Hood Seafurl 915

[jwwarwick]

I have a Hood Seafurl 915 on a 1989 C-34 that suddenly locked up and will not turn. It has been lubricated with WD-40 annually and worked perfectly until now. Has anyone else had this problem and what is required to fix it? The rope is not frayed or hung up in the drum. I don't want to just throw it away as it is a very effective furling system.

John Warwick

[jwwarwick]

The furler jammed after the sail was about half furled. I was able to get the sail down by removing the sheets from the clew and doing 360's until the sail had unwrapped itself, then dropped it. It was still jammed after the sail was removed. Today I worked on it and was able to free it up by dropping the lower plate about 1/2 inch and the drum turned freely. Moved it back up to a gap of about the width of a nickle from the top plate and it still works. I still don't know what caused it to jam in the first place and it will likely happen again at the worst possible moment. I will take your advice and take the unit apart as soon as I get a Manual from Hood. Thanks for the advice. I will advise what the Hood technicians say and what it takes to fix it. I still wonder if this is a common problem with the Hood unit

John Warwick

[John Gardner]

When I bought my boat last year the furler was extremely stiff - almost needed the winch to move it.  I washed it out several times using WD40, then water with detergent (Simple Green) and then plain fresh water, moving it all the while.  It gradually freed up and crud was flushed out from the unit.  I subsequently replaced the furling line, which requires a small amount of dismantling.  I set up a sheet round the pulpit to make sure nothing went overboard.  All went well and I now rinse it with water periodically, and the drum works just fine.  I find it very easy to use.

However, after all this, I experienced the furling action jamming at the top when the sail was half furled.  I couldn't furl it, and I couldn't drop it.  Fortunately I was furling for easier motoring in negligible wind, and I sorted out the immediate problem when I got back to the dock.  I then washed the upper bearings by the same technique as above.  But I noticed that the halyard did what the Hood book says is wrong.  It followed a path from the swivel to the masthead sheave parallel to the forestay.  Hood says the halyard should pull slightly away from the stay to avoid the wrap I experienced.  This spring I followed their suggested cure and installed a sheave on the foreward face of the mast to create that angle between the halyard and forestay.  Hopefully all will be reliable now.

[cholder]

I had the same problem some years ago.  The solution was to replace the ball bearings in the lower unit.  Hood supplied the parts which included special spiraloc clips.  The hard part was to remove the screws holding the long tube above the furler drum.  That took patiance and an impact screw driver.

Replacing them isn't a particularly difficult job from the technical perspective just hard to overcome corrosion.

[jwwarwick]

I called Hood at 603-826-5791 and they advised that a jamming of the lower unit means that the main bearing in the drive unit is beginning to wear and it will jam again. I ordered the bearing for $57.00 and will advise on the difficulty of replacement and the outcome. Not bad for 14 years of use. The number listed in the vender list for Hood was a fax number. This number is for the Pompanette Co., which owns Hood, Bomar and Gray.

John Warwick