good news is that we are in an era when proven furling technology prevails. There are multiple uses for roller ­furling. The primary application is taming working headsail reefing and furling. There’s also a growing interest in ­free-flying furling systems that roll up reachers and cruising asymmetrical spinnakers. These endless line furlers utilize a torsion cable rather than a stay and foils. One option induces top-down torque (best for asymmetrical spinnakers) or bottom-up furling (ideal for reachers). Once furled, these sails can be left up or easily lowered and stowed in a locker.

Conventional furlers with interlocking foils sleeved over a headstay benefit from a carefully engineered set of high-modulus, plastic stay-to-foil bushings and either Torlon or stainless-steel ball bearings that reduce friction between rotating parts. Most systems utilize a sliding head swivel attached to a mast halyard. A few units, mostly seen on smaller sailboats, rely on a halyard block that’s built into the upper end of the foil itself. In this case, the jib halyard is independent of the mast and is made fast at or near the tack of the headsail. The design eliminates halyard wrap problems, a common issue with poorly rigged head swivel units—an issue that’s easy to eliminate. 

These wraps occur when the halyard used to hoist the headsail twists around the upper foil during a reefing or furling effort. The most common cause is too much distance between the swivel at the head of the sail and the mast sheave where the jib halyard enters the spar. In essence, the halyard-to-mast angle is too acute (small). The result is that the halyard twists around the upper foil section. 

The solution is to raise the swivel so that the halyard lead angle from the swivel to the mast sheave is much greater. This is accomplished by using a pennant to connect the head of the sail to the swivel, allowing it to be hoisted higher and closer to the halyard’s mast sheave. In some cases, a rigger will place a lead block on the spar to make the halyard lead even more diagonal, preventing it from twisting around the top foil. Each headsail requires a specific pennant depending upon the luff length of the sail itself.

Ultraviolet-light degradation, corrosion and mechanical wear can also cause a swivel binding under load that instigates a halyard wrap. Under no-load conditions, the swivel might seem to rotate smoothly, but when heavy furling loads are imposed, the bearings bind. Either replace the bearings or invest in a new swivel.

Another common furling problem ­involves snagging an unused jib, spinnaker, staysail or even burgee halyard with the headsail being furled. The wrong solution is to crank harder or, even worse, to put the furling line on a power winch. Instead, look aloft to see if a halyard or other line is being wrapped up in the sail. If so, ease off and extricate the line, and relocate where it’s secured on deck. This might require two separate locations: one to solve in-port mast slapping and another for underway clearance during the reefing and furling process. 

Headsail furling lines should be run through fairleads that reduce friction and lessen the chance of fouling. The final lead on the way to the furling drum plays a vital role. When setting it up, make sure it allows the line to spool evenly onto the drum—both when the drum is nearly empty and when the last few rotations are being made. There should be enough extra turns on the drum to allow for a tight furl along with a half-dozen or so sheet wraps to keep the clew secure. 

In many cases, jib sheets are brought forward and left untensioned. This is fine in settled weather and it might add to the yachtie demeanor, but when a 0300 severe thunderstorm rolls over the fleet, the last thing you want is the jib sheets dangling from the bow pulpit. If both sheets are left set snugly on cockpit winches, you’ll sleep a lot better, and the sail is much less likely to be damaged.     

There are several cruising concerns that guide the setup of a roller furling headsail system. The first involves not falling prey to a sailmaker’s exuberance over deck-sweeping headsails. Racing sailors tend to place the furling drum as low as possible. This might be the best bet for light-air around-the-buoys action, but for sailors regularly handling ground tackle, or burying the bow on a beat to windward, a deck-level drum can be a hazard. 

Instead, make sure the drum is high enough not to conflict with ground tackle and dock lines. The foot or so of luff length sacrificed won’t noticeably affect performance. And when combined with a higher-cut clew, it will add the visibility needed to keep track of marine traffic, spot aids to navigation, and see ­unexpected flotsam in time to steer clear. 

Last, there’s no single headsail that fits all cruising needs. The farther afield you wander, the more versatile your inventory should be. A good addition to the quiver is a staysail that hoists on a removable forestay or is tacked closer to the bow on a Solent stay. These sails and their stays can be temporarily tacked and hoisted on hanks or more permanently affixed to furlers of their own. The latter makes a quick response to a severe thunderstorm easier, but when furled in the fore triangle, genoa tacking becomes difficult to ­impossible. Those sailing lengthy ­trade-wind passages prefer multiple furlers.

Harken MKIV vs. Selden Furlex 404S Headsail Systems

The Harken MKIV is the latest ­rendition of a proven headsail furling system, with smooth-sliding foil grooves and a well-­deserved reputation for reliability. The unit’s stacked high-modulus Torlon bearings in upper and lower swivels ­allow the reefing process to initially engage the midluff section of the sail—flattening draft and improving reefed sail shape.

Selden’s Furlex 404S is a fourth-generation headsail furler that utilizes stainless-­steel bearings in the upper swivel and lower drum. The headstay-to-foil connection has a patented bushing system. Interconnecting aluminum inserts ­handle furling torque loads and make assembly easy. Once the foils are connected and the headstay is cut to length, a Sta-Lok fitting completes the assembly. —RN      

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