Inmast Furling Question

[joker460]

I just got back from the boat and finished up the rigging.

I got the genoa up with no problems.

I tried to rotate the Inmast furling with no sail in place and it was hard to turn by my fingers. First it's hard to get a good grip with your fingers through those small access ports

The question is , should it turn easily or should there be some friction???

 

[Mike B]

There's more to the assembly than you think and it's difficult to turn it with your fingers. If you want to check it then pull on the outhaul then furling line, enough to check it's movement.

 

[joker460]

Thanks Mike but there is no main sail attached yet. So I pull on the furling line and it turns with some friction. Now I have to rotate it by hand to take up the furling line and that's when it's tough to turn.

 

[Mike B]

Joker, sorry I thought you still had the main on. There's going to be some friction no matter what, but as long as you didn't have to struggle to turn it with the line you should be fine. As long as you have the mainsail off and can rotate the assembly you should flush the bearings with fresh water then lube them with something like Sailcoat or McLube.
Mike

 

[MSN-Travelers]

Smoothly with just a little resistance ...

I just got back from the boat and finished up the rigging.

I got the genoa up with no problems.

I tried to rotate the Inmast furling with no sail in place and it was hard to turn by my fingers. First it's hard to get a good grip with your fingers through those small access ports

The question is , should it turn easily or should there be some friction???

I'm doing the same work as you this week. The boat is new to us (our second season) and this is the first season where I am installing the sails. I noted the same conditions with our in-mast furler. With no sail, it was slightly stiff when I pulled on the line and extreemly difficult to rotate by hand (fingers) when trying to rewind the in-haul line. I know this is not "normal".

Common reasons for stiff operation often include "stuff" in the upper & lower worm gears bearing assemblies and/or an old in-haul line that has gotten stiff & swollen over time. The in-haul was the only line I hadn't removed & cleaned/replaced and I was determined to do that this week. The instructions for removing the worm gear assembly make it sound like a simple task. It wasn't because the spar manufacturer made running changes in its design and what you have on the boat may be slightly different from what they show in the instructions. I did get the worm gear assembly out yesterday.

I found that the previous owner was in the habit of bathing the worm gear bearings with a graphite lube. Over time, he built up a hard residue that made it difficult to turn, even when sitting on the bench. I took the worm gear assembly apart, cleaned everything up and put it back together. Now it turns freely. I installed new 5/16th line and hope to get the main on the boat today.

Servicing the worm gear assembly on the bench was the easy part. Getting it out of the mast for the first time (by me) was the hard part. My mast has a chafe guard along the port edge of the opening for the worm gear assembly. This chafe guard is held in place on the mast by two pop rivets. It took me quite a while to realize that the chafe guard had to come off and then get up the courage to drill out the rivets. After that, it was pretty easy.

I have read elsewhere that you can send the worm gear assembly to the manufacturer and they will refurbish it and send back with new line installed for a (relatively) nominal fee. I figured that anybody mechanically inclined enough to get the worm gear assembly out of the mast in the first place should be able to take it apart and clean it up too. (This assumes nothing was actually broken and the bearings were still in relatively good shape.)

Good luck ...

 

[joker460]

@MSN-Travelers

Yikes. This is also my second season with this boat. I have read the US Spar document and it doesn't look too difficult. When I look at the top and lower bearings they look good but the rotation is stiff. It's probably never been removed as the nuts have no scratch marks.

That bolt that I put my fingers on to get some leverage to rotate the furling, does that have to be removed when taking out the spool??

When you take out the spool does the furling foil move at all (up or down)??

I also assume that you are refering to the instructions on their website for spool removal.

I also replaced the bushings in the genoa profurl swivel since the original ones had long since seen their day.

 

[MSN-Travelers]

What I did ...

A real service tech would laugh his butt off reading this … but it worked for me.

I don’t know the technical terms for some of the components. The “donut” is the assembly where the main halyard attaches to a shackle on top and the head of the sail attaches to a shackle on its bottom.

