……and reliability, that has withstood the test of time. Schaefer Headsail Furlers are definitely in a class of their own. Boasting some of the similar features of the Harken units, but to only improve upon them (see our archives). Don’t get me wrong I love Harken furlers, but if you want to spend some extra bucks for heavy duty quality that you can rely on time and time again, look no further. Schaefer delivers a strong and robust design that will meet the requirements of any blue water cruiser. Although, these furlers may not be for the ‘weight wienies’ out there .
Schaefer furlers have been around for a long time (30+ years) and the design has been relatively unchanged. For all of you that own older models, Schaefer continues to prove their “stand behind our products” mentality by offering an upgrade to the drum hub itself…
This upgrade promises improved bearing races and flushing holes in order to make servicing the furler easier, which should be done every few years depending on conditions and use. The upgrade addresses the issue of a sticky or a frozen furler drum (usually caused by lack of use). The replacement drum hubs are available for a very low price directly from Schaefer Marine. I think you’ll find this a worthy upgrade that you won’t want to pass up given the great price. If you own an older Schaefer unit (it is probably time to give it some attention anyways), take advantage of this great offer and call Schaefer directly.
I’ve personally never seen a Schaefer Furler that was no longer serviceable, unless it was badly damaged of course. If you look at any older unit, the sticker will have worn and faded away a bit, but you will not find neither old grease, u.v. degraded plastics (there is a plastic swivel bearing inside the halyard swivel that will need to be replaced every 7 or 8 years or so), nor any cheap plated metals. Schaefer headsail furlers are made of anodized, high quality, aircraft aluminum and 316 grade stainless. The only real ‘tiff’ I have is that the connections along the foils are made using rivets. This isn’t the end of the world but from an installers point of view; in order to break the unit down or make any repairs to the connectors or foils it requires a bit more tooling then if they just used regular screws. If you’re interested or even just curious about what is the best line drive furler, you can read more on that here.
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