Anyone with an old Harken furler know what this part is?

[Geoff W.]

It broke and came off from wherever it was on the top of my forestay and started binding up the furler when trying to bring it in/out. I unscrewed it but am unsure what it is in order to source a replacement.

It's got me considering replacing the whole furler, generally... if the plastic on this component has weakened enough to fail on an original furler, what's next to go? I don't think I can trust this thing offshore or in any big conditions. Would love to hear otherwise.

 

[clayton]

Captain Obvious reply here, no snarkiness intended...why not call Harken (if you haven't already).

 

[Geoff W.]

Captain Obvious reply here, no snarkiness intended...why not call Harken (if you haven't already).

I think I forget sometimes people used to call each other directly to sort out problems. I'm used to customer service queues, ticketing systems, etc... I'll see if I can find a good contact

 

[Geoff W.]

I just looked on a site and this popped up in the recommended ads on the side of the page. Egg -> Face.

 

[nquigley]

Wow - judging by the price for that little bit of plastic, Harken is very proud of that part. Anyone got a 3-D printer that could run off a replacement??

 

[clayton]

So the next question is - do you then have to ascend the mast and disconnect the front stay -at the top - to be able to install it or does it split in half by backing out the 2 screws? Harken is definitely trendy...

 

[clayton]

The pix look like it should split apart . I guess that sits above the top swivel.

 

[Dave G.]

I have the same Harken furler and mine does not have one of those. I think it may be an accessory item and not a necessity ? I guess it would depend on the set up and how troublesome other halyards in the immediate area may be.

 

[goldenstate]

Mine is a Harken Cruising Mk1 and I don’t think I have that part either.

 

[Geoff W.]

It fulfills the function of basically being a fairlead to the furler assembly (and does come apart with the screws you see there.) Not sure how necessary it is... we dropped the jib, I removed the piece, and we were able to furl the jib back up no problem.

 

[Kenneth K]

Mine doesn't have one of those. When I put my mast up, my rigger recommended installing one of these:

(photo from bgary)

I think he called it the same name--a halyard deflector.

 

[Christian Williams]

If I were me, and I am, I'd put it back on. They're intended to stop the spiral twist which can wrap the halyard around the furl and jam it. Alternative is a fitting on the mast to restrain the halyard (photo above).

On some boats, the angle of the halyard is acute enough to stop the twist on its own. But if your deflector broke, that seems to suggest it was working hard and doing its job.

 

[Dave G.]

Ken, I believe that is called a "restrainer", the "deflector" would stop the spinnaker halyard from getting wrapped. If you use your spinnaker on a regular basis it would probably be a good thing to have up there.

 

[Geoff W.]

 

[Dave G.]

Geoff,
If you don't have a "restrainer"(pic 2) on your halyard I agree with Christian that you should replace that "deflector"(pic 3) so you don't have pic 1 situation .

 

[Geoff W.]

Found the thing for $50 at West Marine.. what a deal! Looks like it'll require going up the mast, which is just as well, because my jib halyard got skied when it broke as well (must've popped open the shackle somehow, methinks). Thanks all for coming along on this journey.

 

[u079721]

There is another option that is essentially free and wouldn't require a trip aloft - use a pendant to achieve full hoist to raise the upper swivel.

When we bought our E38 the original owner had just replaced the jib halyard, having wrapped the wire around the forestay and truly messed things up. I quickly realized that if I didn't change or install something I was going to get the same halyard wrap. Looking at the mast head with binoculars I realized that the problem was that the way the sail was cut placed the upper swivel way too low. If the upper swivel were within a few inches of the pulley there wouldn't be enough room for a wrap to occur. So as a stopgap solution that first season I just raised the genny about 6" to 8" using a pendant of 1/4" line between the lower furling drum and the tack of the sail. Problem solved. True I did raise the whole genny 6", and thus the force of the sail was further up the mast, but I doubt most of us would notice the difference.

 

[Kenneth K]

Ken, I believe that is called a "restrainer", the "deflector" would stop the spinnaker halyard from getting wrapped. If you use your spinnaker on a regular basis it would probably be a good thing to have up there.

Cool, thanks. So both the metal restrainer and the plastic deflector prevent jib halyard wrap. But only the plastic deflector pulls double-duty and prevents spinnaker halyard wrap as well. Yes?

 

[Dave G.]

But only the plastic deflector pulls double-duty and prevents spinnaker halyard wrap as well. Yes?

Yes that is correct. I think the deflector seems a good idea to me and a failsafe particularly if your spinnaker halyard is above the jib halyard which most are. May have to get one of those I think.

 

[Kenneth K]

Good to know. I bought a spinnaker last season but haven't flown it yet (I added a mast track and some hardware last summer). I usually sail short-handed so I plan on using the sock that came with the spinnaker.



Hadn't thought of it till now, but it seems like that large hoop at the top of the sock might serve the same purpose as a deflector, though it's "attached" to the spinnaker halyard and not the jib halyard.