furling line replacement

[Syversens]

Hello all,sigh... i'm still working on my in mast furling line replacement and I'm regretting ever starting this... then again this bold would have to come out at some point. heres the status:I tried heat, WD40, misc other "penetrating" fluids, nothing. today I drilled it with a screw extractor and managed to break off the tip off the bit inside the screw. I'm thinking this tip is hard so I caused much extra work (another sigh). I'm think I'm looking at removing the unit and taking it to a shop, this might be safest for myself and the boat at this point. I found this on a website with my exact rig and unit. anyone removed a drum like this before ? I have contacted charlston spar and they were helpful with earlier tips but if there are anyone with hands on, that also helps )http://www.c34.org/manuals/c34-inmast-furling.pdfthe drum is pictured nicely and in pieces but unfortunately no instructions how to get there....as always, any tips appreciatedGaute

 

[Syversens]

good idea

I'll definately post it on the other sites, thats a great idea... it seems my system is not that common on beneteaus and most solutions so far are relation to the Zspar or US Spar (think they are the same) which seems more common. I'm really hoping not to take down the mast for this operation, in that case I'll try to drill it out and have someone tap it though I really want to do this the safe way. I have a request in to Charlston Spar and they were quick getting back last time so I'm hoping they'll say its possible... all manuals refer to "send it to us and we'll service it" so I'm hoping they thought of it being in a mast thats installedthanks again bill and I'll keep the post updated on progress (if any)Gaute

 

[Syversens]

Furling drum cleaned, new bolt and line in place

Hi All,I finally got it fixed and it took about a week and was really not as hard as I thought it would be once I decided on how I wanted to do it. When I broke off the tip of the screw extractor inside the screw on the boat I knew it was time for heavy machinery so I wanted to get it off the boat. Taking it off was really easy as you just remove the bolt for the foil (used a screwdriver to hold the foil up temporarily after removing the bolt). took out four screws around the mast, two on each side. this allowed em to lower the drum inside the mast to take off the top disk and remove and then take the drumout and remove lower disk with rods in place.While I did this ALL bearings inside the top and bottom came flying out, I got some in a bag, some went inside the mast and 2 fell in the water. I took the drum to a machinist local here who did a great job taking the screw out and putting in Helicoil and a nut so this should never seize up again. I then ordered bearings from a GREAT company where I received the bearings within 2 days of ordering. I now had all parts but how to put in bearings when I have to move the drum around to get it into the mast.Lewmar had the solution to use shaving cream, I also got some grease for marine enviroment and tried a dash on the bearings... sure they were on there but I couldnt even wash that stuff of my hands, I have no idea what my mast will look like. so I did the shaving and it worked great. putting in is same process in reverse though I drilled a tiny hold inth emast to keep the drum from falling all the way down while putting in the top bearings. put all screws back on and new line in voila....A difficult design by my furling company and having to take the mast down to do this is nuts but thanks to everyone suggesting solutions it wasnt hard at all, just patience and steady hand.many thanks all and hope this helps someone else !CheersGaute

 

[Bill C320 Papillon]

Congratulations

Bet it feels pretty good now that it's over.Bill