Dismantling Roller Furling Gear

[HaggardPete]

I have a small dayboat from the late 70's. (Dockrell 17) with Harken Roller furling gear (well it says Harken on the drum). I am trying to dismantle this to retrieve the forestay so I can send it off to have a replacement made.

Problem is, even after dismantling the reefing drum, components at both ends of the gear are to large to pass through the extrusion. It is almost - but not quite possible to remove the 4mm forestay along the length of the foil through the extrusion slot. I could probably open the slot up with a lever long enough the remove the wire but this seems drastic.

I suspect I am missing something. I would be very greatfull to hear from someone who has a better answer.

I suppose one solution would be to call out a rigger

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[yoda]

I don't know your particular make but qYodauite often the gear is assembled around the forestay befor the end fittings are put on. You may need to cut off one end fitting and attach a mouse to the wire before withdrawing it from the foil. Once you have the new forestay you can pull back through the extrusion and fit a 'Norseman type terminal on the bare end of wire. Dont be tempted to think the wire will just thread back through easily as there may be intermediate spacers through which it passes inside the extrusion. Hope that helps.

Yoda

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[paulrossall]

I have rotarstay furling gear. At first it did look as if the end gear would not pass through the foil. On getting an exploded diagram I found the bottom part unscrewed and left a long bolt like thing on the bottom of the forestay. I then had to dismantle the different sections of the foil as the end would pass through the foil but not the junctions. The junctions have a gap in that the forestay would pass through. Hope you can understand this. I would think your system is somewhat similar. Have you tried to find a Harken web site as they might have a exploded diagram or instructions on it. Hope this helps. Regards Paul

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[jeanne]

I changed the forestay in a different make of roller gear recently. It looked as if it would not dis-assemble, so I didn't try too hard to do that. Instead I joined the new forestay to the end of the old one, and drew the new one in as the old one came out.
The normal 19x1 construction is an inner core of about seven strands of wire, with the rest formed around that core in a ring. If you unlay the wire, you can cut the inner core shorter than the outer by an inch or two, and then reform it. Then unlay the other one, and cut the outer short by the same amount. The two will fit together neatly, and an epoxy [I used Araldite] will bond them securely.
The wire should be the same diameter at the join, so no real force will be needed to draw the new one in. Then I used Sta-lok/Norseman terminals on the ends.
.You can't just push a new wire through, because of spacers in the middle of the extrusion.

<hr width=100% size=1>