Hood Stoway Main furling system

[bfiegener]

Hi,
new to the site, we have a hood stoway in mast furling on the main and yesterday we furled it in and the system just died. The switch does nothing. wont come out or in. cant hear the electric motor running at all. I checked all the breakers and fuses and both are fine.

I dont know a think about this system. Boat is new and came with it. We have a Brewer 44 1989.

Manual is useless. Does anyone know if these systems can be used manually? It is an electric furling system, but must be a way to manually furl and unfurl it. Nothing in the manual.
thanks
bill

[Scott Berg]

I'm very familiar with these systems; they have over load protection in the relay box and I"m guessing it just kicked in to protect the sail; it resets in a matter of seconds...

Also, yes on manual, they use a small hand crank.... contact me directly to discuss if you wish; I've maintained several and have one on my 60' ketch

SB

Originally Posted by bfiegener

Hi,
new to the site, we have a hood stoway in mast furling on the main and yesterday we furled it in and the system just died. The switch does nothing. wont come out or in. cant hear the electric motor running at all. I checked all the breakers and fuses and both are fine.

I dont know a think about this system. Boat is new and came with it. We have a Brewer 44 1989.

Manual is useless. Does anyone know if these systems can be used manually? It is an electric furling system, but must be a way to manually furl and unfurl it. Nothing in the manual.
thanks
bill

[Fuss]

I also have the Hood Stoway Main Furling.

Advice above sounds good, but just to add my experience so far......

(Mine also came with no manual hand crank, so I bought one about 5 years ago... rubber seal by the hand crank seems to only last 3 years before leaking ATF fluid)... I've replaced it twice)

It is hydraulic and has no electrical load type breakers. Flow pressure can be set at the pump and this influences the strength of the furling motor.

The outhaul does not have this and is so powerful that I'm sure it would rip the clew right out of the sail given half a chance.

However I am careful to watch what is going on whenever it is used.

Whatever you do, make sure the system still works in tough conditions and not just light wind days.

Just a point worth considering.... My system was setup so that the furling motor put very little stress on the sail, the downside was that in winds over 15kts, it was nearly impossible to furl the sail away. I then altered the pump pressure so that now the sail can be put away in +50kts.

This for me , makes the whole system much safer.

Another tip when furling away, by having the boom offset, you lessen the angle onto the foil and this takes load of the mechanism. Its designed this way. Have a look at the angle where the sail enters the mast and you will understand what I mean. The boom angle only needs a bit of offset, however, if the boom offset is to the wrong side, then the angle into the mast becomes quite sharp.

[AiniA]

Interesting comment on hydraulic Hood system. Ours seems to be entirely electrical. As well as the crank for manually furling you can also drop the main, in an emergency, by disconnecting the foil at the bottom.

[bfiegener]

Scott,
How do I contact you directly?

Also, I did wait a few minutes for it to reset but nothing. I tried again after an hour and still nothing. Dont know what would have burned out on it. It furled in without any trouble.
bill

[bfiegener]

Scott,
How do I contact you directly?
bill

[chomps]

Hi
Very new to site.I joined after reading last thread. I have a Hood electric/hydraulic furler and the manual crank output sharf seal is leaking oil. I was hoping that maybe Scott (SB) might be able to give me some advice on parts eg seal and what oil goes in hydraulics. Looks like ATF. Rig is on a 50Ft Cat I am based in Australia and would appreciate any held.
Dave

[Fuss]

Originally Posted by chomps

Hi
Very new to site.I joined after reading last thread. I have a Hood electric/hydraulic furler and the manual crank output sharf seal is leaking oil. I was hoping that maybe Scott (SB) might be able to give me some advice on parts eg seal and what oil goes in hydraulics. Looks like ATF. Rig is on a 50Ft Cat I am based in Australia and would appreciate any held.
Dave

Hi,
The seal is an uncommon imperial part. You should be able to source it by taking out the old one carefully and then taking it to a bearing/seal specialist.
I seem to remember that it is made in the states.
Do not put the new one in with strong sealant as you want to be able to remove it again easily. This is a commonly made mistake.

The seal normally lasts for 4 years.

Not all hood furling systems are the same, there are a few iterations.

Oil is ATF fluid.

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by bfiegener

Scott,
How do I contact you directly?
bill

Click on his profile avatar and then find "send PM" this gets him a personal message n his inbox here on CF

[Jbingham]

Hi all! We are in the final stages of our survey for our little harbor 53' fitted with a hood stowaway system. As we approach sea trial are there specific test we can perform on the system beyond normal operation? What are some of the typical maintenance items I should be looking. Through the service logs to ensure were being done over the years? Thanks in advance!

[gwbull]

Have purchased an 83 schooner with hood electric motor main furler in mast. Anyone know where I can locate a new motor? Manual crank is ok but slow. Motor has failed twice (no drama) so perhaps new motor would offer some assurance. Those night squalls, y'know....

[TheOffice]

Try Hood in Rhode Island

[SVSeaHawk]

I have the exact same problem. Coming into anchorage, furled in the main 90% then nothing. Just stopped. No problems prior. I was able to use the little crank to wind it in but now I'm in the Bahamas w/o a main.



Went through the system I can see (breakers, switch box, etc) with a multimeter and 12v current is going up the mast through two wires. It reverses + and - with the switch as expected. The voltage matches the battery volts. But the motor isn't turning. The only thing left before I drop the boom is to check the connection on the wires going into the motor (assuming they are outside whatever housing the motor lives in). After that I'm hoping brushes. THen it's finding a parts dealer and flying the parts in from FLA.


If anyone has advice or insight, I'm all ears.


Or a decent manual, exploded view, parts list, etc. That would be great too.


Thanks...
Luke

[Alaris]

I came across this manual:

http://www.oyster-owners.com/wp-cont...y%20Furler.pdf

[Sojourner68]

Hello, just found this forum and thread. I have the hydraulic Hood Sto-away curler and just noticed the seal at the mast is leaking ATF fluid. Anyone on here have details on where to procure the required seal in the US? Don’t think it matters but the system is installed on a Gulfstar 44cc. I see in one reply it was recommended to remove the seal and take to a “seal expert”. Hoping to benefit from someone that has already done this.

Thanks in advance for any help or words of wisdom