Roller reefing mechanism Refurbishing the roller reefing mechanism on the boom.

This shot shows the gooseneck and reefing mechanism. You can see that the reefing mech is slightly askew...

...and is clearer from this angle. The rivets around the top have given way.

The rivets have been drilled out and the mechanism removed from the boom.

A side view of the mechanism, showing the square drive for the reefing handle.

Here, the mechanism is set roughly with the flat to the top...

...and in this shot, the square drive has been given a couple of turns to rotate the mechanism.

The big nut on the end has been removed and the retaining screws are about to be removed...

...revealing the main gear underneath. Lets get all the bits out and have a look...

The components of the boom roller reefing mechanism. At the top left are the retaining screws for the boom insert casting, with the casting to their right, followed by the old rivets. The helical cog-thingy is the worm gear which has the square drive hole shown earlier, and the round bush below retains it in the housing. The dark circular object mates with the worm drive and fits around the post in the middle of the housing. The small countersunk screws fix the worm retaining bush. After disassembly, all parts were cleaned and coated in very expensive teflon grease which had 'marine' written on the tin. The whole thing was packed with grease when it was reassembled.

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