Sailing Umavideo
The Most Overbuilt Furler We’ve Ever Seen | Step 484
3 May 2026 · 27 min · 91K views
What this video covers
Dan and Kika unbox and dry-assemble a Schaefer 2100 headsail furler aboard Uma as a dress rehearsal before stepping the mast.2:55 The Schaefer 2100 is an all-aluminum and stainless steel unit with zero plastic structural parts and full galvanic isolation between dissimilar metals — no aluminum contacts stainless directly, only through bearings.2:04 Dan chose it over current competitors specifically because the market has shifted toward plastic components that fail more often; the Schaefer design predates YouTube and has remained essentially unchanged.2:04 The unboxing reveals round foil extrusions (replacing Uma's old elliptical foil, which caused the first few furling turns to flop), captive fasteners on the lower drum so the drum can be removed at sea without losing hardware overboard, flush holes for hosing salt out of the non-lubricated bearings, and security Torx screws guarding the bearing-access plate.8:06 A key feature Dan works through in the dry run is the integrated turnbuckle inside the torque tube: loosening four captive Allen fasteners and removing a stop pin lets the tube slide up and expose the turnbuckle for forestay tension adjustment without disassembling the entire furler — a problem Uma had previously, partially addressed in Norway by shortening the forestay.23:04 The 46-step manual guides full assembly; the dry run takes 33 minutes and confirms the build sequence before the actual mast-step installation.26:45
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