Older hood furler

[sabray]

I pulled the furler off the mast today. The bearings are getting a tad old and well it never furled very smooth. Up top where the foil ends there is a spring some washers and well a crappy setup. What should this look like. I am thinking of sleeving the new stay and adding a bearing for the spring to ride on. So I would install a copper or stainless tube that will seet against the new stalok and then put a bearing over the sleeve between the foil and the washers. Also will square off the foil. Anyone seen the upper end with some suggestions. I am pretty sure the lower end is in place using an epoxy from loos . Has anyone worked on these that give some advice. Thanks

[gulfstar37]

This looks similiar to what we have. If so it is an old Hood Sea Furl Mark II. This was one of the first genertion furlers that had two sail slots not for changing sails for racing but to allow flying twin head sails wing and wing. I think I still have the owners manual but may have to dig deep for it. The spring was used to keep tension between the foil sections and upper furler bearing. One draw back of this earilir version is you can not tighten the halyard drum tight like you can with todays furlers. If you overtighten the halyard the furler will jam up and work hard. I last rebuilt ours about 10 years ago and for crusing works surprisingly well.

[um saudade]

At best Hood furlers were pretty junky stuff. I have machined several parts for them over the years as most parts are obsolete. If you want a furler to actually have a chance of working in severe conditions get rid of this and get something current.

[Valkyrie654]

You might be able to get parts from Pompanette in FL they are the current distributor. Goo luck to you. If you can afford it just junk it and buy a more modern design.

[gjordan]

I had an early Hood Furler that jammed in a squall. Went to the auto parts store and bought new bearings for about 1/4 of what Hood wanted for them, and it worked perfectly for the next 7 years that I owned the boat. Unless there is something else wrong with it, put ( or have put) new bearings in and sail it. ____Grant.

[gjordan]

Just reread the thread and realized that you have a Peterson 44. That is what I owned with the Hood furler. Worked great with new bearings. Wonderful Boat.____Grant.