Two things might help in furling the main sails...
Have the wind coming over the port side of the boat when furling. This put
the sail on the right side of the mast to be furled in. If you try to curl
it with the wind on the other side, it put pressure on the sail and put
undue friction between the sail and the mast slot.
The other tip is to keep the end of the boom as low as possible, so the
sail doesn't bunch up at the bottom.
One more thing, once the sail gets old and starts to get baggy, it
wrinkles and bunches in the middle of the mast and makes furling much
harder.
Shoot us a picture of your motor mount setup to see if we can advise on
the rudder problem.


 Rob, thanks for the response. You have given me some great pointers.

>
> I was able to fix the issue thanks to someone in the boat club being
> familiar with the CDI furlers. Apparently, bearings have a tendency of
> falling out when the boats are transported, and I’m pretty sure at this
> point in time the bearings were always out since I purchased the boat.
>
> All we had to do is lift the furler assembly right above the drum which
> lifts out the internal drum piece, extract the loose bearings, lift the
> cup that should surround the bearings, replace the bearings on the race
> (more in this in a moment), drop the cup over the bearings, and drop the
> furler assembly. I didn’tHave to remove any rigging or drop the
> headsail. Everything is held together with gravity.
>
> I was able to get the bearings to stick to the race using some red grease.
> Grease is not normally used here, but it worked. I had a dream the very
> night I used the red grease how card stock and tape could be used to hold
> the bearings without grease the next time.
>
> I was able to extract 6 bearings. CDI said there should be 7, so I need to
> purchase another bearing or set of bearings.  The headsail furls so
> incredibly easily now. It’s never worked this well, though it’s one
> beating short.
>
> I’m curious now. The headsail furls so easily now, that I wonder if the
> mainsail furler needs some work. I’ve always felt as if I’ve fought
> it. Are there bearings that could fall out of the mainsail furler?
>
> One parting comment. I love the boat. I went from a Dolphin, to a Hobie
> 18, to the Rhodes. We’re sailing in 2 minutes, we’re packed up in 2
> minutes, don’t have to bring out and fold up the sails, and I gets
> *lots* of comments from others at the club about how much they like the
> boat. This boat really makes sailing fun.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Jun 4, 2020, at 11:32 AM, Lowe, Rob <rlowe at vt.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Allyn,
>> If your furling line parts your forestay will not be effected.  But you
>> won't be able to furl your head sail.  You can furl it by hand if you
>> really need to, but that's difficult in a strong wind and it means you
>> have to put your hands on the sail and wrap it up.  You can replace the
>> furling line with headsail up, but it's a mental challenge.  You would
>> untie the knot on the top of your furling drum and feed that line down
>> and and remove it and replace the line.  The challenge there is to get
>> the line running in the right direction around the drum (make note of
>> how yours is now) before you remove it.  The line wraps up around the
>> drum as the sail is unfurled and it took me a while to get my head
>> around that.  You also need to get it so there are a few turns left on
>> the drum when the sail is furled. If the separation is right near the
>> end of the line (hard to tell from the photo), you might be able to grab
>> that knot, pull up on it until the separation is outside the drum and
>> re-knot it if your furling line is long enough. - rob
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: Rhodes22-list <rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org> on behalf of
>> Allyn Baskerville <allynb at adsne.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 3, 2020 11:41 PM
>> To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>> Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Problem with furler
>>
>> I have a 2001 Rhodes and noticed tonight the furler is separating and
>> the line is cut party through. Is there a risk of the forestay coming
>> loose? I was planning on sailing tomorrow, but I won’t if this is
>> dangerous. I’ve not taken one of these apart before, but I’m
>> concerned I’ll have real problems on my hand if this isn’t fixed
>> ASAP.   Thanks
>>
>> [cid:CB4F023F-7409-442D-8399-5701822AE53D]
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
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