Attn: Selden forestay Furlex owners

A

artboas

.
Jun 1, 2009
1,751
Hunter 49 toronto
This is my first extended cruise in 3 years, and it's great to get my 49 back into live-aboard mode.
But, with this, I am finding a few things which are very scary. One of these happened yesterday.
As we all know, on a boat we are constantly listening for "new sounds", and sniffing the air to catch the faint aroma of a burning wire, or cooking battery.
I was relaxing on the foredeck yesterday, and "I spied with my eagle eye" a pending disaster with my Furlex unit.
There are 2 large torx screws which keep the unit aligned. One of them was backed out to the point it was on its last 2 threads.
I quickly found a torx driver, and carefully undid it. Put on some blue loctite, and snugged it down. I then looked at the other torx screw which was on the opposite side of the forestay, and it was totally loose as well.
I removed it, put on loctite, and tightened it up.
The point I'm making here is that there was NO thread sealant on these bolts whatsoever. I have no idea if this is endemic to Furlex drum units, or they just messed up on mine. Irrespective, it would be a good idea to check the torx bolts in your Furlex drum units. I couldn't believe that I caught mine just in time before the one bolt was fully gone.
 
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R

Rick486

.
Oct 1, 2007
1,862
Boston Whaler Super Sport Pt. Judith
artboas said:
This is my first extended cruise in 3 years, and it's great to get my 49 back into live-aboard mode.
But, with this, I am finding a few things which are very scary. One of these happened yesterday.
As we all know, on a boat we are constantly listening for "new sounds", and sniffing the air to catch the faint aroma of a burning wire, or cooking battery.
I was relaxing on the foredeck yesterday, and "I spied with my eagle eye" a pending disaster with my Furlex unit.
There are 2 large torx screws which keep the unit aligned. One of them was backed out to the point it was on its last 2 threads.
I quickly found a torx driver, and carefully undid it. Put on some blue loctite, and snugged it down. I then looked at the other torx screw which was on the opposite side of the forestay, and it was totally loose as well.
I removed it, put on loctite, and tightened it up.
The point I'm making here is that there was NO thread sealant on these bolts whatsoever. I have no idea if this is endemic to Furlex drum units, or they just messed up on mine. Irrespective, it would be a good idea to check the torx bolts in your Furlex drum units. I couldn't believe that I caught mine just in time before the one bolt was fully gone.
Click to expand
Art: Exactly where do I look for these?
 
Marc14857

Marc14857

.
Jun 5, 2004
485
Hunter 44 Mystic, Ct
This happened to me about 5 or 6 years ago when we were approaching Vineyard Haven with 20 knots of wind. Went to furl the jib and it would not budge. Made the mistake of putting the jib furling line on the winch and still could not get it to move. In fact we snapped the furling line. Finally had to go up forward and drop the jib. When we got to the mooring we found that one of the torx screws Art is referring to was missing which allowed the entire foil assembly to drop down about an inch into the drum which caused the whole unit to bind. When we got back to Mystic I had the unit repaired by a local rigger including loctite on the screws. The section of foil that fell into the drum was galled up but with a bit of emery cloth we were able to clean it up. Have not had a problem since but I do try to check the screws at the beginning of each season. Look at the base of the furler just below where the foil enters the drum. Should be a torx screw on each on each side. Clearly visible in the furlex parts schematic.
 
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A

artboas

.
Jun 1, 2009
1,751
Hunter 49 toronto
Yes, this is where the screws are located.
I have a hard time understanding how these screws aren't "pelletized" or have nylon inserts. I just found this by accident, and was freaked that one screw was about to literally drop in the water.
 
R

Rick486

.
Oct 1, 2007
1,862
Boston Whaler Super Sport Pt. Judith
Very interesting. I checked mine today and found both torx screws mentioned by Art and Marc to be very tight. However, I noticed that the lubrication screw is gone. Anyone know what that is? And by the way, what do we use for lube in that hole?
 
SEMPERAVANTI41

SEMPERAVANTI41

.
Jun 15, 2012
698
BAVARIA C57 Greenport, NY
When my boat was delivered from Florida to New York, Captain reported that jib had become very hard to furl/unfurl. Upon examination the 2 large torx screws (marked A-4) were loose and allowed foil to fall into drum unit and bind.
 
Ed Caldwell

Ed Caldwell

.
Jul 29, 2004
406
Hunter 340 Lake Lanier, GA
Thanks for the heads-up guys! I checked my Furlex 200 and found one tight and one about 2 turns loose..
 
A

artboas

.
Jun 1, 2009
1,751
Hunter 49 toronto
I'm glad that this post is helping people out. I just don't understand how the furlers were assembled without locking screws.
 
Mikem

Mikem

.
Dec 20, 2009
820
Hunter 466 Bremerton
Duane, please share this with our HAPS group. Nice job publishing the manual.
Cheers,

Mike
 
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