Harken furler, replace forestay?

[RosieB]

Hi all, I have a Harken Mk IV Model 0 headsail furler, great piece of kit and works superbly.

Now after ten years it's time to replace the standing rigging (again!).

Looking at the installation instructions, it seems the furler will need to be completely disassembled to install a new forestay wire. Bit of a bore but I suppose it can be done, I've got all winter after all...

Has anyone here done this job with this furler? Are any shortcuts possible or desirable?

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[Kukri]

This isn’t going to be much help - all I can offer is the gist of a chat that I had with the Harken people at SIBS:

The foil won’t come apart, as it is, in effect, glued together with the sealant, and taking the set screws out won’t make much difference. The other bits all do come apart.

 

[dom]

This isn’t going to be much help - all I can offer is the gist of a chat that I had with the Harken people at SIBS:The foil won’t come apart, as it is, in effect, glued together with the sealant, and taking the set screws out won’t make much difference. The other bits all do come apart.

I get that, but should it not nevertheless be possible to neatly splice the old cable to the new and then carefully pull it through without disturbing the spacers? If that's right, replacing the forestay should be a fairly easy DIY job using swageless fittings. That said I'm not that familiar with Harken furling gear either and could easily be wrong!

 

[Kukri]

Being slowly inching towards buying one, I asked Harken UK and got an immediate reply from Ginny Standbridge (gold star for customer service!):

Alun is out of the office today so I have picked up your enquiry.

Quote

Depending on the fitting at the end of your headstay, to replace it down the line, you will have to cut the bottom fitting off, attach a mouse line to the stay and withdraw it from the foils, pull the new stay (with no bottom end fitting) through using the mouse line and then apply the new end fitting.



If this is not possible then the foils will have to be disassembled and reassembled onto the new stay. For this you will probably need to replace the screws, wedges and bushings for each connector which we can supply along with the adhesive and sealant for each join.



I hope this helps,

Unquote.

 

[Norman_E]

The rigger who replaced my forestay some years ago laid the whole thing on the ground then cut the swaged fitting off at one end. He then cut all the outer wires of the 1x19 wire about 9 inches from the end, leaving the inner wires stuck out. He then took an over length new wire with one end fitting already swaged and unlaid the outer wires to cut the inner ones a bit over 9 inches in. The new wire then had its outer wires fitted over the projecting inner wires of the old one and was pushed through whilst the old wire was gently helped out. After that the excess length of the new wire was cut off and the whole assembly taken to the swaging press.

P.S. I am not sure now which wire, old or new, had its outer wires cut, but it would work either way. This method completely avoids taking the furler apart, and should work with any make, though mine is a Profurl.

 

[Slowtack]

This might help.............https://www.harken.com/uploadedfiles/Product_Support/PDF/4417.pdf
I have one of these furlers and had the forestay replaced earlier this year without any major surgery.

 

[Kukri]

This might help.............https://www.harken.com/uploadedfiles/Product_Support/PDF/4417.pdf
I have one of these furlers and had the forestay replaced earlier this year without any major surgery.

Thanks!

A bit off topic, but this passage jumped out at me!

"WARNING! Do not go aloft on boat’s halyards if there has been a halyard wrap. Do not use boat. Damage
to halyard, headstay, stay terminals, or connections as a result of a halyard wrap may cause these parts to
break suddenly causing mast to fall down while person is aloft. Sailing or motoring with boat after a wrap
can result in the headstay breaking and mast falling down. Before using boat, have a professional rigger
inspect and replace parts as necessary using following methods.

"A professional rigger must carefully inspect the masthead area using a secure hoisting method. Inform rigger that
there has been a halyard wrap so they can avoid an accident by relying on standing rigging or halyards. Inspection
must be done while rigger is suspended from a separate crane or mast must be lowered to perform inspection. Some
professionals may rig a new line through internal masthead sheaves to serve as a temporary headstay to hold mast in
place. Wire, rod rigging, terminals, toggles, clevis pins, or cotter pins must be inspected and replaced if they show any
signs of damage"

So, if you plan to have a halyard wrap, be sure to do it whilst alongside and in reach of a shore crane.

 

[knuterikt]

I have replaced the wire on my Facnor furler. This furler have pressed terminals in both ends.
The rigging wire has a straight strand in the middle procedure was.
cut off one terminal
cut away 10 cm of all Strande except the one in center
do the same on new wire
form two hooks to connect the wires
use the old to pull the new through
We had acces to press so new terminals where pressed on site with wire in profile.

 

[Slowtack]

Eh please note the "might"............as always............one may read, inwardly digest, accept/ignore/amend as indicated by a decent measure of commonsense, take relevant advice, then decide........

 

[RosieB]

Thanks everyone.

