Like aboard Madrone, each of Oso’s three primary sails are stored on furlers. While Madrone’s furlers were operated via a series of lines (aka ropes, for the non-sailors among us), the furlers on Oso are all powered by hydraulic motors. Press one button to unroll the sail, and press a second button to roll it away.
The hydraulic furlers are made by Selden and enjoy a reputation for being powerful and reliable. But they consist of a lot of moving parts, and anything with a lot of moving parts in a saltwater environment requires maintenance. Selden recommends a rebuild every 5 years; the furlers are almost 15 years old now and it’s unlikely that they’ve ever had any maintenance. So, when one of the furlers started to make a grinding noise, it was clear that they are overdue for some love.
Thanks to another sailor, high-level details of how the furlers are put together are available. And all of the parts required are standard industrial components available online.
But even with this, the rebuild was not the easiest project – tolerances are tight, so the parts are hesitant to come apart and only go back together when the alignment is exactly right. And as could be imagined from an assembly of dissimilar metals mounted on the bow of an ocean-going sailboat for nearly 15 years, just freeing up the corrosion to get the various pieces of the furler apart was a significant challenge.
In the end, though, we were successful at removing the furler from the rigging, opening it up, replacing all of the wear parts inside, and putting it back together. Hearing the gearbox run more smoothly was very satisfying – one down, two more to go!
