[C320-list] Furler

[Bruce Heyman]

After our two week cruise up the coast to Santa Barbara and back we watched
as the winds grew in intensity our furler degraded in performance.  By the
end of the trip you had to winch the sail out and back in.

 

After disassembling everything from the torque tube I was pleased that
everything revolved smoothly except the torque tube.  We tried flushing it
with tons of water as previous post on the list indicated that salt build up
can bog it down.  Also tried copious amounts of Sailkote - no improvement!

 

After bringing it home and trying to disassemble it I believe it really does
have no user serviceable parts unless you have a really nice press in your
garage.  For $95 bucks Shaffer sent me a new one and you would not believe
the difference.  The movement is incredibly smooth and easy to spin. 

 

Also it looks like there are two very cool design improvements: 1) there are
a couple of large diameter holes in the side that look like they will make
it much easier to flush the bearings with fresh water after a sail and 2)
there is a side door that looks like it allows you to gain access to the
ball bearings for inspection/replacement.

 

I'll let you know how it comes out after installing it this weekend as I
know a number of people we sailed with in San Diego during the regatta had
very stiff furlers.  Maybe a fun upgrade.

 

Bruce

Somerset 671 SoCal

 

Bruce Heyman

949 289-8400