Facnor top swivel - help please!

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RJJ

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Hello. Since leaving UK in July, virtually nothing has gone wrong. Too good to be true...

So I am after advice on facnor top swivel and any tips for a rigger in Cadiz or so.

So today we couldn't unfurl the jib; top swivel jammed. I went up to inspect; the swivel moves but is stiff; so I can turn it by hand but SWMBO couldn't operate under normal conditions from the cockpit (tried with halyard tension off and then on again).

I don't fancy shinning up the mast every time we want to fuel/unfurl the jib. So it looks as though I'm in for a new swivel. Before I do, is there any merit in dropping it and trying to resuscitate still on the foil? The top swivel does slide up and down and we could unwrap the sail on a calm day to do this.

As "luck" would have it we don't have time on our side given we are currently near Cadiz and need to get to Canaries for November. Thoughts on getting a replacement ordered and installed at best speed?? If anyone has a recommendation for a rigger locally it would be fabulous.

Thanks.
 
Repair it. There's a couple of threads on here about doing that. I'll see if I can dig them out for you. If I remember correctly they are several hundred pounds to replace.
 
Facnor and perhaps the rigger too, will tell you how impossible they are to repair and direct you toward a new one at £500+
Based on my experience, it will almost certainly be the circlips inside which've corroded and the unit can be pulled apart/cleaned/rebuilt in a short afternoon (allow a an easy day with getting the forestay off/reconnected to remove it) and <£10 in parts - that's buying s/steel circlips.

You'll probably have the bottom drum get sticky too at some point and that'll be the same crappy circlip issue; those are equally easy to repair. Good quality internal & external circlip pliers help, but I've managed the rebuild using cheap and nasty ones and a mobile phone to take lots of photos as it comes part; IIRC it was the drum circlips that're harder to source in s/steel (about 75mm?) though usually available off the shelf in m/t sprung steel; the drum ones were about 45mm and 60mm as best I remember.
 
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I found my Facnor LS180 top swivel was seized at the start of the season. My boat is 7 years old so I was not impressed. A search shows it to be a common problem.

WD40, hot water, Plus Gas etc had no affect.

A replacement cost around £750.

I contacted Facnor France and they were helpful and sympathetic. They offered to supply a new drum and swivel for a price similar to buying top swivel alone via their Dealer network.

The new components have additional lip seals top and bottom. I believe the circlip rusting issue is a red herring. Inner bearing failure is the cause.

I debated as to whether to do the job myself but decided against it. My mast is deck stepped. While doing the work, the rigger found that my forestay had started to unwind towards the top of the mast so this has to be replaced, too.
 
You will probably find the circlips are OK and will just need cleaning up. The worst bit is getting it reassembled with the balls in place. Definitely needs robust circlip pliers.

If you can get it off the forestay to clean it, even if you don't dismantle it, you'll have a better chance of getting muck out.

Use a non-sticky lubricant when it's all clean. I used a spray graphite type which seems to be OK after a season.

If it's been jamming, check the top of the forestay to ensure wires haven't separated at fitting.
 
After two new drum units and three top swivels in 14 years from new I ditched the whole *****y Facnor furler and bought another brand last winter. McLube keeps the swivels just about going for a week or ten. I need a furler that genuinely works so was not prepared (and have no workshop facilities) to dismantle something the manufacturer and all riggers say is non-repairable, though I have heard of those who have done so.
 
Its definitely repairable regardless of what others say. If you were in Portimao or locale I'd come and help you but Cadiz is a tadge too far for me.
I've now done my own and 2 others for friends. Just follow the thread I listed earlier and do it yourself. Start with boiling water with it still on the forestay. If that doesn't free it off then it needs removing and stripping. You do need a good pair of internal circlip pliers for this. Lots of small balls will fall out so make sure you have it over a sheet so all the balls fall into the cloth and don't bounce all over. The circlips can be rusty but can usually be cleaned up in the absence of new ones. Wash the balls and races in white spirit and then re assemble. If you can get new balls all the better but the old ones are often just gunged up with grease and dirt. The manufacturer does say that no lubrication should be used but I always use something like mclube or a dry silicon spray if available. Obviously as part of the process, you need to have a look at the top of the forestay to check its not unravelled at all due to it jamming but the ones I've done have been ok. The ball sizes etc etc are all in the thread I linked to earlier if needed. After you've done the repair it becomes one of those jobs on the list to be done each year. A wash out with hot water and then a light spray with McLube prevents re occurrence. Leave it and do nothing to it at the top of the forestay for years and it will fail in the same way. Preventive maintenance not breakdown maintenance is required.
p.s. A rigger would do the removal of the swivel and replace the forestay if needed but doubt he would strip the swivel and repair it.
 
Pretty certain I posted on some of the threads listed above. Some Facnor models could be dismantled fairly easily but mine seemed to be very difficult to dismantle. However, I did see that someone had managed it on another forum. He damaged it but thought he'd now learned how to do it without damage. I might try his method if my swivel seizes again and could try to find the details.

However, my swivel was still working in 2019 after my original fix many years ago. It seems that it did work and only involved:
Partially dismantling (Just outer lip-seal, centre section and a couple of circlips)​
Drizzling diesel through the bearings until it ran clear (done over a couple of days with an overnight soak between flushes)​
Drying out (Just baked in the sun as it is a nice black coloured metal case)​
Getting Holts Pro-Cote run into the bearing (Very thin and it went through the thin gap as easily as the diesel)​

I think there are more details on the threads listed but I might have posted more on another forum.

Removing the swivel is easy but replacement is almost impossible if you don't stop the foil sagging as it requires a lot of effort to pull the forestay fitting down. It just used a long line from the middle of the forestay (used halyard and downhaul to get it to the right position) and tied it to something well forward of the boat. That works well ashore or if you have something 2-3boat lengths in front of the bows. A simpler solution might be to slide a loop round the forestay and a spare halyard and tension it up in front of the forestay. It should stop sag if it is tight enough.
 
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