Garhauer deck organizers

SamLust · May 11, 2009

Please excuse my laughter.

I did the same thing to myself a little while ago on my Hunter 260 . I lifted the old organizer, pulled the bolt out and watched my balls dribble into the gravel, never to be seen again. About all you can do is make sure the bolt remains in the organizer to keep the sheave centered so the balls remain in place.

I feel your pain! Or is that cramping from the laughter??

tsmwebb · May 11, 2009

Are they exchanging the organizer you de-balled for a new one? If so, that's very nice of them!

If you call them and ask they might give you some advise on installing the system. A helper to hold things might make life easier. Failing that I suppose you could hold the bits in place with some masking tape or with a bit of blue tack.

One day the marine industry will move to captive BB's and much happiness will ensue!

--Tom.

fox islander · May 11, 2009

flying balls

I did the same thing with my traveler car...why does stuff like that only happen on a crowded dock? Anyways...Guido at gauhauer sent the new one to me on a short piece of track...made it easy...call him up, he'll have a fix for you.
-bueno suerte

g1gaumond · May 11, 2009

Re: Please excuse my laughter.

Since you guys are talking about dropping things in the water, let's keep it going...

A few years ago, I bought a new cordless drill just for my boat project....you see where I am going!

It even had a wrist strap to boot, first morning that I intended to use it was to rig my mast in the spring. Stepped on the foredeck, with my new drill, having my hands full, I had to deposit it on the deck to fiddle with some gear, repeating to myself that I need to be careful when turning around. I struggled for a few minutes with some reluctant hardware, forgetting all about the drill. Of course, I swung around, kicked the drill, off it goes in the float. Guess the wrist strap was of no help after all.

Now I had a spare battery, battery charger and a plastic casing, the drill sitting at the bottom of the harbour right beside my car keys, (another story), my cell phone (yes another one), pliers etc. No wonder my best buddy won't lend me his tools!

A real treasure trove down there...and no I wuld even think of diving in our harbour...

I have grown wiser and even more diligent with tools and carry most of my deck project while on the hard!

Don't worry be happy mon!

Ghislain
Emilie-Jolie
C30TRBS 4708

sailingdog · May 11, 2009

LOL... I dropped the 40 or so ball bearings out of one of the genoa fairlead cars I got from Garhauer...since I missed the big red sticker saying don't remove the rail from the car...

It was on the other side of the car from me...

You can hold them in place by using a dab of grease. However, IIRC, the bearings themselves are torlon or delrin and you should rinse the grease out afterwards, since the grease will collect dirt and damage the bearings otherwise.

A friend of mine, not wanting to have to rinse the grease out... used honey instead... which rinses out much more easily because it is water soluble.

Ron20324 · May 11, 2009

Can you put them in a tray, add water and freeze them in until installed?

tsmwebb · May 11, 2009

In the stuff I dropped into the water category:

One evening I was showing some folks off the boat with my 18volt flashlight (part of a tool set) and managed to drop it over the side. No problem it was still working as it sank to the bottom so I dove in after it. I grabbed it and it gave me a bugger of a shock (I thought salt water was a conductor!). So, I dropped it and surfaced... Then, being not the sharpest tool in the shed, dove back down and recovered it. Second time I only got a mild shock and the light was almost out anyway. Took the thing up, pulled off the battery, immersed it in fresh water. Cleaned it all up in the morning and... It never worked again...

In the unlikely event that anyone does not know this: DO NOT DIVE AFTER LIVE ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT AT NIGHT IN SHARK INFESTED WATERS. Really. Just let it go....

--Tom.

Jimm · May 11, 2009

kielboatsa said:
Yesterday I tried to install my new deck organizers, but when I removed the nuts off of the back of the bolts, the organizer opened up a little and the ball bearings fell out of the sheaves and proceeded to bounce off the boat and into the lake. I now have another new Garhauer organizer coming and would like to not repeat this mishap.

Can anyone provide some advice on how to keep the ball bearings from falling out of the sheaves when installing the deck organizers.

You don't say which model you have??

alexco38 · May 11, 2009

Bouncing balls

The fairlead car came with a short length track for you to butt onto the track to slide they thing on. I did that yesterday. Yes, I read the label.

For deck organizers, you could tape the top and bottom together with masking tape first before removing the bolt. When finished, just cut off the masking tape. No drama there.

I know most people don't read instructions but it would be helpful if Garhauer does put a piece of instruction in the box. They gave us too much credit assuming we know something about installing hardware. They still can't force you to read.

sailingdog · May 11, 2009

Can't really tape the thing together, since you have to bed it in sealant and then bolt it down...so you wouldn't be able to remove the tape from underneath it... leaving a potential leak source. Holding the bearings in position is really the only thing you can hope to do.

alexco38 said:
The fairlead car came with a short length track for you to butt onto the track to slide they thing on. I did that yesterday. Yes, I read the label.

For deck organizers, you could tape the top and bottom together with masking tape first before removing the bolt. When finished, just cut off the masking tape. No drama there.

I know most people don't read instructions but it would be helpful if Garhauer does put a piece of instruction in the box. They gave us too much credit assuming we know something about installing hardware. They still can't force you to read.

Ron20324 · May 11, 2009

Sealant only needs to go around the bolts, though more would help. If using tape (or a rubber band), make the first wrap of tape inside out so the sticky side is not on the fitting. Turn the tape 180 degrees and make a top wrap, sticky side in. Pull it out before you tighten the bots.

alexco38 · May 11, 2009

Taping

I meant tape on the flat area. You only need to seal the hole as there is nothing to leak on the flat area. I always use 3M4200 for the holes and butyl tape for flat area just to keep water from freezing between the flat areas. So a little masking tape won't matter much.

The best way is for Garhauer to put a collar thru the hole so you can remove the bolt without dropping the balls. May be that will increase the cost.

sailingdog · May 11, 2009

Up in New England, where freezing is a big problem, sealant should be used under the entire deck hardware... so that no water can get under it and freeze...

JerryA · May 11, 2009

A couple of wire ties may hold it together. Once it gets snug, cut the ties and pull them out. Or wire works too, cut and remove. Just some more ideas.

JerryA

tsmwebb · May 11, 2009

kielboatsa said:
I did not think of asking for an exchange for what I considered my own ignorance. I actually assumed that the sheaves had captive BB's and it wasn't until they were rolling and bouncing away that I realized that they were not captive.

I bet they'd sell you a few BB's. It isn't all that hard to load them back in once you're aware that they can get free... It would be a sad thing to toss a perfectly good organizer for want of a few balls.

--Tom.

Nereussailor · May 11, 2009

Wow, that's funny.......I did the exact same thing when I installed my deck organizers a couple of years ago. The look on my face was priceless when they all fell in the drink.
I called Garhauer and asked them how I was supposed to install them without losing the bearings, they laughed too. It must happen a lot. I ordered a bunch for around $5.00

Steve Dion · May 11, 2009

De-balling a Garhauer deck organizer is punishable by law. You are not the first person (I was) to do this. Be sure you send the unit back for reloading or order new bearings, they may even take it back and credit your account. These guys are Garhauer are the greatest.

I suspect that one of these days they will have a work around and a warning!