Mast Furling Winch Removal

[Harry Brown]

I am trying to work out how to remove the mast furling winch.

Manual says:
Detach the luff extrusion from the in-mast furling mast gear by slackening the tension and undoing the toggle.
(See page 4, ”Luff extrusion adjustment”).

Remove the in-mast furling mast gear from the mast by undoing the eight holding bolts and taking it away
from the mast. (The in-mast furling mast gear can be removed even when the mast is stepped).

I'm afraid this is a bit vague for my limited brain. Can someone please explain, in layman's terms, how I go about removing this?!

Thanks in advance.

[Salty]

Looking at both your photograph and the exploded diagram of parts, it appears to me that the eight holding bolts are the ones marked B42 in the exploded diagram or, referring to your photo, the winch is mounted onto a long grey or black plate bolted at each end to the side of the mast. In your photo at the top you can see four machine screws or bolts designed to take an Allen key for tightening or removal. Those are the ones marked B42 in the diagram as also are the remaining four at the opposite end of that plate. Take great care when removing the whole unit to ensure that nothing can drop off down inside the mast or you will need a new vocabulary of expletives. Kicking the mast can be both painful and expensive.
Hopefully the parts B40 will not drop off when the bolts B42 are removed, as they should be held in place by pop rivets B43.
The one part I'm not sure about is the long rod B20 and the associated parts at the top of that rod and how they may be connected to the luff extrusion. Again you don't want anything falling off and rattling down inside the mast to somewhere you can't retrieve them from without lifting the mast.

[tiger79]

The foil on which the sail is fitted is connected to the top of B20.  It's connected by a short tube, with pins and split pins top and bottom.  You remove the bottom pin.  But first you need to take some weight off the connection by tensioning the main halyard a bit, this should lift the foil slightly.  Remove the bottom pin, then lift the foil a bit more so you can remove the furling mechanism.  The connecting sleeve looks like this...

[mikeiso1192]

Out of curiosity.
Why do you need to remove the furling winch?
Mike

[Harry Brown]

Thanks very much for the replies.
Makes much more sense now.

With no tension on the reefing loop line, there is quite a bit of play (side to side) on the winch.
I wanted to take if off, clean and inspect.
Can anyone confirm if there is much play on their winch?

[Yngmar]

Servicing the in-mast furling, including the winch is definitely a worthwhile endeavour. When I took mine out of the mast I found an important dowel pin hanging on by the last 10% of its length. The consequences of it falling out would've been... interesting.

On mine there is a foam insert in the mast extrusion just below the winch, so any dropped parts are easily retrieved from there - amongst a mix of debris and dead spiders! ;-)

[Harry Brown]

Ok, I have just tried to drop the sail to begin the job and already I'm hitting my first obstacle!
The Halyard Swivel is getting stuck on the Locking Tube (D12 on diagram).
I have had the sail up and down countless times, but this time it is geetting stuck on the tube.
I have tried (gently with a rubber mallet) to assist it down but it just seem to be getting tighter and tighter as it moves. I don't want to jam it completely.
Any ideas what might have happened here? It appears clean and free of debris. I have tried some Holts Pro Lube, to no avail 
Thanks.

[tiger79]

The Halyard Swivel is getting stuck on the Locking Tube (D12 on diagram).

It will do, it's not supposed to go down that far.  Access to the halyard swivel is via the upper access panel.

[Harry Brown]

Amazing!
That would explain it then!
I thought I removed the shackle from the bottom hole last time, obviously not! I think I've shrunk a foot!
Thanks for this! 

[seasicksteve]

On mine the pin B12 had disappeared so the furling gear didn't work at all.   I didn't realise this until I removed the winch and the cog and all its accompanying balls dropped into the bottom of the mast!  Managed to retrieve the cog but had to source replacement balls.  As for the pin I bought one of the size specified in the Selden handbook but it was way too fat.  In the end used a stainless bolt with self locking nut - worked fine.

[MagicalArmchair]

Arise zombie thread, arise! I’ve been concerned that my mainsail furling has been stiff since I purchased Mirage a few years ago. I put it down to friction and technique of furling with the sail on... so when I went to service the system yesterday I tested the theory with the sail off. I still couldn’t rotate the furling winch by the rope without lots of effort. So I’m guessing I need to do what Yngmar (whose footsteps I seem to be eeriely following in!) has done and get this furling winch off.

When loosening the foil, how loose do I need to make it? Presumably I shouldn’t undo it right the hell off! Any other tips for getting that pin off?

https://youtu.be/DzkkdG4FdVo

[tiger79]

After watching your video, it looks as if y ou need to take the mechanism off the mast and inspect it more closely.  The notchy resistance you're experiencing shouldn't happen - I wonder whether there's a problem with the ratchet mechanism?  Also, the wobble on the furling pulley suggests that new bearings might be needed too.

[Baltic]

Hi.

Your video...
https://youtu.be/DzkkdG4FdVo

Look exactly like our winch.

Problem was.  The broken springs... B6
If I remember correct,  4pcs total.  2 of those were broken...

Selden spares are expensive and hard to find.
Basically whatever standard springs is working replacement.

https://www.marinesuperstore.com/deck-hardware/winches/lewmar-standard-pawl-spring

And as told.
Be careful. When remove the winch. Parts will drop very easy inside the mast.
Old t-shirt or similar might be useful.
By using the lower inspection hole I tucked textile inside the mast to making barrier to the falling parts.