Sys Descript WINCHES

April 10, 2009

The winch project has been completed. It was a dirty messy job -- the winches were loaded with flowing and heavily caked on grease. Some were very hard to disassemble due to parts ("keys" "collets" and "plungers) being frozen in place - subsequent maintenance should be much easier.

Things I learned;

• 1) Winches are like sailing - you can read up and study until the cows come home but you ain't going to understand until you get you plunge in and take a couple apart.
• 2) Winches are progressive - definitly start w/ the "8s" and then work you way up to the 48s! -
• 3) Force may be needed to disassemble due to caked on grease & grime
• 4) Force is never needed to reassemble - if it doesn't go together easily something is wrong - once I had a washer in the wrong place and the collet (split washer on top that holds gear unit in place on the 48ST)would not fit - I re-assembled correctly and they slide in place. The other example is that I reassembled the port 48ST, checking that everything worked at every step and found that although the drum rotated smoothly the winch handle would not work - took the unit apart and everything seemed OK - and winch handle worked - reassembled and it did not work -- turns out that one of the top "pawl" bearings, which have a slight ridge to it,was up side down and when I tightened the base of the winch to the boat it froze the handle mechanism - reversed the bearing and everything was OK!
• 5) Things are much easier when a BOM and diagram are available - found them on a web search and are in file (with the original manual)
• 6) The winches are really elegant machines and are virtually indestructible - there is nothing that can break or wear out except the "pawl springs" - manuals say that pawls themselves might be replaced - but they are machined steel and what ever force would break them would destroy the boat long before the winces went.
• 7) I think the our winches had not had a proper cleaning/maint. in a loooong time - perhaps never - I am sure the method used was to open them up slap some grease in and close them up. Sounds bad, however, even though grease was caked on and interfered w/ the pawl action - the winces did work for 30 some years They were "tight" and some did not rotate all that easily but ...
• 8) Old grease has to be cleaned up w/ Paraffin (kerosene) - this puts all the grease and gunk in solution and the internal winch parts clean up easily - it does not evaporate so a thin lubricating film is left. Once I forgot my kerosene and tried acetone - 1st the acetone evaporates so fast it is very cold to work with and 2nd it leaves a gunky residue.
• 9) There are "keys" in all winches that hold the internal gear spindle in place - these keys are white plastic inserts located on the backside of the central stem - I did not discover this until I was into the 2nd winch and I had to go back to first and re do all over.
• 10) pawls are parts that prevent the winch from backsliding - they must be reinstalled correctly - from a side view they look like 6s and 9s and the heads always point into the center of the bearing - if they point outwards they will slip and winch could rotate backwards.
• 11) Lewmar lies - there are parts available - but aside from losing a part while we work on it we should never need them (aside from pawl springs) they are virtually indestructible
• 12) Pawl springs are bouncy devils and exceedingly small - you better have replacements before you start - and save all the old ones - you will lose more springs than you buy and will need to use the best of the old to finish the job
• 13) I got pictures - but haven't taken the time to figure out how to get them on wiki - for now they will be in file.
• 14) There is a Lewmar winch maintenance kit with the parts under the berth near the nav station - we will need to buy a new one before we tackle this job again (fall 09)

Original message:

I (Kenn S) plan to clean the 7 Lemar winches on Nevermore and replace, where necessary, the springs & pawls. I will record my plans/observations on this page.

Disclosure: Prior to Dec 08 I never saw the insides of a winch - however after reading the Nevermore's original Lewmar user manual, an internet search and taking apart & reassembling the keel winch I have come to the conclusion; "how hard can it be...?".

Full disclosure: Lemar said that aside from some springs and pawls - there are no replacement parts for these winches - if a part is broken/lost they will gladly sell us a new winch!

I purchased the recommended Lewmar clean/rebuild kit and as soon as we get some warm(er) weekend days I will start. Basic procedure will be to place a box (sans cover) over the winch (to prevent losing flying parts and to avoid getting the surrounding boat surfaces dirty), disassemble and clean according to Lewmar manual - and reassemble. The 5 deck/boom/mast winches are relatively simple and I will start with these. The 2 cockpit winches for the jib sheets are complicated - however by the time I get to them I should be an expert! If anyone has any insights or expertise let me know.

Kenn (781-439-7288)