Retired from newspapers and television, currently sailing Thelonious II, a 1984 Ericson 381.
After replacing my damaged Barient 19ST with a new Lewmar 30ST (described here), it seemed right to have a look at the four remaining winches installed by the Ericson factory in 1984. They functioned as intended, and I have been periodically removing the drums and cleaning and regreasing the race bearings that take the brunt of the strain.
Some models of Barient can be fully serviced on deck, but in the case of the 23s an 28s, among others, the gears and all-important pawl assemblies are not reachable with the winch in place. Full service and inspection requires removal from the boat. That's easier than it looks, since most winches are secured by five bolts, a backing plate of some sort, and nuts and lock washers. They tend to come off readily enough, with the usual contortions of access. Congratulations, you now have a hundred pounds of winches in your car, grease all over the cockpit and up to your personal elbows.
The two-speed 23 and 28 Barients are large enough to be fairly complicated, with numerous components. Although there are parts lists and exploded views on the Internet, it is common for none of them to exactly match your winch despite its clear identification by number. I don't know why this is. Perhaps Barient was in trouble, changed designs for tooling purposes, or shrugged off inconsistencies in their manuals. Or perhaps it's just the age-old gap between engineer and technical writer, as suggested by the head-scratching that makes installing even a current Raymarine product, for instance, like a jigsaw puzzle of the Chernoble disaster.
Luckily, the secrets of dissembling both winches are clearly revealed, step by step, in two YouTube links. Barient 23 here, and Barient 28 here.
The winches have to come off the boat because their pawls are hidden inside the base. The 28 has two pawl sets, one visible above and the other upsidedown. No fresh-water washdown routine can reach them, even with the drum removed. Inevitably they collect grease, which hardens over time and jams the pawl springs. A pawl that can't freely engage means the winch loses its grip under load, a memorable experience if reefing in 30 knots.
The basics of winch cleaning are widely reported, and start with not losing parts and keeping a sequence record. It is necessary to soak the elements of the mechanism in solvent (diesel fuel, mineral spirits, acetone) for a full day before commencing to scrape away the fossilized grease. A toothbrush helps. A small wire brush is better.
Barient 28s, a standard choice for genoa winches on the larger Ericsons, are mounted in an aluminum base fixed to the deck or cockpit coaming. The winch can be removed from the base by taking out four stout Allen machine screws, which makes them easy to take home. However, the dissimilar metals of the bronze and aluminum base often result in corrosion bonding. I worked mine free by drilling away the corrosion. In the video link above, the owner broke the bond with a secondary winch. Liberal application of Tef-Gel or Lanocote on reassembly should prevent that in the future.
How much grease to use? Everybody says less is more, as recommended by the video link above in which the owner then proceeds to apply gobs of it. Common sense is the only guide to the slather factor, but I am personally impressed by the fact that my new Lewmar 30 arrived with very light, virtually invisible, lubrication. Pawls and springs are not to be greased at all, but coated only with a light oil such as 3-in-One.
A new winch clicks brightly as its gears turn and its pawls engage. So does a newly serviced winch. A winch that greets robust cranking with a dull, hesitant, listless clatter is a winch unhappy in its partnership with you and is quietly waiting to break your arm.
Some models of Barient can be fully serviced on deck, but in the case of the 23s an 28s, among others, the gears and all-important pawl assemblies are not reachable with the winch in place. Full service and inspection requires removal from the boat. That's easier than it looks, since most winches are secured by five bolts, a backing plate of some sort, and nuts and lock washers. They tend to come off readily enough, with the usual contortions of access. Congratulations, you now have a hundred pounds of winches in your car, grease all over the cockpit and up to your personal elbows.
The two-speed 23 and 28 Barients are large enough to be fairly complicated, with numerous components. Although there are parts lists and exploded views on the Internet, it is common for none of them to exactly match your winch despite its clear identification by number. I don't know why this is. Perhaps Barient was in trouble, changed designs for tooling purposes, or shrugged off inconsistencies in their manuals. Or perhaps it's just the age-old gap between engineer and technical writer, as suggested by the head-scratching that makes installing even a current Raymarine product, for instance, like a jigsaw puzzle of the Chernoble disaster.
Luckily, the secrets of dissembling both winches are clearly revealed, step by step, in two YouTube links. Barient 23 here, and Barient 28 here.
The winches have to come off the boat because their pawls are hidden inside the base. The 28 has two pawl sets, one visible above and the other upsidedown. No fresh-water washdown routine can reach them, even with the drum removed. Inevitably they collect grease, which hardens over time and jams the pawl springs. A pawl that can't freely engage means the winch loses its grip under load, a memorable experience if reefing in 30 knots.
The basics of winch cleaning are widely reported, and start with not losing parts and keeping a sequence record. It is necessary to soak the elements of the mechanism in solvent (diesel fuel, mineral spirits, acetone) for a full day before commencing to scrape away the fossilized grease. A toothbrush helps. A small wire brush is better.
Barient 28s, a standard choice for genoa winches on the larger Ericsons, are mounted in an aluminum base fixed to the deck or cockpit coaming. The winch can be removed from the base by taking out four stout Allen machine screws, which makes them easy to take home. However, the dissimilar metals of the bronze and aluminum base often result in corrosion bonding. I worked mine free by drilling away the corrosion. In the video link above, the owner broke the bond with a secondary winch. Liberal application of Tef-Gel or Lanocote on reassembly should prevent that in the future.
How much grease to use? Everybody says less is more, as recommended by the video link above in which the owner then proceeds to apply gobs of it. Common sense is the only guide to the slather factor, but I am personally impressed by the fact that my new Lewmar 30 arrived with very light, virtually invisible, lubrication. Pawls and springs are not to be greased at all, but coated only with a light oil such as 3-in-One.
A new winch clicks brightly as its gears turn and its pawls engage. So does a newly serviced winch. A winch that greets robust cranking with a dull, hesitant, listless clatter is a winch unhappy in its partnership with you and is quietly waiting to break your arm.
