Servicing a Furler Head Swivel: Replacing Worn Ball Bearings
Paikea runs a Nemo jib furler — the original unit that came with the boat’s old aluminium mast. When the new carbon rotating mast went in, the existing stainless wire stays got retrofitted onto it rather than replaced. Two reasons: new side stays and a forestay had already been bought less than 12 months earlier, and replacing them again that soon felt wasteful — and honestly, the budget for synthetic rigging wasn’t there yet either. The attachment points on the new carbon rig were built to accommodate the mast’s rotation either way, so swapping to synthetic stays later, once the wire ones reach the end of their life, is already accounted for. (For more detail on how those mast connection points work, that’s covered in the members area.)
The wires came across to the new rig, and so did the furler still sitting on the forestay — older than the wires by a good margin, and very likely original to the boat itself. Recently, the head swivel seized up entirely.
What Was Actually Wrong
Opening the swivel up made the problem obvious: the ball bearings inside had been crushed and broken, leaving nothing round enough to let the unit spin freely anymore.
Getting the Grub Screw Out
Thirty-plus years untouched meant the grub screw wasn’t coming out easily. The key step before reaching for any lubrication: clean the area around the grub screw first. Spray oil into corrosion buildup before it’s been cleaned out and it turns into a muddy mess that’s harder to clear than the dry corrosion was to begin with.
Good tools matter more than usual on a job like this — and on any catamaran, tool weight is worth thinking about too. There’s a real limit to how much kit can come aboard, so it’s worth choosing carefully rather than just filling a locker. Wera makes genuinely good tools, and using the right one for the job matters — the alternative is finishing the rest of the project wearing a Disney Princess Band-Aid, much to your kids’ amusement.
Getting the Swivel Apart
With the grub screw out, the head swivel itself needed to come apart to get at the bearings — and that part fought back. The c-spanner from servicing the hydraulic steering rams came out again, paired with a large pipe wrench, to work the swivel apart. Worth being careful here: scratching or bruising the fitting in the process only speeds up corrosion down the line.
The Bearings
The hardest part of the whole job, honestly, was paying Caribbean island prices for replacement Torlon ball bearings. Both the top and bottom swivel bearings got replaced. Once back together, the furler works properly again.
If you haven’t seen the free rigging content yet, the Sails and Mast cornerstones are a good place to start. For more information on sailing preparation see our Performance Sailing Hub.