Well, I assembled the reel and added the rewind mechanism.  It sort of works but the spring just doesn't have enough oomph to rewind it.  I think that the real problem is that they used lazy Susan bearings in  a vertical position and they are just not designed to work in that orientation.  They not only have a lot of run-out but that also creates extra resistance that the spring cannot overcome.  It may work if I sort of push the hose into the reel to help overcome the resistance but it won't work as intended.   I ordered another spring but I think that it may not be as strong as the first one.   

Here is a look inside.


The split dowel proved to be too wimply so I turned a new piece out of live oak and cut a groove on one side only.


Still mulling over whether to try and make this work or go to plan B.  Better lazy Susan bearings might fix it but I am not sure if I want to spend the extra dough to experiment.  

--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.