Hood furler question

[fox islander]

I was going to replace the furling line on my hood SL furler. It looks like the way to get at the knot at the end of the line is to remove the 3 nylon screws securing the lower drum cover. Not surprisingly all three screw heads came off the screw shank when I attempted to remove them. No problem getting replacement nylon screws, but any ideas on how to get the remains of the screws out of the threaded inserts without doing damage? Why would anyone use nylon in this situation? They get baked in the sun...its crazy!

thanks

Steve
1990 C-30 mk II

 

[Calif. Ted]

An E-Z out or similiar

bolt extractor works well to get the pieces out (see link) I've replaced mine with stainless screws, may not come out any easier then the nylon ones but at least the heads won't break off.

 

[Bob S]

I did the same

I replaced my furling line last year and had the same problem. I spoke to a person @ Hood and I if I remember correctly they use 1/4-20 nylon screws because they wont gall. The boat was 12 years old. I had to use a small center punch and tapped the broken stem around a turn or two before I could get my fingers around it to remove. I did replace them with nylon screws I bought through McMaster Carr. I have an SL800 and used ultra low stretch 7/16 line 60' long cored 20'. I was told 3 times the boat length 1/3 cored. It works great. I bought the line from Defender.