Replace the Jib Furler?

[Joe500]

My boat has a Plastimo brand jib furler that's probably about twenty years old. Every year some of the rivets come out that hold the foils together. I try to replace the missing rivets once I notice they are gone. Usually, when they do this, and I don't notice, and I try to raise the sails (say because it's the start of the season and I took them down for the winter), the sail ends up pushing the foils apart as it goes up. The last time, two foils separated by about an inch, and no amount of force that I can exert on the top foil will push it back into the bottom one, both about 2/3s up the mast.

The marina recommends replacing the old furler with a furlex system for an installed cost of $3,400 plus $300 to convert my jib from #7 to #6 to fit the furlex system. In addition to not breaking every year, that would have the advantage of being easier to furl, I imagine. My current one is hard to pull and I often use the winch to furl the sail if there is any wind at all.

I suppose an alternative is to have them take down the furler, drill out all of the old rivets, and replace all of them with new rivets. Maybe those will hold and save me the cost of a new system which is quite expensive.

Any suggestions on what I should do?

[Ziggy]

I'd replace it. Sounds to me it's likely to break at the most inconvenient moment. Furlex is nice, but there are many other choices: see for example http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...nit-35913.html. Many are much less expensive than Furlex. Whatever you pick, you can install it yourself and save a bundle.