Extrusion Screws and Boom Sheave

[James Taylor]

Hi All!

Last month Hurricane Irene visited Virginia, in preparation for her visit I planned to remove the genoa from our B43. As we lowered the genoa the swivel would not drop all the way to the base.Extrusion screws on the extension pole had backed out to prevent the swivel from lowering all the way thus preventing removal of genoa. The wind speed, that day, was much too brisk to attempt going to the top of the mast and slide down the furling pole (tightening the screws) with the genoa extended.We rolled the genoa tightly on the pole and secured it with cord. The genoa suffered no damage during the storm. As I was reading a letter from one of the other B43 owners who had the same thing happen to him when he tried to lower his genoa in preparation for Irene I felt you all should know about this potential problem. We both have Profurl furlers and they uses some type green stuff to lock the screws in place but, it's not working. If they back out again I will use locktite on each screw to keep them snug.

While looking over the rigging I also noticed the sheave on the boom track ( the one for the clew sheet) had started to crack on the edges. It is still usable but we ordered a new one (part #1617 from US Spar. Boom ID is Z480E) . Part cost $5 shipping is $15 so I ordered 2 sheaves to avoid future shipping cost.

James