Well, thanks for the kind words. I've been up once this year, but really just to repair the wind transducer. I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable diagnosing whether or not there's a hairline crack in a turnbuckle even on the ground, much less dangling 40 feet up in the air. For the most part, I've done almost all repairs/maintenance on our boat (excepting the chart plotter fix, and sails, I guess), but as Clint Eastwood once said: "sometimes you should just hire a rigger". Or words to that effect...
Roller furling problem
- Thread starter jaysweet
- Start date
We've always hauled out every year, with one exception when I waited too long and the yard was full. The mast has never been down before, though. Probably because I feel really uncertain about how the heck to go about it, especially the interchange between me and the yard crew. Ours is a really, really self-service yard, so I don't think I'd trust the yard crew to be in charge of this. If I'm in charge, I guess I'd have to figure out exactly what to do in advance. For one thing, I have 4 cables going up the mast. Ours is deck-stepped, so the wires do appear briefly at the bottom of the mast before disappearing into a chrome fitting down into the cabin. Do they typically have disconnects built in? I haven't looked yet. I think there's a teak block on the cabin ceiling that would reveal the answer. If they don't disconnect, how the heck do you deal with them?The mast on Second Star comes down each year, so it is subjected to at least a casual inspection. The second season I launched the boat the mast was just minutes from being stepped. A yard worker walked down the mast dragging his finger nail along the cap shroud. "Hey Dave," he said, "look at this" and there it was a broken wire in the shroud.
Dragging my fingernails down the shrouds is now an annual ritual. Even on the new ones.
Anyway, I don't expect you to supply all the answers: just thinking through the long list of things I don't understand... Thanks for your comments, Dave!
At the 2 marinas I've stored at masts come down every year, so the yard gets really good at it and it is not prohibitively expensive, about $3 a foot each way.We've always hauled out every year, with one exception when I waited too long and the yard was full. The mast has never been down before, though. Probably because I feel really uncertain about how the heck to go about it, especially the interchange between me and the yard crew. Ours is a really, really self-service yard, so I don't think I'd trust the yard crew to be in charge of this. If I'm in charge, I guess I'd have to figure out exactly what to do in advance. For one thing, I have 4 cables going up the mast. Ours is deck-stepped, so the wires do appear briefly at the bottom of the mast before disappearing into a chrome fitting down into the cabin. Do they typically have disconnects built in? I haven't looked yet. I think there's a teak block on the cabin ceiling that would reveal the answer. If they don't disconnect, how the heck do you deal with them?
Anyway, I don't expect you to supply all the answers: just thinking through the long list of things I don't understand... Thanks for your comments, Dave!
Usually there are turnbuckles that connect the shrouds (cables) to chain plates. The chain plates then connect to the boat usually with a bunch of bolts to a bulkhead. Sometimes boat builders hide the chainplates for aesthetic reasons so they may not be visible in the cabin.
My criticism of the Furlex furlers may be a little over stated. The previous owner of my boat seems to have been one of those owners who deferred maintenance of items that were not easy to complete. The decline in functioning of my furler was gradual over a few years until it became very unreliable. To be honest, furler maintenance was not high on my To Do list, so I probably accelerated its decline. Last year I wanted to replace the headstay, it was 27 years old. When I tried to remove the head stay and furler I found it nigh unto impossible to remove the furler without destroying either the furler or the head stay. The rigger I consulted with said it was possible, but not easy to remove a Furlex furler. At least the furler I had did not allow for any adjustment of the forestay length as there was no turnbuckle and the fitting was integral to the furler. That sealed the deal on a new furler and my dislike of Furlex. Selden generally has a good reputation for spars, but their furlers have not won me over.d