Furlex foils discontinued - Alternatives?

maej

maej

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 Jun 2011
Messages
132
Location
Me: Warwickshire / Boat: Solent
Visit site
Rigger tells me I need 2 foil sections for my furlex B MK2 (7mm wire), but they have been discontinued :eek:

I've put a post in the wanted board in case anyone has any, but I thought I'd ask if there are any alternatives? Are there any other models of furler foil that match up with the Furlex B Mk2 type, or any aftermarket manufacturers that could supply/make me some affordably?

I simply can't afford to replace the furler, and aside from the foils it is fine. This is the final obstacle to getting my boat back in the water.
 
What's wrong with them? I had similar tales of woe about my ancient rotastay system. It was splitting at the base joint onto the roller and the foil joints had play in them causing the groove to misalign. A specialist welder sorted the lot out for £50. He welded up the base split and split and rewelded the loose joints to take out the play and realign the grooves. Been back in use for 5 years now with no problems.
 
suggest you have a chat to the likes of Allspars ( ie big rigging suppliers not just a local rigger). even if they dont have an odd length in stock there will be someone somewhere replacing their mast and rigging and taking down a furlex B system. there are plenty around - I have one.
 
Second that advice above, though perhaps not Allspars, unless they are now Selden distributors. Are you really sure that Selden do not have the bits you need, they list Type B Mk1 and Mk2 Furlex parts on their website and I know they are usually very good with holding stock of old stuff going right back to the Kemp spars era. Up here we use MRS in Kip for anything related to Selden Spars or their predecessors and they can find most stuff.
Worth asking your rigger who he tried, perhaps?

Apologies to Wotayottie, Checked and Allspars are SW regional distributors for Selden Yacht Spars for some reason I thought they were on the dinghy list.
 
Last edited:
Pictures

I made a mistake, having been to the boat and been shown the problem by the yard, what I thought was the problem is not and totally unrelated. The actual problem is there are 2 sections with a bit of a bend in them. My friend suspects one of them would have been an impact from a spinnaker pole judging by the height and scuffing. These are pictures I took this weekend, but the camera hasn't quite caught it as well as the eye can.

bendboth.jpg


bend1.jpg


bend2.jpg


I asked about bending them back and was told that would damage the anodising and make it rust. I aked what would happen if I just put it back on as is and they said it would damage the sail.
 
It is unlikely to damage the sail, if the slot is opened it can let the sail escape when hoisting and if it is closed it can make it harder to hoist with extra friction. If it were mine I would try a sail luff tape along it to see what happens and if it slides past Ok I would try it on the boat.
Straightening small bends in alloy foils is a very delicate and difficult operation and rarely works, do not be tempted to stick a screw driver in the slot or to whack it with a hammer, if you make a rough edge it WILL damage the sail. If you need to open the slot a bit use a fine hardwood wedge, put it in beside the squeeze and tap it along gently a few times with a hammer. However it will not rust, if you do manage to remove the anodising it will turn grey and in about a millenium it will corrode away.
There are a lot of boats sailing with spinnaker pole dents in the headfoil, it is not usually terminal, if you are using it with a reefing headsail it only moves a tiny bit when you slacken the halyard before rolling it up, more of a problem if you frequently change sails.

Ps you need to dismantle the sections and take them off the forestay if you want to manipulate them, another possible solution is to reassemble in a different sequence so that the damage is at the bottom if it is open or if it is tight at the top.
Why not try it for a week or two before spending too much.
 
Last edited:
I have found Southern Spar Services to be brilliant for parts for my Furlex B II, http://www.sparsandrigging.co.uk/ , last used 18 months ago for new connecting pins and new foil section.

Was working occasionaly in Sotton so was able to call in so no experience of remote contact.

If you can't get the parts and go for a new roller, for a small consideration to the RNLI I would be interested in the old one for spares. Sorry to be forward but it may be heading for the skip!

Stuart
 
I've never hoisted the genoa on this boat, I only bought her in November and she's been in for osmosis treatment since then. When I dropped the genoa before the mast was unstepped it came down fine. I had to help it along towards the end, but certainly no significant force was required.
The bends are on the bottom 2 sections currently.

Would it be reasonable to put it back up with these 2 bent foils and carry on using it for 14 months or so till I next come out? This would give me 14 months to find replacements or save up for a new furler.

Would bent foils damage the forestay inside?
 
It is probable that the bends have been there for years so another fourteen months should be possible. In an ideal world everything should be perfect but most of us have to compromise. The boat yard has to advise you to replace it, it is the only advice they can give without any risk, my advice is free because you will be taking whatever risk there is.
I can not envisage how the forestay might suffer damage unless there is an edge chafing somewhere which seems unlikely with such slight bends. On one boat I fitted a plastic foil that was delivered in a continuous coil, you laid it out as straight as you could for a couple of days before running the wire through but it was never perfectly straight even after 8 years use.
It is surely worth trying it out, you might find it is a non problem.
 
maej said:
.............
I asked about bending them back and was told that would damage the anodising and make it rust. I aked what would happen if I just put it back on as is and they said it would damage the sail.
Click to expand...


Aluminium does not rust, but produces a white powdery corrosion product. All is not lost. Get them bent straight. You could take them to a specialist and get them re-anodised, but if the damaged anodising is on the outside, just paint the area with aluminium paint.
 
A friend has just removed a slight bend in his foil by clamping between 2 hefty pieces of wood with suitable chocks to provide a degree of 'over bend'. It worked fine with no further damage to the foil. Worth a try.
 
Might have some spare sections of foil off an old one we removed a couple of years ago..Please call 01795521503 .Will have a look tomorrow.
Cindy
 
I would not sail it with bent sections as it could damage the forestay and will definitely be very difficult to use as you will need to deflect the wire in order to do a rotation.

The reason the rigger turned you down is probably more to do with the furlex design than problems getting the sections. You will need to:
1) open the swageless fitting at the bottom
2) Grind two flats on the wire
3) hope to god you can dislodge sikaflex without damaging fitting
4) lay sections perfectly flat and knock out every (now prob 20 y/o) joiner and spacer tube from the top.
5) remove all the clips which hold them together
6) install the new sections (the bottom one will be different to all others)
7) feed in a new wire and re do the swageless.

This is very time consuming, if it all goes horribly wrong half way through its very difficult to charge the owner all the hours you have spent and then for a new gear as you have destroyed whats left of the one they have.

Might be better to bite the bullet and just get a new gear. I would expect the repair to cost about half a new gear.

If your still hell bent on repairing it, allspars do still carry some of the sections.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top