Prep-
Drill out the two pop rivets and remove the chafe guard from the port side of the worm gear opening.

Attach a 20-30 foot messenger line to the shackle on bottom of the “donut” and raise it 2/3rds to 3/4ths of the way up the mast with the main halyard. This will allow the tube to move/flex fore/aft inside the mast.

Attach a 3-4 foot length of line to the shackle on the tube where the main sail tach is normally attached. You will use this line to support the weight of the worm gear/tube assembly.

Rotate the gear/tube so that bolt you mentioned is aligned port-starboard.

Get `er done-

Remove the nuts holding the gear/tube assembly to the mast. Gently “pry” the assembly away from the mast just far enough to clear the threaded portion of the mounting bolts. (Actually machine screws with large heads that ride up/down in a track.) I used a piece of tape to hold the two upper screws in place so they wouldn’t fall out of the track.

Per the picture in the “manual” you got from the their web site … rock the bottom of the gear/tube assembly clear of the opening in the mast and slowly lower the whole thing until you have access to the bolt that holds the worm gear assembly to the furling tube. Remove the bolt and separate the gear assembly from the furling tube. I secured the support line to a mast cleat at this point because I didn’t know how far I should/could allow the tube to drop. The combined weight of the worm gear & tube is much lighter than I expected.

You have the worm gear assembly in hand. Remove the in-haul line, take it apart and clean it up.

The assembly has a curved backing plate held in place with two screws. Remove it.

The cylinder that attaches the worm gear to the furling tube is mounted inside the plastic worm gear and held in place with three screws. Remove the screws and slide the cylinder out of the worm gear. Now you can lift/pry the plastic gear & bearings out of the carrier.

A word of caution at this point. Nothing really holds the bearings together. The inner & outer races with separate and the little bearings will fall out. Make sure you do this work on a table/bench so you can control all the round stuff.

As most good military maintenance manuals say … reverse the steps above to put it all back together again.

I wrapped the new in-haul line about 80% up the gear, installed the main and ran it in `n out a couple times. I use a liberal amount of McLube Sailkote along the last 6-8 feet of the foot that goes into the mast to a height of 12-18 inches.

Good luck

 

[joker460]

Re: What I did ...

Excellent Description!

Printed and I'm off to the boat this morning to attempt this. I'm going to replace the line since I have no idea how old it is. The previous owner can't remember when it was last changed if ever.

 

[joker460]

I just come back to get some more tools.

I got the drum out and that took some effort. That was wedged in there real good.

I removed the bolt. The problem is the drum won't separate from the foil.

Is there a trick or is brute force required???

Update: Liberal use of WD40 and a lot of tugging, it let go.

Added a few pics for those that might do this in the future.

Now the fun part of, disassembly.

Did you use any light grease to hold the ball bearings in place during reassembly??

Did you pop rivet the chafe guard back in place or bolt ??

 

[MSN-Travelers]

Although tempting, no grease. It will attract & hold dirt when you have the gear back in the mast.

I laid the outer race on the bench, placed the inner over it and slowly fed in the ball bearings. Not really that hard.

Off to the boat, install the Genoa and go for our first sail of the season (before the T-storms roll in this afternoon).

 

[joker460]

Thanks Again for the description. It helped.

I only used a bit silcone spray on the bearings and it turns much more freely than it did.

Still have to install the unit back in the mast. I don't know about yours but you can't slip a piece of paper between the unit and the mast, it's that tight.

One job almost down and several more to go.

Take Care

 

[MSN-Travelers]

Yes, very close fit. The bearings, by design for a wet environment, are supposed to "cleaned" periodically with a fresh water flush. That is the reason you don't want to use a "wet" lube (grease, silcone) as they tend to attract/hold dirt. Your photo's look like the previous owner used a spray lube and that tends to get stiff in the elements. Dry film lubricants, such as McLube's Sailkote, should be used and not very often on the bearings. Now the plastic gear and the line that regularly wraps on the worm gear loves Sailkote.

Enjoy the season!