Beneteau OC400 In-Mast Furling

[Archwood]

My wife and I recently purchased an '93 Oceanis 400 (new to us) as our first liveaboard. The boat had been neglected for 3+ years by the previous owner. One of the many projects I am working on is replacing the running rigging, as the existing rigging is very stiff and very worn.

Things were going wonderfully until I went to replace the furler line for the in-mast main. I have the Beneteau owners manuals, but they do not mention how to replace the line (why would they?). The mast is an ISOMAT, so I went online and looked at the US Spars website for information on removal and replacement. US Spars says that there should be removable inspection and maintenance panels on the sides of the mast, but mine has none.

I can see that the line feeds into a small hole at the bottom of the furler drum, and I can see the end of the line if I rotate the drum 180, however, I can not figure out how to remove the line from the little hole. Strangely there appears to be a set screw in the drum perpendicular to the hole for the line. I have tried loosening this, but to no avail.

Any advice?

Thanks,

[RussCo]

Hi, we went through the same job on the same boat a few years ago, and from what I recall our rigging guy used an impact driver to get that set screw out to install the new line. Our in mast furling only really started to perform correctly after we replaced the main sail and the running rigging.

[Archwood]

RussCo,

I ended up pulling my entire furling system apart and replaced the original bearing set at the top and bottom of the furling screw with graphite impregnated bushings. While doing this I was able to get access to replace the furling line. Replacing the bearings on the furling system proved to be a big success. Now using the in-mast furling is a dream.

You said that you replaced your sail. Why was that necassary? Did you find that it was binding when you pulled the sail out?

Thank you for your reply.

MH

[RussCo]

Yes Archwood, it was jamming completely when out hauling it. Old sail (1993) and maybe not the best cut from Pryde for an in mast furling system. New main is cut flatter and works well although seems sensitive to halyard tension.

[Archwood]

I found that hoisting my boom to an unusually high angle using the topping lift I was able to completely eliminate sail jamming. The only problem I found was that this can be somewhat difficult to do if the wind is blowing and reefing is necassary as the sail can become very full.

I'm not sure if you have had any problems with the bearing set at the bottom of the furling set. I found the bushings I made an excellent solution to gummy bearings.