I had this problem this past season as did a friend with the same gear so I thought I'd pass it along.

I noticed late last season that I was having trouble furling my job with my Schaefer rig. It seems that on the original design (mine is a 2002) they did not provide any way to flush the bearings in the lower drum and they get gummed up with salt and general dust/dirt. Because my friend had this problem a year earlier, I kind of knew what it was so I ordered a new drum from Schaefer (about $125). The new drum has a flush hole with an arrow label pointing to the hole stating "Fush".

However, I bought it last fall and never got around to putting it on until this week and what a shock... after sitting all winter you could barely turn the furler by hand. I'm glad I didn't wait until splashing to try to put up the jib as it would have been impossible. And, its always easier to do this kind of job on the hard where the boat isn't rolling and the water gods aren't calling to be fed screws and plates.

Anyone having this gear might want to check and see how their furler turns. If it's starting to get stiff, this is probably the cause. You have to take the line off the drum to see if you have the flush hole BTW.