Replace forestay in Furlex rr

cagey

cagey

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Planning on replacing standing rigging this winter, how difficult is replacing 8mm forestay in 15 year old Furlex roller reefing, haven’t started to look in my books or google yet just interested in peoples opinion on how hard it is.
Thanks
K
 
Can't speak specifically about Furlex, but usually to replace the forestay you need to use a swageless fitting at one end so that you can thread the wire up thr inside of the foil. If you get the wire with the end fittings already swaged on, it will probably be too big to fit up the foil.
 
This may be useful. If fitting a new wire make sure you order the wire longer than you need and ask to put a rounded point on the end of the wire, this will help in getting the new wire down the foils. Remember though it will then need to be cut to length before fitting the Sta Lok terminal.

1. Remove the spacer bush. This has a longitudinal slot to allow the wire to be removed. (Only
applies to Furlex without rigging screw.)
2. Remove the terminal part (or rigging screw) from the socket. See fig. 17.5.b & fig. 4.2.a.
3. Remove the former from the bottom of the eye part.
4. Replace the terminal, then loosen it ~2 turns.
5. Tap the eye of the terminal part (or rigging screw) so that the socket is pushed up the wire. If-necessary,
tension the wire in a vice. There should be at least 10 mm of free wire between the top of the
socket and the jaws of the vice. Be careful to protect the wire against damage by the vice jaws.
6. Unscrew the terminal part again.
7. Cut all wire strands protruding outside the wedge
at the bend by approx. 5 mm (3/16”). See Fig. 17.6.a.
8. Prise the wedge apart slightly by inserting a small
screwdriver into the slot and turning. Tap on the
screwdriver so that the wedge slides off the wire.
9. Twist the wire strands into the correct positions
around the core (counter-clockwise when seen from underneath) and remove the socket.
10. The wire can now be pulled out of the luff extrusion.
 
Thanks for the advice, Craig where did you find that info please or is it a trade secret.
Thanks again
Keith
 
Here is the manual:

www.seldenmast.com/files/1426855959/595-104-E.pdf it is for the 200, but the gives the general idea.

Probably the most difficult part is assembling the wire terminal at the lower end. Get the new forestay made up with the upper terminal, and about 60cm longer than needed, so that you have a bit of spare wire for practising on the lower terminal assembly. It IS quite tricky to get it right.

Tip - DO use Loctite as a lubricant when assembling the parts, otherwise there is very real possibility of the stainless-steel welding together (how do I know.......).
 
Not specific to Furlex - do not remove old wire; cut off one end fitting from old; trim outer wires back on either old or new wires ~1"; unwind outer on other wire and trim core the same amount; fit together and wrap with electrician's tape; then carefully pull new wire through. Good luck!
 
Its just out of the Furlex manual.
With the Furlex you can just pull the old wire out but as mentioned make the new wire longer and put a tapered end to make it easier to push back down the foil, it will stop on each join but just turn the wire the lay of the wire (clockwise) and it will get to the bottom. As also mentioned use Loc Tite on the Sta Lok stud, you will also need to replace the cone in the Sta Lok, all other parts should be able to be re-used. Good luck!
 
I dont know about Facnor but I recently replaced the forestay on a Furlex.

We had to dismantle rather than pull through, and found that the little nylon bearings at each join in the luff extrusion were knackered (to use a technical term).

If we had been able to pull through we would still have a system with a lot of unnecessary slack and friction.
 
davidej said:
I dont know about Facnor but I recently replaced the forestay on a Furlex.
Click to expand...

??????? Are you sure you don't mean "I don't know about Furlex but I recently replaced the forestay on a Facnor"?
I also replaced the forestay on a Facnor some years ago and I had to dismantle the foil in order for the new wire to pass through the little nylon bearing. Not possible otherwise.
 
awol said:
Not specific to Furlex - do not remove old wire; cut off one end fitting from old; trim outer wires back on either old or new wires ~1"; unwind outer on other wire and trim core the same amount; fit together and wrap with electrician's tape; then carefully pull new wire through. Good luck!
Click to expand...
+1

just doing this today and tomorrow. I got this info from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf6FSFt6Ccg oon youtube

reason it's over two days is that I managed to open the bearings compartments and .... expleted deleted!

Anyone know how many ball bearings there are in the old furlexes?
 
Anyone got any diagrams for a Rotostay? - not sure of the model but the stemhead turnbuckle appears to be part of the furling drum, so not sure how to dismantle. Also the upper 'bearing appears runs on the actual swage plain portion, which I think is better than rotating on the wire but the surveyor thought otherwise! Not found any diagrams on google either...
Tried to add a couple of pictures but failed... (How do you delete existing pictures in the attachment area?)
 
PetiteFleur said:
Anyone got any diagrams for a Rotostay? - not sure of the model but the stemhead turnbuckle appears to be part of the furling drum, so not sure how to dismantle. Also the upper 'bearing appears runs on the actual swage plain portion, which I think is better than rotating on the wire but the surveyor thought otherwise! Not found any diagrams on google either...
Tried to add a couple of pictures but failed... (How do you delete existing pictures in the attachment area?)
Click to expand...

This may help.

To remove the drum place the foil tightly in the length of the v section jaws of a workmate bench with the drum as close as possible to the edge , put a screwdriver to the right flat on the workbench insert blade through the eye used to connect the tack of the genoa at the base of the foil.

Gently heat the drum with a blow torch then fit the strap wrench and turn clockwise (reverse thread) with alot of pressure the screwdriver should be tight to the surface of the workmate to stop the foil from twisting.

I used a 150 mm strap wrench from B & Q ( £9.99) which had sufficient leverage,
http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/handtool...-Q-150mm-Strap-Wrench-11247648?skuId=11758353

Unscrew the drum and move the foil up a couple of inches to expose fore stay , put a set of molegrips on the flat on the fore stay hold and use open end spanner to release drum from fore stay. Then use a set of bolt croppers to cut through fore stay so that damaged foils can be removed
 
Kelpie said:
Can't speak specifically about Furlex, but usually to replace the forestay you need to use a swageless fitting at one end so that you can thread the wire up thr inside of the foil. If you get the wire with the end fittings already swaged on, it will probably be too big to fit up the foil.
Click to expand...

My roller reefing is Rotostay - they no longer trade. When the forstay broke in September 2016, I replaced it with an upper Norseman swageless fitting.
I did have an upper bearing, of Delrin, turned as the original relied on the swage (non-standard and extra long) to act as a bearing. Being an alloy component the bearing on the foil was about x2 oversize and oval
Replacing it with a conventional swaged both ends forestay would have meant replacing the foil. Replacement unobtainable
Rotostay used to specify a plastic-covered forestay, reckoning it reduced noise. I've found using a conventional, unshielded wire quite OK and the roller reefing is much easier to furl than it was.
 
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