rotostay 2 How do I dismantle.

[finney]

I want to replace the forestay in my Rotostay 2 roller reefing, I cant remove the foil from the lower bearing housing, I have read online that a blow torch and a large hammer may be a solution,
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[fredrussell]

Just done my mates R2. Bugger of a job. Have you seen this?:
Rotostay II

You need to clamp the foil in a sturdy vice, leaving the first 15cms of the foil out of the vice jaws. Now heat those 15cms of foil with a plumbers (MAPP gas) torch for at least 5 minutes. Then with a pair of vice grips (mole grips) on the bearing housing you wiggle and pull it away from foil. It’ll take a while, and took us two or three goes with the gas torch, but eventually you should see a gap appear between foil and bearing housing. You’re on the home straight then. More heat and wiggling/pulling and out she comes.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

I had the joy of watching a boatyard doing that. It’s a total bastard of a job, roller furlers are not designed to be dismantled. Maybe they’re meant to be replaced every 10 years along with the stay. I plan on getting a mate to weld the new forestay to the old and pulling it through. The plastic sleeves at each foil joint are the issue.

 

[fredrussell]

I had the joy of watching a boatyard doing that. It’s a total bastard of a job, roller furlers are not designed to be dismantled. Maybe they’re meant to be replaced every 10 years along with the stay. I plan on getting a mate to weld the new forestay to the old and pulling it through. The plastic sleeves at each foil joint are the issue.

Well it’s funny, after bracing myself for the worst when dismantling my 30 year old Rotostay a week or two ago, it came apart really easily. It depends very much on whether the last person that assembled it all used the wondrous Duralac or Tefgel.
It’s a shame Rotostay died the death really. Mine has the most rudimentary bearing arrangement you could possibly imagine, and the drum assembly has about 20 moving parts (10 of those being the ball bearings) and yet it functions faultlessly all these years later.

 

[neil_s]

I've replaced the forestay in my Rotostay E three times now - the top bearing comes off by simply tapping around the lower edge with a hammer and a wooden drift. Just takes a few minutes. I note, though, that there are two saw cuts in the top edge of the foil - presumably these ease the fitting of the bearing. I apply a little Locktite when re-fitting.