Replacing the Forestay in a ProFurl Basic?

[jacob30]

Has anyone replaced their Headstay on this furler on their own? Looking for advice please. I saw a good video online that welded the new wire to the old and pushed it through. I'm going towards that tactic but looking for alternative methods. I'm planning on using Norseman fittings once in place.

Thanks in advance.


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[roverhi]

Changed the headstay on my ProFurl. Disassembled the extrusions and ran the wire through a section at a time. No big thing to disassemble the extrusions and a good time to renew the threadlock compound on the set screws. At least one had gone awol on mine. With patience you could probably just run the wire through without a guide. The bushings have a slightly larger diameter than the max wire size for the furler so it could get frustrating hitting the hole on each joint.

[Jim Cate]

G'Day Jacob,

No specific info on the ProFurl, but we did just that job with a Schaeffer furler... on the lawn in front of a resort on Aore Island in Vanuatu! I didn't want to disassemble the sections and worried about getting the new wire through the assembled foil... hmmm!
So I did a sort of end to end splice on the two sections of 1x19: I unlaid the outer windings on the old wire for a distance of about 10 inches and cut them off, leaving the inner core intact. I did the opposite on the new wire, ie unlaid the outer and then cut the inner core away for the same distance. Then stuck the core from the old wire into the void in the new and relaid the outer wires tightly. Put a tight seizing around the length of the join, using thin twine. Tested by pulling hard on the splice, and it seemed strong, so then successfully pulled the new wire through the foil with no issues. Put on the Sta Loks and we were good to go.

PErhaps the same technique would work for you.

Jim

[jacob30]

Both great advice. Thanks. I'll report back how it came out.


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[Jon Eisberg]

I'm with roverhi on this one, I'd take this opportunity to disassemble and clean up/renew the system, you won't likely have the chance to do so again anytime soon...

I recently swapped out the whole drum assembly on my old Profurl N32, and replacing the forestay while I was at it. With the exception of 1 or 2 set screws, everything came apart with surprising ease. As Peter mentions, if you're going with the maximum diameter wire for which the unit is sized, the tolerances of the sleeved bearings are pretty tight, and that tack weld between the old and new wire would have to be pretty exact and smooth...

Depending on the age of your unit, the plastic bearings at both the top and bottom might be a bit worn, I'd certainly pull them and have a look... And I'd definitely separate the extrusion from the drum assembly for inspection, on an older unit that connection can get pretty gnarly, and might have to be re-worked. If it turns out you do need to replace any of the bits of your unit, I had good luck with Mauri Pro Sailing as a source for parts for my long-discontinued N32, their assortment and prices were considerably better than dealing with Wichard directly... Another excellent source for old/odd bits and pieces is Florida Rigging & Hydraulics, Peter Linwick there is the guy to talk to...

Good luck, but it's really not all that much work to take your extrusions apart, and clean them up... If nothing else, it gives you the opportunity to spray the bearing sleeves with McLube or similar, easing the operation a bit at least for awhile...

[jacob30]

So completed the Headstay replacement on the furler. Ran into a few problems. The majority of the set screws did not want to come out. Since I had already pulled the old wire I had to drill out all the frozen set screws after attempting first with the Allen wrench which rounded out the screws. Once drilled out I had to tap each new hole with a larger set screw.

So lesson learned. I should have tried using the old stay to run the new one through. Nothing was gained from the disassembly in my case. Glad it's done! Now to put the rig back on next week.


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