Harken MkII furler replacement - help please

[Martin_J]

Just seen this thread for the first time just now.. I also find it hard to believe the lower threaded section has just 'pulled out a bit bearing in mind that the lock nut does look to be a 'lock nut' which is purely threaded on the lower section. And it is now tight up against a locking washer and the drum.

The odd threads do look like old damage.

You say that the mast is simply lowered and then stepped again for the summer..

Did the riggers this year perhaps find that it was a struggle to reconnect the backstay... and their simplest option might have just been to lengthen the forestay by a couple of inches to allow the backstay to reach?

 

[Pye_End]

Might have been threaded up the stay too far before biting on the lower thread. Could even have run out of adjustment that way and taken it up on the backstay. Might be worth unscrewing the torque tube and having a look. Did the riggers just take it off from the clevis pin under the whole lot, or unscrew it like you might with a rigging screw?

If it is like the MK1, the nut just holds the locking washer up, with some flat section on the stud to stop it turning. I agree with Martin - hard to see the furler being pulled up the thread and taking the nut with it, unless it has subsequently been moved.

 

[Shuggy]

For closure, I've had a new threaded bar made up and will fit it at the weekend. The silicon bronze female thread is in good condition. Thanks for all the help.

 

[penfold]

316 or something fancier? Presumably the locking washer had failed or otherwise been overcome to allow it to unwind?

 

[Shuggy]

316. I still can't work out what happened but in the end replacement was the best option. The bar was much further out of the female thread than it has ever been previously and the yard said they would not have touched the locknut. So your guess is as good as mine, but I should get another few years out of it now.

ETA - I realise that I wrote earlier on above that I wouldn't get something machined. I changed my mind!

 

[penfold]

There's a lot of strain on the whole mechanism; if the nut was not checked for tightness regularly it could loosen slowly and the nut being tightened against the washer is the means by which the bar is locked to the threaded part of the swivel.

 

[Shuggy]

There's a lot of strain on the whole mechanism; if the nut was not checked for tightness regularly it could loosen slowly and the nut being tightened against the washer is the means by which the bar is locked to the threaded part of the swivel.

In theory it could. But that would mean that the entire furler would rotate, extending the male upper part attached to the Stalock fitting. It was not extended when I dismantled the furler, so in my view the lower bar couldn't have undone in that scenario. The mystery remains!