Anyone Actually DIY'd Drop/Raise Furler With Mast Up?

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Jun 21, 2007
2,105
Hunter Cherubini 36_80-82 Sausalito / San Francisco Bay
With a dock mate of two, I am determined to DIY drop my existing headstay/furler assembly. Then install a new headstay along with my repaired old Profurl, or (probably) something new. (Either Harken or Profurl ... haven't decided.)

Has anyone on the forum actually done it?

I'm asking because I haven't been able to find anywhere a good step-by-step description of the process of dropping the existing unit/headstay from a standing mast. And later raising the new assembly. Furler manufacturer instructions are precise as to the assembling the parts. But are vague or they don't reference at all the details of the raising of the new furler/headstay assembly. (I suspect because of liability issues?)

I am not talking about the actual construction of the new unit, or attaching the pins. But how/where, for instance, does one attach the spare halyard to the assembly at the head? And what is the process for milking the thing down and later back up from the dock.

I can get myself to the mast top. I've got the mast well secured for safe climbing.

Background for the question is related to my post of a week or so ago where my double jaw toggle ruptured causing a sudden disconnect of the headstay. From deck level, it looks like the rest of the rig escaped unscathed. (But I will inspect everything real close as I go aloft.) The Profurl furler drum and head swivel look undamaged. However three of the extrutions are bent. These can be replaced. But I still have to decide to repair which after new extrusions and new bearing kits, etc will probably total 50% of the cost of a new Furler. So probably smarter to just go with a new furler.

Any advice will be appreciated.

rardi
 

pogo2

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Sep 26, 2008
97
Newport 30 Mklll North Tonawanda, NY
up & down

I replace my entire furlex unit with the help of 3 others. first we secured the jib halyard to the bow cleats, then using the main halyard we hoisted a man up the mast who tied a long line onto the foil top fittings and thru a loop harness we made to be attached to the mast head, this way the unit could be lowered from the deck. WE removed the pin at the deck fitting ,this gave the foil some slack so the top pin could now be removed. As the crew was lowering the unit down to the deck, several men were walking the unit out in front of the boat along the dock, making sure not to twist or kink the foil. This was a 40' mast, so the furlex unit was quite long, make sure you have enough dock in front or along side to remove the unit. After it was secured on the dock we just did everything in reverse, with the new assembled unit, as the unit was being hoisted aloft it had to be walked along the dock towards the bow. I did this 6 years ago, when measuring the cable, foil etc. its better to be a little short, than a little long, you can always make up the difference but you CAN'T subtract length once its assembled. Good Luck
Al Duquette
S/V Mast Confusion N30
Tonawanda, NY
 
Aug 2, 2005
1,155
Pearson 33-2 & Typhoon 18 Seneca Lake
The job will definately require help from several people. As I remember our project the description above is spot on. One thing to add: Be careful with the little parts. They can't swim!

Best wishes for a successful project.
 

Alan

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Jun 2, 2004
4,174
Hunter 35.5 LI, NY
Secure the end of a line to the bow cleat. Take the line up and over the upper spreaders around the back of the mast and back to the anchor roller. Use a snatch block at the roller to then run the line aft to a genoa winch. Ease off the backstay and any shrouds aft of the mast base. With the line on the genoa winch you can now pull the mast forward taking the tension off the headstay and allowing the pins to easily be removed. Use the spinnaker halyard to lower and raise the entire headstay/furler assembly. I did this job several years ago with my Profurl system with the aid of a friend.
 
Feb 3, 2009
58
Camper Nicholson 39 CC Rockland, Maine
Rardi,

I have done this a couple of times with a previous boat and I can tell you that it is a lot easier to take the foil apart as it comes down. Put a couple of halyards forward to replace the slack in the forestay , disconnect the foot of the forestay and the foil and then start disassembling the roller and the foil into it's separate pieces. The Profurl system uses set screws into a cast aluminum piece at each junction. Loosen the set screws on each side of the junction and remove the junction piece. Bag those and don't drop them overboard!
This way you can take the whole thing down by yourself and not bend any of the foil sections.

Cheers
Ansley Sawyer
 
Jun 21, 2007
2,105
Hunter Cherubini 36_80-82 Sausalito / San Francisco Bay
Thanks all. Just the type of feedback that will help me with task.

Ansley. I had contemplated along your lines of suggestion. But had only encountered oblique references to it. So I was reluctant to try based only on my intuition. To have some instruction and word of experience that disassembly with the headstay still attached to the masthead is doable is great!

My boat has a nicely raked bow. Using my spring lines, I can get the anchor roller/stem area a couple of feet over the dock = nice clear working area. I've already got a halyard, and also my topping lift, secured to the bow sampson post. I will disassemble this afternoon and let you know how it goes.

