Frank Langer
1984 Ericson 30+, Nanaimo, BC
The boat we bought recently has a Harken furler (Model/Mark II), which works well. The manual mentions taking the drum apart annually or so to rinse the bearings and apply something like McLube dry lubrication, and to similarly rinse/lubricate the top at the masthead. I want to keep it in good working order, but am not very mechanically inclined (ie. taking the drum apart on this new to us boat is worrisome!), and am also not inclined to take a bosuns chair to the masthead to try to figure that out; also don't want to unstep the mast to do this annually (it was recently stepped by a rigger before we bought the boat). My current thinking is to rinse the drum with fresh water whenever I can, hoping it will flush the salt out, spray with Mclube every three months or so, hoping some gets to the right places, and maybe hire a rigger to check the masthead annually and lubricate that section. Any other suggestions? What do you all do to maintain furlers (I assume you do maintain them, but also assume you don't unstep the mast or climb to the top regularly...).
Thanks for any advice/suggestions.
Frank.
Thanks for any advice/suggestions.
Frank.