The top swivel on my furler broke today. It is a 30+ year old hood furler. I am thinking I will be best to replace the whole furler as either I won't be able to get a new top swivel if I can get one the cost of it and fitting I might be best to just replace the whole unit. What is the thoughts of the brains trust?


The part is cast so can't be welded.











Anyone happen to know what model furler it is? It use to have a plate on the top with hood on it I have done a search and can't find anything like it on the hood site.

Same as mine. It either a Hood Seafurl 2536 or 3250. I can weld cast alloy so anybody can! Do you have the other bits? You could also make another complete top bearing body I guess.

Yeah I do just got to get it down might go up the mast tomorrow to get it i tried letting the halyard off but it wouldn't drop down

You could also glue it together with Devcon or JB weld but I would glue another piece of aluminium over the join as well. Join all the bits together, wait a day or so, clean up the outer body and glue a section of alloy tube over the joins.

I have the same one too. Still works fine and when I looked at replacing it a new one would be around $3-4k so I thought stuff it, it still works fine.

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twodogs1969 said..
The top swivel on my furler broke today. It is a 30+ year old hood furler. I am thinking I will be best to replace the whole furler as either I won't be able to get a new top swivel if I can get one the cost of it and fitting I might be best to just replace the whole unit. What is the thoughts of the brains trust?

twodogs, I have taken the older model Furlex furler off my Lotus 9.2 and am not putting it back on as I don't think it is relevant for a little old 30 footer or to the type of sailing I will be doing.

It is complete, in good condition (a lot better than that one you have), it has a twin luff groove foil and the luff length is 11.07 meters. That may be a tad short for your Mottle 33 but from your pics it looks like the foot of your sail is well above deck.

I will sell it to any Seabreezer for $1,000 + freight or I put it on the bay or the tree for $1,500 +.

Maybe Furlex still sell that foil extrusion section. Would have to check. If so it might be good for you.

PM me if you are interested and I can send you pics, specs etc. Cheers.

Gday Twodogs

You might consider talking to some riggers too. Our local rigger here in Lake Mac has (or had when I was last in) quite a few pretzeled furlers lying around. Sometimes one gets damaged in a collision and insirance pays for a new one. Then you may be able to salvage parts.

I have a similar type of Seafurl. It was getting quite hard to rotate. I sent it off to a local retired engineer who pulled it apart and rebored fastenings and got it going nicely. I got a little screwed when I got the Hood bearings. No doubt they are just stainless bearings out of a catalogue but I was running out of time to source them.

It sounds a bit strange but if this was mine I would consider glassing it. I have been using chopper gun strands for years now to make hinges for my folding cats and it is very strong. If you wanted a backup to any welding, you could wrap the top of the swivel in one ultra long single uni strand. Wrapping the epoxy saturated strands around the swivel and then over a shackle and back again, like you were lashing it on. At the end fasten in place with a few tapped machine screws. It will fit like a glove and be very strong, if a little unconventional.

About 8 wraps of doubled uni strands holds my composite headsail track on. Same number held my 25 hp outboard nacelle onto the boat.

cheers

Phil

A thought - When my Mottle 33 furler got dodgy, corroded and sticking, I took it off and put hanks on the sail and got it re cut. Sometimes it was a pain having the sail clutter up the forward cabin but the boat sailed much much better upwind and I loved the fact we could drop it guaranteed in a blow. Saved a few $$$ too.

Thanks Phil, Trek, Cisco and Ramona
I am going to bring the other half of the broken part down and see how hard it is to get off first.
The local either is away on the Sydney to gold coast race not sure when he is back but I will talk to him and Joe Walsh for their opinions.
If I can get it repaired or a replacement I think it may be best. I am worried about gluing it I would be comfortable if it can be welded.
I should say though I am not a handyman!
I don't want to go down thanks or using the tracks as I don't have multiple sails.
The boat show is this week so if I was to replace I may be able to get a good price there.
Quick look on the net new is about $3000 .
Thanks for the offer Cisco but at this stage if I need to replace depending on the price I think I would prefer a new one then replacing it with another 30 year old one. But I'll keep it in mind if the new ones are to expensive.

The best bet is to repair it on the boat with out any dismantling if possible. I would still glue the fractured alloy bits back together first. I do like Kankama's idea of wrapping the strands with epoxy though, that would be easier than gluing aluminium to the outside body. Get the aluminium dead clean before you start though.

Gluing it wont get rid of the broken pieces, its still all broken. A proper repair would be to open up the fracture and join the pieces with fresh metal so that the crack is eliminated, not just covered up. Or rebuild the broken piece by building it up. If the alloy is badly oxidized, you may have to go digging for clean metal to weld to.

After consulting with 3 different riggers a sailmaker and shipwright all advise not to welded.
Got 2 quotes waiting for a third looking like about $3000 installed that includes a new forstay.

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twodogs1969 said..
After consulting with 3 different riggers a sailmaker and shipwright all advise not to welded.
Got 2 quotes waiting for a third looking like about $3000 installed that includes a new forstay.

I now work for Almasts and we manufacture the Reefit furlers, designed to be very easy to put together yourself!!
PM me if you would like a price :)

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rumblefish said..

twodogs1969 said..
After consulting with 3 different riggers a sailmaker and shipwright all advise not to welded.
Got 2 quotes waiting for a third looking like about $3000 installed that includes a new forstay.

I now work for Almasts and we manufacture the Reefit furlers, designed to be very easy to put together yourself!!
PM me if you would like a price :)

I removed a Seafurl 3250 and fitted a Reefit furler. Extremely happy with the Reefit.
I still have all the bits for the Seafurl minus the extrusions if you are interested

My mate's 1985 Seafurl furler on his Cav 28 just blew it's top swivel up a few weeks ago. By the time we worked out the costs of spares etc it was better to go to Joe Walsh and get a brand new Furlex fitted with new forestay for $1800.

Spending money on a furling system that's worn out wasn't a good idea. Nevertheless if you can fix it without spending much money then I'm all for that.

Bit of an update
I have the boat booked in for the installation of a new selden furler with Joe Walsh next Friday.
Boat show special $3000 installed includes a new forstay.
Still waiting for 2 local guys to come back with a price. They are obviously that well off they didn't want the job

New selden furler fitted by Joe Walsh. Also replaced reefing lines.
Could not recommend him any higher. Great service and a fair price.
With the wind in Sydney we have stayed tied to his jetty for 2 days.

Good to hear everything worked out in the end happy sails...