Can I adjust the jaws on my ST winches

[JPS27]

I have 32.2st Harkin Barbarossa winches. I just changed my genoa sheets to 7/16" which is in the middle of the line size that winch is supposed to handle. I when down from 1/2" in an effort to help make tacking go more smoothly. However, the starboard winch does not grip the line...at all. Upon deeper evaluation of the situation it seems that the jaws may be worn down. I emailed Harken and I got an immediate response, but vague. This is what I learned from Harken: [FONT=&quot]"Hi – the top may be adjustable . Take it apart at the top and there should be steps to adjust ."[/FONT]

Ok, taking apart my winches will be the next "first time" learning experience for me. I cannot find in any manuals much more than cryptic references to adjusting the jaws on some models. There is little to no info on the Barbarossa model. they must be a lot older than the PO led me to believe! Does anyone have these models and/or know if they are adjustable? Thanks.

Jay

 

[Vagabond39]

Jps27:

I don't know if this will help.
http://jeanneau.proboards.com/thread/909
http://jeanneau-owners.com/hintsandtips/harkenservice.html
Always another learning process!
Have fun.
Bob

 

[JPS27]

Thanks, Bob. I'm going to take apart these winches and give them a much needed cleaning and lube job. I can only hope that these winches have some sort of tensioning mechanism. I came across a two page manual for 32.2st Harken winches that said:

"Self-tailing winches must be adjusted for line size to insure proper operation. If the line slips in the jaws, remove the adjustment spacer 33759 from under the upper jaw 34033. If the winch self-tails properly with the washer in place, do not remove it. The efficiency of the winch will be compromised when using larger lines."
​

Thanks for the encouragement! Jay

 

[Christian Williams]

If the Internet doesn't help, I would ask (demand? beg?) better help from Harkin. After all, they're still in business--and they made the bloody thing. The ST feature should be easily adjustable--but there are limits tio the adjustment.

Winches are not that hard to take apart, which we're supposed to do every year or two. Take photos as you go. Be ready for springs and race bearings that discombobulate. Use paranoia--some people tape a cardboard box around the winch to catch fumbles. Lost parts are, uh, undesirable.

Lots of winch-cleaning videos and write-ups out there. Here's one:

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/entry.php?223-Overdue-Winch-Service

 

[Loren Beach]

Juuuuust enough.......... lube

One key bit of advice I got many years ago from an ocean racing owner/skipper was to *never* over-grease the innards of winches. You need some, but absolutely no more than some. A bit of oil on the pawl springs, and put it back together.
A lot of problems start with the concept that "if a little is good a lot must be better" .... Yikes.

Not being very imaginative, I do use the Lewmar brand winch grease in the more-expensive but rather attractive blue tube.

Loren

 

[lnill]

One key bit of advice I got many years ago from an ocean racing owner/skipper was to *never* over-grease the innards of winches. You need some, but absolutely no more than some. A bit of oil on the pawl springs, and put it back together.
A lot of problems start with the concept that "if a little is good a lot must be better" .... Yikes.

Not being very imaginative, I do use the Lewmar brand winch grease in the more-expensive but rather attractive blue tube.

Loren

In the last issue of Practical Sailor there is a survey of winch grease options. There is a picture in that article of a winch dripping with grease. I put about 20% of that amount on my winches. If anyone has seen that picture I would be interested in your comments.

 

[JPS27]

update on winch adjustment

Thanks for the encouragement. I took my winches off and tore them apart! As expected both my winches needed to come off for much needed maintenance and rebedding (used butyl). My size 32 winches looked the same but were different harken winches. Both needed adjustment for my new sheets. The newer winch had the step adjusters which were very nifty. The other just had a thin spacer that I took out.

But the main learning experience came with the beastly and painful process of getting the starboard winch off. I needed two elbows in each arm to really make removal of the starboard winch possible. It took me awhile and many minutes exploring with a mirror to think it through. I could only access the stbd winch through the panel opening in quarter berth of my E27. To access all five nuts I could get to 3 facing aft with my left arm and two facing forward with the right. Many abrasions. Many utterances that I'm not proud of. Vowing never to go through that again, I found some winch mounting plates that I bought through APS. They are Harken and I verified with a harken tech. But harken sales didn't know about them. Who knows what that's about, but the tech said they were fine to use.

I'm sure this is probably common knowledge for many, but perhaps a future newbie like me will be assisted by my frustrating experience and discovery of winch mounting plates.

 

[Christian Williams]

Good on ya. If you hired somebody, they'd charge you for all that time--and now they would know how it all works instead of you.

Very nice that the Harken feeder jaws are that adjustable. Barients, not so much.

What does help with slipping self-tailers is maximum wraps of line around the drum.

 

[Thursty30]

Servicing the winches on my boat has been in the back of my mind for a while now. This thread and the one Christian linked might have just pushed me into committing.

I am going to be at the boat this weekend but most of my time will be focused on replacing the main halyard so I can finish pulling the motor. I would like to remove the winches and bring them home with me.

Any suggestions on what I should use to temporarily plug the holes left in the deck in order to protect the core? Would a basic silicone type caulk work for this application? Ideally what ever I use would hold up to the stress of the elements for a few weeks and then peel off easily when I am ready to properly re-bed my freshly serviced winches.

 

[Christian Williams]

Tape any piece of plastic over the holes. Or cover with 3M plastic painter's tape. No worries.

 

[Loren Beach]

Tape any piece of plastic over the holes. Or cover with 3M plastic painter's tape. No worries.

I have left 3M blue tape on the deck for a couple of weeks and it peeled off with no residue. It works well for me. Regular rain here, so covering holes is required.