[Rhodes22-list] Jammed IMF:(

Fri May 17 20:59:56 EDT 2013

IMF all fixed. 

Just needed a little pull. 

Will ensure boom stays low. 

Thanks for advice. 

Ted

On May 14, 2013, at 9:37 PM, PBR <pbryanriley at gmail.com> wrote:

> Stan,
> No matter how hard you try to idiot proof something there will always be a
> better idiot.  I had the screw that attaches the gooseneck fitting to the
> Mast slide fall out and dissappear (not sure exact terms here).  Lucky me,
> I happened to have another in the toolbox that seemed to fit perfectly -
> tightened right up.  Guess what happens when a screw that is a little too
> long is pointed directly at the furling tube.  At my next opportunity to
> head for the lake I found out.  The fit was so perfect the tube would
> almost make a complete revolution before stopping hard.  I was so puzzled
> in the parking lot at the lake that I gave up and trailered home.  Sometime
> over the next week I remembered that little screw I had replaced weeks
> before.
> -Anonymous
> 
> 
> On Mon, May 13, 2013 at 9:10 AM, Stan Spitzer <stan at rhodes22.com> wrote:
> 
>> sorry - it looks like my e-mail takes Sundays off and this never left
>> here so trying on Monday.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On 5/12/13 10:39 AM, Stan Spitzer wrote:
>>> 
>>> OK, I suppose I have to run aground more often to have the time to
>>> respond to some of your occasional S.O.S. signals.
>>> 
>>> The IMF never jams at boat shows, where it gets more use in less than
>>> a week than most of you give it in a lifetime.  It does not jam on
>>> demonstrations or rentals or even when//*I* go sailing which
>>> admittedly has not been for several months now.  And there are owners
>>> out there who have never figured out how to jam their IMFs.
>>> 
>>> Why is that.
>>> 
>>> It is absolutely a fool proof piece of equipment because it has no
>>> springs or gears and merely floats freely in a chamber. (Well, maybe
>>> "fool" proof is a poor choice of words since I know that most of you
>>> who jammed your IMF are normally brilliant,)
>>> 
>>> There are only three reasons for an IMF system to refuse your
>>> bidding:  Mechanical.  Human.  And all others.
>>> 
>>> Mechanical failure:  The sail may have ripped.  Or the sail may have
>>> come loose from its connection at the top of its furling tube and
>>> partially slid down its tube.  Or a bearing like the one atop the tube
>>> may have come off.  That sort of rare stuff.
>>> 
>>> Human failure:  You may have caused a mechanical failure like putting
>>> a curve in the mast by incorrect rigging or trailing with the mast up
>>> and everyone understands how hard it would be to roll up a carpet on a
>>> "C" shaped core. Or you may have forgotten to undue a cleat.  (This
>>> idiot almost always forgets the vertical locking cam cleat on the aft
>>> underside of the boom.)  Or you may be standing on the line on the
>>> cockpit floor.  Or you may have turned emotional; a hammer or lots of
>>> extra force only makes your Rhodes fight back.  Be kind and thoughtful.
>>> 
>>> What makes an IMF sail go inside its mast in a bunched up fashion:
>>> Either your putting it away with the boom so high above horizontal
>>> that more material than normal tries to wrap around the furling tube
>>> at the same location;  visualize that carpet on the floor where you
>>> fold over part of one side before staring to roll it up.  Or putting
>>> your IMF sail away with the boat not pointed into the wind. Now you
>>> can put your IMF main away in light airs with the boat in any
>>> direction relative to the wind but in heavy winds, with the sail
>>> taking just the right beating as it is being wrapped around the tube,
>>> it could be in a folded position at that instant.   So, whenever you
>>> can, follow the prescribed way to put away an IMF sail:  Boat pointed
>>> into the wind with the topping lift supported horizontal boom having
>>> naturally moved itself slightly to starboard of the boat's center
>>> line.  Sounds complicated but actually it all can be automatic.  If
>>> you are not one who likes continual fussing with sail shape, always
>>> sail with the topping lift supporting the boom horizontally.  Then,
>>> when you want to put your sail away, do it as you come about, just at
>>> that moment when the boom has moved itself to starboard of the cockpit
>>> center line.  With all these stars in alignment automatically, a pull
>>> on the furling line puts the main sail away in an effortless instant.
>>> Try it. You will like it once you get your body coordinated.
>>> 
>>> Reason for having the boom setting itself to be slightly to
>>> starboard:  The furling tube die (a proprietary GB extrusion for all
>>> you out there who scoff at the Certificate of Support program) is
>>> designed for the sail to wrap around it in a prescribed direction that
>>> both makes the sail come out and go in easier because its wrapping
>>> direction is already started by the tube's design and because that
>>> angle with the wind that is established with the boom having moved to
>>> slightly starboard of center, takes sail cloth pressure off the mast
>>> slot while it is emerging from the mast, and conversely, when the
>>> cloth is going into the mast.   With the boat not into the wind, when
>>> in heavy winds, the cloth pressure against the edge of the 26 foot
>>> long mast slot can get so huge as to make it unreasonable to expect
>>> the sail to want to go back inside the mast without complaining - or,
>>> for that matter, come out to sail ..
>>> 
>>> The Others:
>>> 
>>> Those weak on spacial relations might not consider that trying to pull
>>> out a sail of cloth made not to stretch, cannot work if the boom is
>>> held fast _below_ horizontal by the main sheet cleat. The explanation
>>> is so simple that I can explain it.  The length of the back side of
>>> the sail triangle cannot change. Lowering the aft end of the boom and
>>> holding it there so it cannot rise means the sail length would have to
>>> increase to fill this increasing space and that is impossible so the
>>> sail simply stops coming out of the mast.  A good practice is for the
>>> boom to be free and not locked down by the main sheet when taking out
>>> the IMF main.
>>> 
>>> If by chance a guest not attuned to all of the above common sense does
>>> cause a sail jam it is easily corrected.  Not having had this problem
>>> I learned its solution by seeing what the big boys with big In mast
>>> furling did at boat shows.  They approached the mast, put two hands on
>>> the sail cloth as close to the mast slot as reasonable and pulled the
>>> sail material not out but /*straight down - */ The one place where
>>> force is apparently not a no, no.
>>> 
>>> In conclusion a huckster remark:  If along the way of various owners,
>>> someone has re-mounted the IMF main too high or too low on its IMF
>>> furling tube, it will not work properly.  I will not go into
>>> explaining this here but think of two fat ladies (or governors) trying
>>> to get through a doorway at the same time.  If mounted too low the
>>> sail bottom will be rubbing on the top of the boom slider and causing
>>> bunching - if mounted too high the designed pulling out angle gets
>>> beyond its working boundary causing the problem of the two fatties
>>> trying to go thru a doorway.   As the sail comes out of the mast it
>>> should stay fairly parallel to the boom with about an inch of
>>> continuous clearance.  The cut of the sail and its mounting on its
>>> furling tube are important to the easy operation the IMF can provide
>>> under all conditions.
>>> 
>>> While early outhaul car systems will let you sail, the newer outhaul
>>> car design (price C of S dependent) not only allows for better sail
>>> shape through superior draft control, but keeps the sail bottom
>>> continuously parallel to the boom and the boom much better in
>>> alignment with sail direction, all of this allowing a broader range of
>>> orientation to put the IMF sail in or out with greater grace.
>>> 
>>> there is probably something I forgot but have to get to my physical
>>> therapy.
>>> 
>>> ss
>> 
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