Main Foil Retraction Blocks
From Wiki
The arrangement of blocks, ropes, and shock cord inside the mast base is best described as, um... "unusual". Here's the factory drawing:
It's also a real PITA to service, as I confirmed when I found that my main foils weren't unlocking and retracting without some struggle, and that it was due in part to one of the internal lines being wrapped around where it shouldn't have been.
(With the mast down and base casting removed, the internals may be serviced by untying the black line from the snap link and the shock cord from the mast base, then taping a temporary splice to the black line and shock cord. A bent wire coat hanger can pull all the workings from the mast base. The line with the temporary splice to the black line and shock cord can be used to get the blocks and lines back into position. - Jamey)
In the course of correcting the problem, I decided that it would all be a lot more serviceable - with the masts up - if the Harken 089 dual-sheave exit blocks (for the foil bridles) were easily removable, meaning "without having to drill out rivets". I replaced the rivets with 10-32 stainless nutserts and screws. You can only pass one of the two internal blocks through the window this creates, but you can get at both of them inside pretty easily. - Jonathan 15:28, 4 September 2010 (UTC)
The tooling for installing the nutserts is acceptably cheap (about $50, including the mandrel), but I had to buy a box of a hundred nutserts at about a dollar per.
Here's a link to one vendor of the tool I bought off-the-shelf from a Calgary supplier:
http://www.toolfastdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Eclipse_Threaded_Insert_Tools.html
Be sure to get the 10-32 mandrel with it.
The fasteners are "10-32 thin sheet nutserts", which require a "J" drill.
None of this stuff is hard to find if you're anywhere near a good fastener wholesaler.
