repairing Scheffer furling foil - impossible?

[skyflyer]

A friend with the same boat and same jib furler (Schaeffer 2100) found, when re-rigging sails last week, that they couldn't get the genoa up the foil on the furler and closer inspection revealed that some of the rivets that are used to connect sections of the furler foil together, were projecting.

They had a rigger look at it from a bosun's chair and have been told that several rivets are loose, allowing the foil to twist and thus presumably the slot in the sections of foil do not align.

Now the bad part - the riggers say that there is no economical way to repair it, and even if they did, they cannot guarantee that a further failure would not occur and a new furler is recommended at approx £2500 or ore if staying with Schaeffer

The 2100 is still manufactured today. I find it almost unbelievable that the old rivets can't be drilled out and remade, and even if they can't for some obscure reason, surely it is possible to buy just the foil sections and joining fittings separately without needing a completely new furler?

Could anyone comment and/or point to a UK source of spare parts?

Thanks

 

[Stork_III]

IMP UK were the UK dealers, but may have stopped. They may know who took over. http://www.improducts.co.uk/marine

Or contact Schaffer. http://www.schaefermarine.com/

 

[CreakyDecks]

Could they buy a few extension kits? They seem to consist of just a foil, liner, joint and rivets.
As in here http://www.riggingandhardware.com/p-46383-schaefer-2100-10-6-extrusion-extension-kit.aspx
No idea about UK suppliers.

 

[alahol2]

If it were mine the first thing I would try is re-riveting. Maybe even drilling the holes for slightly larger rivets. Even in a different part of the circumference. I will try almost anything to save £2/£3K.

 

[pvb]

I can imagine that it's a job riggers would want to avoid, because of the uncertainty of knowing whether they'd be able to fix it or whether they'd get called back to re-do it for free. Much easier just to sell someone a new kit.

However, I can't see any reason why it shouldn't be a feasible DIY project.

 

[merlin3688]

Not worked on this gear before however would think that if you took the gear down (Put a halyard forward first) remove all of the rivets that are not right, line up all the foils and rivet all back together, before putting gear back up check the slider goes over each join. Clearly a rigger may need to go up the mast but lowering the gear on a halyard is not difficult, working on the deck makes the job easier to do, surely better trying this then spending all that money.

 

[yoda]

Could they buy a few extension kits? They seem to consist of just a foil, liner, joint and rivets.
As in here http://www.riggingandhardware.com/p-46383-schaefer-2100-10-6-extrusion-extension-kit.aspx
No idea about UK suppliers.

From the picture here it looks like it would be possible to drill new holes if required either above or below the old ones if the old ones have become enlarged and then put in new rivets. I agree it will all be much easier on the deck than in situ. I had a Facnor system that had similar issues and managed to re-rivet it a couple of times.

Yoda
Yoda

 

[skyflyer]

My own boat has the mast down at the moment so i have inspected the identical system on mine and agree that it is worth a repair attempt but apparently so far two riggers have said "replace it. don't repair it". I think the forestay would have to come out so that the residual bits of rivet could be guaranteed to be removed otherwise they could end up falling between inside of the foil and the forestay itself. As the rigging screw at the bottom of the foil has to be swaged in situ it would have to be cut off, so necessitating a new forestay which would add to the cost, but not that much, and anyway that will have to be done for a new one, too

Ah well - I know what I would do if it was my boat!

 

[wklein]

the rivets are fairly specialised (not custom to the unit but not something sold widely) as they can't be too long. If you try to drill them out after years of service they have a nasty habit of spinning and enlarging the and larger rivets will be too long fouling the wire. Pig of a job but no reason foils can't be changed if this did happen. Schaffer pretty expensive though spare foils might be similar to a cheaper gear.

 

[lpdsn]

I got my furler foil sections re-rivetted. Lasted about four years before failing again.

So consider re-rivetting it a temporary fix and check it thoroughly before each hoist.