I have the Harken "manual" but it really covers only build and installation, says nothing about post-installation service work.

I had a brief email conversation with Rick Wilfert at Harken US (very prompt replies, good service, guys!) and he said definitely do NOT try to disassemble the foils as since they are all glued together you will probably do a lot of damage.

I like Norman_E 's suggestion and will probably go with something like it. My big fear is getting the new wire halfway along the 11m length and then getting a jam or a snarl or one strand unlaying and jamming everything...semi-splicing the new and old wires together seems the best plan, and I will overlay the join with some thin tape as well.

Fingers crossed and thanks again for everyone's suggestions.

 

[sailorman]

Thanks!

A bit off topic, but this passage jumped out at me!

"WARNING! Do not go aloft on boat’s halyards if there has been a halyard wrap. Do not use boat. Damage
to halyard, headstay, stay terminals, or connections as a result of a halyard wrap may cause these parts to
break suddenly causing mast to fall down while person is aloft. Sailing or motoring with boat after a wrap
can result in the headstay breaking and mast falling down. Before using boat, have a professional rigger
inspect and replace parts as necessary using following methods.

"A professional rigger must carefully inspect the masthead area using a secure hoisting method. Inform rigger that
there has been a halyard wrap so they can avoid an accident by relying on standing rigging or halyards. Inspection
must be done while rigger is suspended from a separate crane or mast must be lowered to perform inspection. Some
professionals may rig a new line through internal masthead sheaves to serve as a temporary headstay to hold mast in
place. Wire, rod rigging, terminals, toggles, clevis pins, or cotter pins must be inspected and replaced if they show any
signs of damage"

So, if you plan to have a halyard wrap, be sure to do it whilst alongside and in reach of a shore crane.

The gear is made in The USA, they do not want to go to court

 

[sailorman]

Thanks everyone.

I have the Harken "manual" but it really covers only build and installation, says nothing about post-installation service work.

I had a brief email conversation with Rick Wilfert at Harken US (very prompt replies, good service, guys!) and he said definitely do NOT try to disassemble the foils as since they are all glued together you will probably do a lot of damage.

I like Norman_E 's suggestion and will probably go with something like it. My big fear is getting the new wire halfway along the 11m length and then getting a jam or a snarl or one strand unlaying and jamming everything...semi-splicing the new and old wires together seems the best plan, and I will overlay the join with some thin tape as well.

Fingers crossed and thanks again for everyone's suggestions.

"Glued" read Loctite , hot air gun will soften the loctite

 

[RosieB]

I thought I would revisit this thread now that we've done the job successfully.

Rather like the pro rigger mentioned by Norman_E above, I cut off the outer strands of both the new and old wires (having first cut off the swaged stud at the bottom end of the old wire) for about three inches each. Then we put shrink-wrap tape (two thicknesses) over the butted-together smaller diameter remaining inner strands. Even that wouldn't pass cleanly through the bushes; we had to wrap vinyl tape around the reduced-thickness section of wire, bringing it up to nearly (but not quite) the diameter of the full outer strands of the wire. Then we greased it all liberally with vaseline. THEN, and not before, we were able to push the new wire through the foils, pushing the old wire out with it as we went. Success! The point to realise is that the wire (6mm 1x19 in my case) is such a neat fit through the bushes inside the foils, that anything - anything at all - outside the wire diameter will cause a jam and not go through.

Job done, 12 days to lift-in and mast-up. Nobody more relieved than your obedient servant.

Thanks for any and all assistance.

 

[DownWest]

Thanks!

A bit off topic, but this passage jumped out at me!

"WARNING! Do not go aloft on boat’s halyards if there has been a halyard wrap. Do not use boat. Damage
to halyard, headstay, stay terminals, or connections as a result of a halyard wrap may cause these parts to
break suddenly causing mast to fall down while person is aloft. Sailing or motoring with boat after a wrap
can result in the headstay breaking and mast falling down. Before using boat, have a professional rigger
inspect and replace parts as necessary using following methods.

"A professional rigger must carefully inspect the masthead area using a secure hoisting method. Inform rigger that
there has been a halyard wrap so they can avoid an accident by relying on standing rigging or halyards. Inspection
must be done while rigger is suspended from a separate crane or mast must be lowered to perform inspection. Some
professionals may rig a new line through internal masthead sheaves to serve as a temporary headstay to hold mast in
place. Wire, rod rigging, terminals, toggles, clevis pins, or cotter pins must be inspected and replaced if they show any
signs of damage"

So, if you plan to have a halyard wrap, be sure to do it whilst alongside and in reach of a shore crane.

Wow, that does look like a dodge from lawyers Fair enuf in the current world. In the mean time, the rest of us just get on with sorting furler probs.... Like a top swivel on a Plastimo that there doesn't seem to be a spare for.