PDQ OWNERS FORUM

I'm having a heck of a time with the furlex. It is way too difficult to furl even with no load! At times I've had to resort to using the winch (I know - bad idea). I can find no inteference, no wrapping of the halyard yet while furling it will consistently move easily for most of a rotation then hang up until more pressure is applied then it will break loose!

Anyone else ever experienced anything like this? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

Have the bolts holding the foil in position backed out allowing the foil to drop? These are also removed to grease the unit and the manual does not tell you to make sure the bolts enter the holes in the foil.

We had the same problems. The solution was simply greasing the furling unit. For us, the majority of the hang-up was at the top of the furler. you'll have to take down the sail, then grease the top furler using the lite grease supplied for your Furlex. Also grease the lower unit. It's only a 15 minute job easily done by one person. If you have your Furlex manual, it shows you where to place the grease. If you need more specifics, I'll pull out the manual next time I'm at the boat.

Chris

We had the same problem and greasing the unit as specified in the manual was the solution.

I'll try greasing tyhe unit as suggested - what was the "lite" grease? Is there a generic name for the appropriate grease? Does West Marine carry it?

My furlex has jammed with the genoa on my 36 ~ 8 feet out. It's been greased about a year ago but it is the original 1991 unit and may not have had much done to maintain it by the last owner. It appears that the upper unit no longer rotates freely. No halyard wrap. It has always been very sensitive to halyard tension. BIG PROBLEM, the sail does not come down, seems to drop a few inches then sticks. Will try again with the sail manually unwrapped to shake the stay and then lower it with a little halyard tension. Would love to find a solution that does not involve dropping the mast. Thanks

Latest news, halyard had wrapped when I hand furled the sail. When unfurled, I was able to get the sail down by repeatedly giving the halyard a 1/4 turn on the winch then releasing it then pulling the sail down a foot or two. Did this repeatedly to get the sail all the way down. The upper swivel seems to lock on the extrusion with any applied tension, maybe even the weight of the sail.There is the concern about the stay being unwound by the torque from the locked swivel.
Any ideas appreciated. Marc