Probably not, but did you reinstall the furler the same way -- But in Reverse?
 
May 11, 2005
3,431
Seidelman S37 Slidell, La.
I did it

I replaced the headstay and furler. Take the spinnaker halyard, tie it off to a cleat, and cinch that puppy up tight. Will hold the mast fine for that project.
 
Feb 3, 2009
58
Camper Nicholson 39 CC Rockland, Maine
Rardi,

Yes you can reinstall in sections. Just make sure that each section is up tight and square to the abutting section and that the set screws are tight before moving to the next one. I did mine from the deck and it was easy. You will see.

Ansley
 
Jun 21, 2007
2,105
Hunter Cherubini 36_80-82 Sausalito / San Francisco Bay
So today the removal of the furler from the bottom with the headstay still attached to the mast top didn't go quite as well as expected.

But even if I had dropped the whole assembly to the dock, I would have experienced the same delays when I tried to disassemble the unit into "throw-away" pieces.

The problem was stainless steel set screws being galvanically frozen in the aluminum threads. PB Blaster and hammer whacking didn't dislodge. I even broke an alan wrench in two . So I decided to drill out the most offending set screw. And got the drum off over the bottom of the headstay assembly. The now exposed bottom of the lower-most extrusion showed considerable wear. Just as well that I have ordered a new furler. I was able to partially remove the bottom split at the drum unit. But then it froze within the badly disfigured extrusion. Tomorrow I will have a Dremel with a cut-off wheel to "split" the extrusions and relieve constrictions.

If it weren't for the set screw freeze-up problem, removing the furler with the headstay still up would have been accomplished today.
 
Jun 21, 2007
2,105
Hunter Cherubini 36_80-82 Sausalito / San Francisco Bay
Progress Report:

As posted yesterday, I needed to Dremel cut a slit in the lowest-most extrusion to dislodge the headstay furler bearings at the drum. Once I succeeded with this, removing the entire furler with the headstay still attached to the mast top went very quickly as a one person solo task. Tomorrow it's up the mast to remove the headstay. Without the furler on it, this will be a simple just lowering it on to the deck. Then off to the rigger to have it checked if still good until my next planned replacement of my standing rig in about 4-5 years time. Or more likely have a new headstay made.
 
Jun 21, 2007
2,105
Hunter Cherubini 36_80-82 Sausalito / San Francisco Bay
Update: My DIY Furler Install

As I previously promised, here is a status report of my DIY furler replacement project:

1) Success!
2) Did it by my lonesome. No additional people. Granted, the number of hours wasn't trivial. But certainly beats 2 guys from the rigging firm x 2 days (eight hours each = 16 hours total) x $110 per hour each. This is what the rigging firm told me to expect for a typical furler remove and replace allowing for contingencies. Further, I found a number of modifications needed to be made to correct for previous owner's (or their rigger's) shortcuts. So that would have cost even more in labor.
3) I did ascend the mast twice. First time to remove the headstay after "milking" the old/damaged furler off it while still in place. The second time to re-attach the headstay after inspecting it for damage/wear and to take the measurements as per the Profurl instruction manual.
4) The new furler went up vertically piece-by-piece. Essentially the assembly process is the same as doing it horizontally on the dock. But there is no need to later hoist the finished assembly up to the top with two/three people to assist. The trick was to move the headstay aft towards the beam just forward of forward shroud. At this spot, the "up" is almost vertical compared to what it is from the bow. And also I rigged and tensioned a halyard parallel to beam located headstay and tensioned the halyard. On the halyard, I attached a loop of line to it about 12 ft up through which the new extrusions, added one at a time, were routed. This enabled the assembly to ascend easily up towards the top of the head stay fitting without flopping off vertical.
4) After assembling in the vertical position, then moved the headstay from the beam location up to the bow stem and affixed.

The sail is now up. It furls and unfurls with much less resistance than before. Just confirms that my old furler was probably on its last legs, so my damaging incident did have a silver lining.

After debating the various manufacturers (primarily Harken), I opted for a Profurl C-350. Mainly because I was familar with the working of the profurl line. Originally I wanted a C-320 which was was offered at very attractive price by a Texas based sailing supply company. Upon trying to order, they responded "out of stock", but that they would do the C-350 upgrade at only a modest premium. Super great deal. So I went for it.

One item that I learned from this event is that during the summer, for San Francisco Bay at least, professional riggers have several weeks to a month delay in getting to you. This was the response even for just a 30 minute inspection of my removed headstay to assess if any damage and a professional opinion whether is was still good until my next planned re-rig in 4-5 years when all would be renewed. So I had to do it myself. Bright sunlight, a 40x's loupe. I couldn't see any signs of stress cracks at the swage fittings. And all of the wire looked almost new. So up the old headstay went again for another few years.
 
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