Harken roller furler repair

[mcos]

For those who have had the "pleasure?" of replacing the headstay through a Harken roller unit a tip;
Instead of trying to thread the new wire through the assembled foils as suggested, try this. Take a suitable length of heavy test braided nylon fishing line, I used 40 ft of 50lb test, tie a small tuft of cloth to one end, about the size of two q tip heads, tape the hose of your shop vac to one end of the foil assembly using masking tape, turn the vacum on and feed the fishing line in through the opposite end of the foil assembly. The little tuft will pull the line through the connector fittings as it gets sucked along by the vacum. You will probably have to jiggle the line a little but it does go through quite easily. Take the fishing line on the top end of the foil assembly and secure it to your new headstay wire by making several half hitches up the wire for a distance of about 12 inches. Pull the line taught and then wrap tightly with electrical tape tapering the end that will lead into the foil to a point with the fishing line in the center. This gives the new wire a "guide" that can be gingerly pulled through the foils with the help of your 1st mate gently pulling the fishing line while you feed the new wire in. I tried the "spin the foil as you feed the wire" method and it did not work at all. The fishing line method does work.
Also, to get a broken connector out of the foil, drill the connector center hole slightly larger and tap with a 3/8 standard tap. Insert a 3/8 by 3 or 4 inch bolt. Grasp the bolt with a vise grip. Heat the foil with a propane torch. Tap the vise grips away from the foil and the piece should come loose. Alternately, drill any burrs out of the center hole of the connector, heat the foil and using a suitable drift, drive the broken section into the foil a distance at least as far as the new connector has to go into the foil. The extra piece inside the foil will not present any problem.