[C320-list] Roller Furling

[bruceheyman at cox.net]

Herb,
A couple of years ago ours also became very difficult to furl.  I believe this is not uncommon for our furlers as I saw one boat at the 2006 Regatta that had to use a winch to furl the sail.
After tighting the headstay as you did I called Schaefer and talked to someone in their technical support group.  He recommended that I replace the bearings and bearing body which we did.  With shipping it cost less than $110 and was amazIng the difference that it makes, even four years latter.
The bearing body is designed so that you can flush the salt water and crud out of the bearings after every sail.  It also has a "hatch" which would allow access to the bearings.  At the time I figured the replacement parts were so cheap because they realized that the originals had a less than optimal design and they didn't want to destroy their reputation.
To replace the berings and bering body you will have to detach the forestay which we did while the boat was in the water and the mast was stepped.
We used the jib halyard connected to a  bridal on the two forward cleats to keep the mast up while we worked.
We also move the boat far forward in the slip so that the bow was over the dock.  This minimized (but did not eliminate) our increasing the collection of tools in Davey Joense's Locker.
Good luck, like I said, because of the resulting performance it was a very rewarding project.
Bruce
Somerset 671 SoCal
------Original Message------
From: hcreech at comcast.net
Sender: c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com
To: C320 List
ReplyTo: Catalina List
Subject: [C320-list] Roller Furling
Sent: Apr 4, 2010 00:20


Well looking for help. Starting last season my Schaefer 2100 roller furling started to become difficult to furl and unfurl. I read the Schaefer manual and followed the instructions on tightening the headstay. This was done while in the water which was nerve racking considering I have almost a complete set of tools at the bottom of my slip. It helped a bit, easier, but I thought I would do it again on the hard, did not drop anything, yesterday. The results were pretty much the same. I must be doing something wrong regarding tightening the turnbuckle. I even sprayed all bearings with MacLube. The bottom drum is very difficult to rotate, even by hand. If anyone on the list has a suggestion or a trick I sure would appreciate the help. 


Thanks, 
Herb Creech 
Cloud Chaser #606 



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