MacGregorSailors.com

Hello,
I have Schaffer Snapfurl CF-700. It has currently twisted two headstays to the point where they broke. The foil is plastic and length is 317.5 in. The Furler is at least 8 years old. Should I replace the foil? Are there any other options?
Thank you,
Ryan Scott

I just put together a snapfurl 500 so different than what you have but maybe similar. I have not used it yet so am wondering where your head stay is breaking?

This picture shows the setup I just did at the top of the forestay. This furler has a halyard that attaches to a ball bearing rotation sleeve - that is then attached to the sail. This halyard is one of the reasons I went with the Schaefer as it is a backup in case the wire forestay breaks at the top plus tensioning of the foresail. However, in the manual they go into some detail about making sure the halyard won’t get wrapped on the furler - bad things can happen. The picture below shows what I ended up kludging together using most of the stock hardware that came with the 26S and some of this was driven to make sure I (at least I hope..) don’t have any issue with the halyard wrapping on the furler.



I think the plastic furler itself rotates nicely on the wire.

Also, the picture below shows an important toggle at the top of the forestay. With the toggle, you can bend the forestay in any direction and the strain is all relieved by the toggle. Without the toggle, if you bend the cable in one direction it puts point loading on the cable interface between stiff parts and the flexible cable and it’s hard on the cable.



Don’t know if this helps.. just some ideas and if possible, where is your head stay breaking?

Make sure you have toggles at both ends.

Yep.. FYI, this picture is from the Schaefer 500 manual showing the toggle at the bottom

Dragos Filimon wrote:Make sure you have toggles at both ends.

... ahhhh - the headstay toggle debate again.

My understanding is (and recently confirmed by a successful MacGregor retailer) a swivel toggle is not necessary at the top of the headstay on our boats. It won't hurt to have one, but is not required for safety, performance, or longevity.

a swivel toggle is not necessary at the top

From the Schaefer Snapfurl manual

A toggle is REQUIRED at the bottom
A toggle is RECOMENDED at the top


From the CDI FF2 manual

Headstay Fittings There must be a toggle at both ends of the
headstay.

I have almost had a furler failure from the wire breaking at the top so I am going with what is recomended by the manufacture.
http://www.schaefermarine.com/wp-conten ... Manual.pdf

I wonder if the dealer said you dont need a swivel (something that would allow the forestay cable to rotate) in which case I think everyone would agree that a "swivel" is not needed.

Another image of a toggle.
I have followed these discussions. No dealer installed toggle at the top either for my .

The shackle and eye setup on the allows for the same freedom of motion offered by a toggle. Thus no need for a toggle at the top of the forestay.

The shackle and eye setup on the allows for the same freedom of motion offered by a toggle. Thus no need for a toggle at the top of the forestay.

Im just dealing with a furler for the first time in many years but I also completely agree with this. The purpose of the toggle is to allow the cable to freely bend in any direction at its end point and there is more than one way to do this. I didnt take a picture of what was on the 26S but the picture below somewhat shows how the "toggle" function on the 26S worked (this was with a hank on setup).



You can see that the cable can be angled in any direction freely - no stress on the cable from bending.

The picture below shows what happened the first time I brought the mast down with the new furler install using a gin pole. I was trying to be careful.. I can see where raising and lowering the mast is also going to put some stress on the cable at the top.

In that second picture what is going on with that loop link and face screwed pad eye?

That looks like a horrible piece of rigging work.

Catigale wrote:In that second picture what is going on with that loop link and face screwed pad eye?

That looks like a horrible piece of rigging work.

Go back 10 posts it's the halyard block hanger, but agree messy lookin'

Thanks Kadet.. you are correct.

I guess I can live with messy lookin.. lol

The main difference between the Schaefer and the CDI furlers is the halyard. The CDI has an internal halyard and the Schaefer has an external halyard. The Schaefer setup is more similar to the hank on jib setup that I’m used to where you can adjust the jib luft tension.

The picture below is from the Schaefer manual (link also listed in a post above) and it describes some of the options for making sure the halyard does not get wrapped on the part of the furled that rotates. I haven’t used the furled yet but I’m hoping what I did is light, strong and insures I never have the halyard wrap issue. The figure shown in the manual looks like a mast head rig rather than a fractional rig so you have to adjust a little. And I only driled some small screw holes in the mast.

Yep if u r gonna do it do it right or it,ll come back to haunt yer
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/ ... 56a38b.jpg

Trying to find pic,s of a close up for of my set-up

J