Hello Casper and Vito,

I just refurbished my furling gearbox and I'd be quite sure that the grease you're seeing from the bottom of the furling drum is because the seals are failing in the gearbox - most likely it is not from the grease on the headstay inside the furling extrusion.

I'd further assert that adding grease (any quality water proof gear or axel grease will do) through the Zerk fitting (mine doesn't have one) won't really solve the problem of worn seals. It may keep water incursion at bay temporarily, but the grease shouldn't leak out.

My furling gearbox had just started to leak last season and when I disassembled it there were telltale signs of water getting into the gearbox where the seals had failed. That included damage to the bearings, which had started to be noisy. I was easily able to obtain replacements for everything and the gearbox is like new - no more drips!

As for the headstay grease - I simply donned rubber gloves and slathered on copius quantities of waterproof axel grease (about a liter in all) as we fed the new headstay cable through the furling extrusion - kinda fun! Unlike the furling gearbox, which I'll certainly be opening up more often, I would not think one needs to regrease the headstay periodically - just when you replace your rigging.

Good luck with it all - and, by the way, I'd strongly suggest you do the same maintenance for the gearboxes on the main furler and outhaul - especially if they are getting noisy - a certain sign of bearing failure or worse.

Craig Briggs
s/v Sangaris, Santorin #68, off Dugi Otak in the Dalmations.