Forestay adjustment

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CCHer

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Jul 7, 2010
230
Beneteau 37 Cranes Creek, VA
How do I tighten the forestay with the Schaefer furler. I don't have the manual and don't see any obvious way to get to the stay or tension the furler? Is there a turnbuckle inside the tube below the sail slot extrusion?
 

MarkZ

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Nov 5, 2005
119
Hunter 49 Green Turtle Bay: Ky
There is a turnbuckle inside the furler tube. You basically need to slide the furler up the stay to reveal the turnbuckle. I vaguely recall some minor amount of disassembly required to allow the furler to slide up. If I have time this evening I'll try to scan my manual and attach it here for you. Meanwhile there's are some diagrams on the Schaefer website that may be some help to you.

http://www.furling.com/furler_parts.html
 

MarkZ

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Nov 5, 2005
119
Hunter 49 Green Turtle Bay: Ky
Harry, that pdf file is identical to the manual that came with my furler, so you can be sure they're accurate. I'm sure you've already discovered that page nine is where the steps begin for getting access to the turnbuckle. It isn't really as much work as it seems. Good luck.

Mark
 
Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
By tightening the back stay you will effectively tighten the fore stay. If you decide it is still necessary, be careful not to over tighten, the proper sway in the fore stay is normally matched in the luff curve pre-cut in your head sail. I realize it is hard to judge what the curve should be, but under load it should have some sag.
 

MarkZ

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Nov 5, 2005
119
Hunter 49 Green Turtle Bay: Ky
The forestay and backstay should be adjusted with consideration of each other and the plumb of the mast. You shouldn't just arbitrarily select which stay to tension without considering/measuring how it will affect the mast. I believe the correct procedure is to adjust the backstay to set the mast plumb while the forestay is loose, then adjust the tension with the forestay.
 

CCHer

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Jul 7, 2010
230
Beneteau 37 Cranes Creek, VA
Agree on plumbing the mast. My backstay is adjusted to the limit of the turnbucles and the mast has a slight rake aft. I want to loosen the backstay and take up some on the forestay to get zero rake. Slightly off topic: I winterized over the weekend and took the sails down-will be taking the genoa to our local sailmaker to have foam or rope luff intalled to help with efficiency when furled. My old boat had it and it worked pretty well furled down to about 100%. After 2 seasons with the C310 and some wild winds this fall, I'm looking forward to a little better handling when reefed.
 
Jun 8, 2004
2,841
Catalina 320 Dana Point
FWIW I just replaced the bearing drum on my 2002 2100 furler because it was frozen up. Because Lewmar realizes it's a design flaw since it's impossible to flush unless you disassemble as shown in Paul's pics (even then it's hard to reach with water) they will sell you a replacement for $140 instead of retail price of $250. The new ones have 2 half inch holes in the drum so you can easily flush with freshwater, just a note for those with difficult furlers.
 
Jul 1, 2009
221
Catalina 310 Sydney-Pittwater
FWIW I just replaced the bearing drum on my 2002 2100 furler because it was frozen up. Because Lewmar realizes it's a design flaw since it's impossible to flush unless you disassemble as shown in Paul's pics (even then it's hard to reach with water) they will sell you a replacement for $140 instead of retail price of $250. The new ones have 2 half inch holes in the drum so you can easily flush with freshwater, just a note for those with difficult furlers.

Assume, that you are referring to the Schaefer furling drums. You are lucky - at $140 it would indeed be a low cost x-mas present. Here in Australia I had to pay $400 discounted! An enormous profit to some importer.
 
Jun 8, 2004
2,841
Catalina 320 Dana Point
Yes, Schaefer, talk about a senior moment, here in the states a call to them gets you a new one within a week.
 
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