Plastima 1040T problems

[Strathglass]

I was giong to tag this along with the posting on Harken / other furlers but decided not to introduce thread drift.

I fitted a Plastima 1012-T furling gear on Strathglass and it has worked well until now.

After four month's sailing the top swivel seized solid because of salt blocking the 'high tech'? bearings. I had followed their instructions to hose down the assembly with fresh water when laying up.

I had to end up first by unwinding the genoa fully at sea to untwist the hailyard wrap before I could drop the sail.

Fortunately there was no wind that night I stripped the assembly in Lossimouth marina to see if I could repair it.

As the bow of a moored boat is not as stable a platform as a workshop bench a high proportion of the balls ended up in the drink.

I did manage to do a temporary repair using the remaining balls and plastic spacers.

I now find that the only spare that Plastima list is a complete upper swivel and that the cost of bearings from other sources is prohibitive.

To replace the complete swivel would involve either stepping the keel stepped mast or disassembling the headsail foil as can be immagined
I am reluctant to do either of them.

I am quite confident that I can replace the missing balls in situ once the boat is out the water for the winter if I can source a set of balls.

I have not yet approached Plastima to see if they will supply them directly.

Has any formite a direct contact with Plastima such I can contact them directly and see if they can supply them? (probably in France)

Thanks
Iain

 

[PTB]

1912 - T swivel

I fitted my 1012 10 years ago without disconnecting the top of the forestay or unstepping the mast or removing terminals. This is because the 1012 extrusions fit over everything. I slacked backstays right off, took the tension out of the forestay with rorked up spin halyard, and fed all the bits up the forestay ... finishing off with the drum and reattaching the stay at stemhead.
So, in reverse, could you detension the stay, disconnect stay at the stemhead, take off the drum and the first bit of extrusion, slide off offending swivel from the bottom, and replace with new ???
Phil

 

[alahol2]

If you get no joy from Plastimo, google 'Harken Torlon Balls' you should find lots of them at sensible prices.

 

[Egbod]

Plastimo bearing assembly

The trick I came across for easy bearing assembly was to use shaving foam. This holds the separate balls in position during assembly and washes out with water afterwards.
good luck

 

[Strathglass]

So, in reverse, could you detension the stay, disconnect stay at the stemhead, take off the drum and the first bit of extrusion, slide off offending swivel from the bottom, and replace with new ???
Phil

One of the problems I have is that I have dropped the drum almost flush with the deck and it was very difficult to fit. I will look at your sugestion when I get the boat ashore but it should be more cost effective to just replace the bearings. The swivel on it's own is quite expensive.
Thanks

Iain

 

[Strathglass]

If you get no joy from Plastimo, google 'Harken Torlon Balls' you should find lots of them at sensible prices.

I will need about 60 bearings and at Harken prices that become quite expensive as they only sell them bagged in small quantities.

I have looked at them but I have not been able to verify that they are the correct diameter yet.

They are also horrifically expensive for small plastic ball bearings.

Thanks for your reply

Iain

 

[Strathglass]

The trick I came across for easy bearing assembly was to use shaving foam. This holds the separate balls in position during assembly and washes out with water afterwards.
good luck

When I was on the pontoon at Lossiemouth I did manage to assemble the top swivel back together again by making formers to hold the bearings using masking tape. So I don't feel there is a problem in reassembling the bearing as I have now found a technique which works for me.

With the balls I had left with I had to fit two balls then a spacer using a blue wire to wire crimp terminal then a couple of balls and so on until I had filled the 3.5" aprox diameter ring with some equally spaced bearings. I then had to fill the other ring with a similar series of temporary spacers.

This temporary fix did let me sail home over the next week and allowed me to reef the genoa where necessary in the North Sea sometines in fairly severe weather.

Thanks for the sugestion

Iain