Harken II Furling Difficulty

[dodger]

It has always been extremely difficult to pull in the 5/16" braided furling line on my '84 Pearson 34 with a (~'96) Harken Mark II reefer/furler and a 135% genoa. It is OK (free pulling) at no wind, is difficult to pull at 8 knots apparent and requires all my strength above 15 knots.

Have found and fixed several problems. The head halyard swivel height is now as spec'd, halyard angle is 10 degrees (no halyard wrapping ever), furl line comes out 90 degrees for 3', no excessive halyard tension or headstay sag.

It seems to stop against something at various points during the first several furling revolutions. I went up to look at the drum while someone furled and found the line was rubbing when it reached the inside top of the black metal drum cover aperture/window (the line wraps æî higher on the spooling drum than the window allows- so it rubs hard as the line angles up to the top of the drum before reversing and coming down.) I called Harken about this 2 years ago and technical people told me it couldn't be the source of the difficulty and no one has ever called about it. It certainly seems to be the (or a) problem source to me- as soon as the line stopped chafing/rubbing on the window, it all turns freely till it makes contact again. Iíll call Harken again but thought Iíd try SparTalk first.

Have you heard of this problem? I am ready to cut the top of the aperture cover (the top ìframeî is 1/2" high) so the line can not rub on it. Either that or shave it down to only 1/8î high. Other suggestions?

Thanks,

Bob