Changing sheave on a BRE deck organiser

[charliea]

I've been checking over my BRE in preparation for our summer sailing trip and have come across a problem with one of the RWO deck organisers. The sheave used for the mainsail has jammed at some stage and is now completely worn out of shape.

It's made by RWO, having compared the dimensions I think it's this one:

http://www.rwo-marine.com/products/productdetail.php?code=R8213

Has anyone taken one of these apart and reassembled it successfully? I've tried to loosen the top plate but so far it's resisting and I'm reluctant to apply any more force in case it's not designed to be opened up.

At the moment I could just reorganise the lines so that sheave is used for the spinnaker while we're on holiday, so I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's tried the same thing before I go any further.

Thanks for any help.

Charlie

[charliea]

Update - with a bit more fiddling and a little WD40 the top lifted off so replacing the sheave should be easy.

Have spoken to RWO, the sheaves I need have the part number RO928.

Have ordered a set from PA Lynch.

http://www.palynch.co.uk

[Sea Simon]

useful info; thanks.

Price of sheaves?

Maybe re-assemble with a little duralac paste (or similar?) to inhibit the inevitable s/steel - alloy corrosion, and binding of the spindle in the top "housing"?

Silicon grease on the sheave/spindle?

Had planned to "service" mine over winter, but stooped when I realised the cabin headliner would have to come down...

[charliea]

Pack of 10 acetal sheaves (product # R0928) are on order from PA Lynch.

Just under £20 including p+p, with a 2 week lead time.

I've got some silicone grease knocking about somewhere but have never come across Duralac before, thanks for the tip.

Charlie

[Peter T]

Just checked the deck organiser sheave for my main sheet and I see that it has worn right through to the spindle such that almost one half of the sheave has now gone. Gone sadly in the form of more microplastics into the oceans and what remains is unsurprisingly no longer functioning very well as a sheave, assuming it ever did!

My BRE deck organisers are Spinlock which sounds better than RWO but possibly isn't because the boat is just 14 months old.

Peter

[johnguy]

I just noticed my Bre mainsail was getting harder to hoist and black mark on halyard. Exactly like Peter, sheave worn flat on one side, gone through to spindle.. I'll change it this week and report.

[Peter T]

My mainsail was always hard to hoist so it was difficult to spot once it became even harder.  I successfully persuaded Spinlock to send me a replacement sheave free of charge because the boat is relatively new.  Although, come to think of it, it hasn't arrived yet so perhaps I wasn't as successful as I thought!

One point worth mentioning is that the mainsail halyard must use the bottom sheave on the mast "organiser" at the mast foot otherwise the angle of approach to the Spinlock organiser is wrong and that can cause excessive friction.

As a temporary fix I have used an Allen Ezi-Ti Dynamic Block tied to the damaged sheave (I had one spare).  It does of course work much better than the Spinlock sheave ever did because the block's sheave bearings are much better than those of the organiser and it always adapts perfectly to the angle of approach of the mainsail halyard.  It is tempting to continue with this setup.

[johnguy]

I unscrewed the deck organiser yesterday. It is a Spinlock. The halyard sheave was worn flat and right through and the axle was also starting to wear flat. Bad pic attached. For now I have swapped the sheaves over and put some lubricant but I notice the sheave doesn't turn anyway when load on it. So I guess it is just a bad lead. I may go for a block like Peter, if I can think of a safe way to attach it.

[Peter T]

I can't think of a better way than a tie-on block tied around the knackered sheave (temporary or otherwise).  If you do a google search for "Harken tie on blocks" it will show you all sorts of different ways to attach this type of block.  The Allen blocks referred to in my last post are cheaper!  I have used many of both on previous racing dinghies.

I will probably use a "soft shackle" when I can get round to making one of the right size, at the moment it is tied on with the appropriate thin dyneema line.

Peter

[charliea]

Still waiting for the replacement sheaves to arrive from PA Lynch, they will chase them up with supplier.

Suggested they may want to order a few more than I require.

[Sea Simon]

useful info; thanks!
Had planned to "service" mine over winter, but stopped when I realised the cabin headliner would have to come down...

Useful lesson identified!
Now high on the list for this winters jobs!