I keep my boat on a mooring and last year during a stong blow the clevis pin was lost from my front stay/Harken furler (unit 0). The pin must have been in upside down to allow it to drop out but I never saw it that way. Some how I didn't lose the mast, but in the process my furling drum turned into a wrecking ball and beat the heck out of my aft most windows and even the teak hatchboards. It really must have been swinging. I was able to get a new pin back in and get the boat out OK. Now with the mast down I can see that the upper swage eye it bent, the top foil is roughened up with its cap gone, and other foils have slight bends. So, my questions are first..do I need a new forestay due to the bent (weak?) swage eye or can I bend it back. Assuming that I will need to replace the forestay can I ask if anyone has ever taken one of these furling systems apart, replaced the forestay, and then reassembled the drum, foils, etc? I can't seem to find any information in the archives on this. I know that it was put together with Loctite and that kind of scares me as far as taking it apart. Thanks in advance. Steve 1980 C27 standar rig
- Status
Replace it.
Start over with a new stay and a new furler. The furler was not installed properly to begin with. It must have a toggle at the masthead. Bent foils need to be replaced. By the time you add up the cost of the foils and rebuilding the furler, you can probably buy a new one. If the foils were assembled properly (a big IF, since no toggle was added, indicating that the person that did the work did not know what they were doing) the connectors and the set screws were put together with red loctite. To take the unit apart, you have to heat the connectors (I use a propane torch) to make the locktite liquid again. Once the screws are out you may have to heat the foil again to allow you to pull the foil off the connector. If it is an old Harken with roll pins instead of set screws, don't even bother. The old style foils are no longer available from Harken.
I'm not sure how a clevis pin can come out. What sheared the cotter pin that held it in?
Start over with a new stay and a new furler. The furler was not installed properly to begin with. It must have a toggle at the masthead. Bent foils need to be replaced. By the time you add up the cost of the foils and rebuilding the furler, you can probably buy a new one. If the foils were assembled properly (a big IF, since no toggle was added, indicating that the person that did the work did not know what they were doing) the connectors and the set screws were put together with red loctite. To take the unit apart, you have to heat the connectors (I use a propane torch) to make the locktite liquid again. Once the screws are out you may have to heat the foil again to allow you to pull the foil off the connector. If it is an old Harken with roll pins instead of set screws, don't even bother. The old style foils are no longer available from Harken.
I'm not sure how a clevis pin can come out. What sheared the cotter pin that held it in?- Status