Facnor LS200 headsail furler

[PaulSavage]

I have a Facnor LS200 headsail furler. It has become very stiff. The online Facnor installation brochure says it needs to be flushed a few times per season. However, the version I have does not have a flushing hole. Would it be ok to drill a hole in the furler in order to flush it? The newer version of the furler has a flushing hole, and I could drill a hole in exactly the same spot shown in the brochure. Or does anyone have another suggestion for freeing up the furler? It seems to me that the unit I have is sealed, and not designed to be flushed. Currently if the wind comes up it is virtually impossible to furl the headsail, so it's become a serious safety issue. Thanks for your help.

[nigel1]

For advise, try contacting Welcome to Eurospars - Eurospars, I got a lot more sense out of them for my old Facnor furler than trying to deal direct with Facnor.
There are a couple of threads on CF concerning this problem, but the outcome does not look good
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...er-157254.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...er-107886.html

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by PaulSavage

I have a Facnor LS200 headsail furler. It has become very stiff. The online Facnor installation brochure says it needs to be flushed a few times per season. However, the version I have does not have a flushing hole. Would it be ok to drill a hole in the furler in order to flush it? The newer version of the furler has a flushing hole, and I could drill a hole in exactly the same spot shown in the brochure. Or does anyone have another suggestion for freeing up the furler? It seems to me that the unit I have is sealed, and not designed to be flushed. Currently if the wind comes up it is virtually impossible to furl the headsail, so it's become a serious safety issue. Thanks for your help.

Bad news for you, lots of those early ls200 have a quality problem coming from the iron clips inside of the drum , those clips keep the bearing spacer washers inside of the drum, in a salty environment they corrode and rust fast, making a whole mess inside of the drum, so if you drop the sail, and without loads in the furler attempt to turn by hand and the drum feel stiff probably you need a new drum, repair those LS200 usually its a bad idea since they are hard to get apart and parts are expensive,, we don't fix it we replace the whole lower unit .... try to dismantle the lower drum and put it in a bucket with fresh water and disshoap for a whole night , if the next morning is stiff , well. cheers...