Reckmann Furler Rebuild, R2, etc

[kaivai]

I intended a video, but my gear and recordings were stolen - along with my truck.
Here is what I did, no help required except taking it off the boat. Once apart I brought the furler back to USA from Cebu, PI and rebuilt in my shop here. No one works on my boat but me! Pictures from Reckmann are posted somewhere else.

Likely the same process for R2, R3, etc..
Please let me know whats not clear. Any questions or comments and I will update this accordingly.






Before disassembly you need to get the furler off of the stay. My rig has a solid 9MM stay rod which I reused.

++++ Find a safe place to lay the entire system on the ground where it will not get damaged. It is very very unlikely you will get it apart while still on the boat. Remove the stay at the mast head. Pull the stay out as flat as possible to prevent the foils from bending as the stay bows. Use lots of hands to move this and keep it flat - 6 people works best. And lots of space. If the aluminum extrusion / foils get bent its a huge and likely fatal problem.



Lay the entire furler, extrusions and stay out on level ground, support it intermittently with wood blocks underneath to protect it. It helps then to first lift and support the furler end up to about chest high and spray penetrating oil in the end to soak between the furler body and the stay end. Pool oil into the end and let soak a few days. Hang it from a tree or sit it on a barrel or whatever. It can be very difficult to get this broken lose. Soak it first.
Eventually you will hopefully be able to get the furler moved up the stay to remove the locking wedges.



Laying flat, straight and supported underneath, use a large heavy hammer to pound the furler upward on the stay. Sit a large block of wood against the furler end and pound away. I destroyed 2 pieces of 6x6x16" coconut in this process before mine moved! The weight of the stay and extrusions will be resistance against the hammer blows.
AFTER the furler moves up, the wedge locks will be loose and can be taken out.
Now, loosen and remove the aluminum extrusions from the upper end of the furler (couple of screws. NOTE how everything comes out. TAKE pictures. Slide the furler off of the stay.
The furler swivel from the top will also slide off now. Cut the weld and it simply threads open.

The furler is stainless steel. ANY damage to the threads will result in it being nearly impossible to get back together!!!! Dont ask.


From the top end, a roll pin gets punched out and the top threads off. DO NOT lose the pin. NOTE which end goes back in first AND THE POSITION of the cut in the pin. MUST GO BACK IN IN EXACT POSITION.

The weld tab / lock on the bottom gets cut. LEAVE the flat lock tab attached to the bottom center lock ring. You can use this tab and a punch to turn / thread out this part. DO NOT DAMAGE THREADS. Dont ask.


Likely the roller pins inside are fine and can be cleaned and reused. You will need new bearings, I used Stainless Steel.
You will need new seals, an upper and a lower. One I found , the other I had made. Very affordable here.


PARTS: You should not need to get parts from Reckmann. If you do, be prepared for lousy customer service and to pay 10 times what you would pay elsewhere.
The roller bearings are held in place by a plastic spacer sleeve. PROTECT this at all cost. Not sure its replaceable.


I think the roller pin bearings are 15mm Long which I could not find in the USA. I considered grinding down 16mm pins but just reused mine as they were fine. I bought bearings from Mcmaster-Carr and got seals made at a hydraulic specialty shop near our large international shipping port.


I suggest having the system blasted with walnut shell or similar to clean it. Some staining will remain.
I used a lubricant product called SUPER LUBE, a marine grease with teflon.


The foils spin on UHMW type plastic rollers which are permanently mounted on the solid rod stay and were in good shape. However the spacing tube between the rollers was degraded and broken into pieces. I replaced the spacer tubes with 1/2 PEX water pipe. Each segment I cut longitudinally with a vibrating cutter tool and slid them on the stay. I was careful to position the rollers to support the foils at their joints and midway each segment. IF your bearings are shot you likely need to rebuild these roller parts as well. BEFORE removing ANY foils, get a punch and make each one so they go back in the exact order. I also cleaned all the grooves and lubricated them to help with reassembly.