Replacement Genoa furling gear

[Pirx]

The chap at the top of my mast is about to climb down and, probably, announce that I need to_ replace all the furling gear as 'it's no longer made mate'
7 meter Jaguar 24 with a very relaxed approach to speed and efficiency. All comments, suggestions etc most welcome.

 

[fredrussell]

What’s exactly wrong with current furler? Not to sound too cynical but the rigger may well have a vested interest in you buying a new one.

That said, if it does come to replacement Plastimo do good furlers for reasonable money. The one on my Jaguar 23 was never troublesome.

 

[HissyFit]

It doesn't matter that it is no longer made if it's not falling apart, or about to fall apart. Of course, everything on a boat is about to fall apart, but if you can locate decent enough 2nd hand spares you should be able to kick the buying of a whole new furler into the long grass.

 

[[2574]]

The chap at the top of my mast is about to climb down and, probably, announce that I need to_ replace all the furling gear as 'it's no longer made mate'
7 meter Jaguar 24 with a very relaxed approach to speed and efficiency. All comments, suggestions etc most welcome.

I have a spare Furlex 200s - but I suspect it’s too big for your boat?

 

[oldmanofthehills]

The chap at the top of my mast is about to climb down and, probably, announce that I need to_ replace all the furling gear as 'it's no longer made mate'
7 meter Jaguar 24 with a very relaxed approach to speed and efficiency. All comments, suggestions etc most welcome.

if it furls it does not need replacing or major repairs. If it doesnt except by extreme force, then its for the bin, as being unable to furl in a blow could be downright dangerous particularly if part furled so you cannot drop the sail down the foil - not that that is fun in a blow

Best new ones are not cheap, and plastimo a bit tacky but will do the job

 

[Pirx]

Thank you all for comments. It's fixed for this season, strange failure mode, I'll post details tomorrow when I'm less tired and (possibly)more human.

 

[Pirx]

The observable problem with the furler was that the sail could not be lowered, the halliard couldn't be swigged tight and it wasn't possible to fully roll up the sail.

It turned out that the swivel was fine, but jammed tight onto the foil which was distorted in the area of the swivel: as if the luff groove had been twisted open by a few mm.

What I think happened. The foil is in two sections with a vertical join, and there is a patch of white granular corrosion in the join line just above the swivel. I suspect water was encouraged to enter the join just above the swivel and over 30 years or so internal corrosion built up, expanded, and created the distortion. I can't think of any other cause ???

Happily there is a temporary solution for the remainder of this season. The foot of the sail attaches to the furling drum via an 18in strop. We removed the strop, the sail is lower, the swivel is lower and swivels happily, and we are sailing again. The 'problem' is that the sail is now too low and needs a couple of furled turns to see where we are going though it sets nicely inside the lifelines close hauled. Since we have a rather relaxed attitude to sailing velocity this will do for now.

So to planned maintenance: this winter the mast is coming down and we shall have new standing rigging, a new furler, the replacement windex sender that has been in a drawer for 5 years will be fitted, the masthead lighting will have LEDs, I might even clean the spreaders ....

 

[alahol2]

Try a 12" strop.

 

[Pirx]

I'm going to have a play with a bit of dyneema to see if we can get it up a bit, but the naff/expanded part of the foil will probably defeat more tha an inch or two, and I'm wary of getting it stuck again swigging the halliard.