Retired from newspapers and television, currently sailing Thelonious II, a 1984 Ericson 381.
Deck winches are easy to take for granted until, when trimming the big genoa in 20 knots, the drum loses its grip and you're holding a runaway winch handle by the tail.
Possibly I am not the only one who put off the obvious and elementary task of annual winch service. They seem so sturdy, etc. Tough as nails, etc. Always there for you, and so on. Rather like a well behaved child who you make sleep in the yard, or a dog who runs after your car till you're out of sight, or the bottle cap that's been in the sink disposal since January. There may have been the occasional complaint, but you get used to it. At your peril.
I understand if you wish to shield your eyes from this picture of salt-caked abuse:
Yes, my Barient 27 two-speed ST winches do appear to have been waterboarded. They never squealed, though, or showed a sign of weakness other than eventually deciding to break my arm. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, is it not so? Winches, however, are of the strong silent type and may simply carry on for years until , well, as I say, you are suddenly left holding 200 pounds of force with one hand and a winch handle ready to turn into a chain saw.
And the pity of it is, manufacturers made our winches easy to take apart so we'd do it every year--or twice a year, as Lewmar recommends.
For Lewmar 10s, all you have to do is press down on the handle socket and the drum lifts right off. On my Barient 18, there's a cap screw in there that needs to be removed. The Barient 27 STs are easiest of all to open. The cover plate simply unscrews with a deck-plate key. Not even a snap ring to deal with.
My excuse for never opening any of them was that the Previous Owner mentioned he had had the winches professionally serviced a year before. I, who have my doubts that Romeo loved Juliet, or that there are carbohydrates in potatoes, or that Barbra Streisand is from Brooklyn, apparently believed him on faith alone, and if he had been Jim Jones would've no doubt toasted the sale with Kool-Aid.
What a silly oversight. There are exploded views and servicing instructions for most winches on line, although I never could find one that showed my particular Barient 27s. But if yours says "27" on top but looks nothing like advertised inside, no worries. Although daunting at first, if you can take a winch apart you can put it back together, and if I can, anybody can. Try not to let the 30-year-old races come apart.
But if they do, you can probably just fit them back together again. Don't apply so much grease. Most amateurs overdo it. It appears that the last person who serviced my 27s had a 55-gallon drum of duck fat handy, and basted everything like Thanksgiving dinner.
In the photo above you can see why my winches stopped holding. The pawls and springs were caked in ancient solidified goo. In fact, the insides of all the winches were gummed up, and the gum was not so easy to get off. What worked was to put everything in a bath of diesel fuel overnight, and then scrub with a toothbrush and sharpened stick. That is, a dowel run through a pencil sharpener--the greatest and least damaging cleaning tool in the woodworker's kit.
I found no obvious wear on any of the parts, once the salt and grease were bathed and scrubbed away. I did change out all the pawl springs, although the old ones seemed to work fine once cleansed of build-up. No grease on the pawls, please. Light machine oil only, such as Three-in-One. The West Marine package of 10 springs for $10 fit all my winches fine. I read somewhere that in our world of non-interchangeable parts, a universal standard for the springs was agreed on years ago. Hallelujah to that.
Now the 30-year-old winches work swell again, ratchets clicking like a Hare Krishna parade.
If yours have been abused by neglect, it may be worthwhile to remove them from the boat and take them home for disassembly. The big gears and pawls of larger models are mounted upside-down deep in the drum, and so servicing Barient 27s without unbolting them from the deck leaves the job only half done.
I've concluded that my hose wash-down of the exterior winches after sailing does little to remove salt buildup inside, where it tends to get mixed with grease and grit under the protection of the drum. I'll now just pop the drums off periodically for a look-see.
And working on the winches in sun reminds you how very hot that dark aluminum drum can get, which we are told cooks old grease hard and causes it to migrate into the pawls. Light-colored winch covers are recommended.
Possibly I am not the only one who put off the obvious and elementary task of annual winch service. They seem so sturdy, etc. Tough as nails, etc. Always there for you, and so on. Rather like a well behaved child who you make sleep in the yard, or a dog who runs after your car till you're out of sight, or the bottle cap that's been in the sink disposal since January. There may have been the occasional complaint, but you get used to it. At your peril.
I understand if you wish to shield your eyes from this picture of salt-caked abuse:
Yes, my Barient 27 two-speed ST winches do appear to have been waterboarded. They never squealed, though, or showed a sign of weakness other than eventually deciding to break my arm. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, is it not so? Winches, however, are of the strong silent type and may simply carry on for years until , well, as I say, you are suddenly left holding 200 pounds of force with one hand and a winch handle ready to turn into a chain saw.
And the pity of it is, manufacturers made our winches easy to take apart so we'd do it every year--or twice a year, as Lewmar recommends.
For Lewmar 10s, all you have to do is press down on the handle socket and the drum lifts right off. On my Barient 18, there's a cap screw in there that needs to be removed. The Barient 27 STs are easiest of all to open. The cover plate simply unscrews with a deck-plate key. Not even a snap ring to deal with.
My excuse for never opening any of them was that the Previous Owner mentioned he had had the winches professionally serviced a year before. I, who have my doubts that Romeo loved Juliet, or that there are carbohydrates in potatoes, or that Barbra Streisand is from Brooklyn, apparently believed him on faith alone, and if he had been Jim Jones would've no doubt toasted the sale with Kool-Aid.
What a silly oversight. There are exploded views and servicing instructions for most winches on line, although I never could find one that showed my particular Barient 27s. But if yours says "27" on top but looks nothing like advertised inside, no worries. Although daunting at first, if you can take a winch apart you can put it back together, and if I can, anybody can. Try not to let the 30-year-old races come apart.
But if they do, you can probably just fit them back together again. Don't apply so much grease. Most amateurs overdo it. It appears that the last person who serviced my 27s had a 55-gallon drum of duck fat handy, and basted everything like Thanksgiving dinner.
In the photo above you can see why my winches stopped holding. The pawls and springs were caked in ancient solidified goo. In fact, the insides of all the winches were gummed up, and the gum was not so easy to get off. What worked was to put everything in a bath of diesel fuel overnight, and then scrub with a toothbrush and sharpened stick. That is, a dowel run through a pencil sharpener--the greatest and least damaging cleaning tool in the woodworker's kit.
I found no obvious wear on any of the parts, once the salt and grease were bathed and scrubbed away. I did change out all the pawl springs, although the old ones seemed to work fine once cleansed of build-up. No grease on the pawls, please. Light machine oil only, such as Three-in-One. The West Marine package of 10 springs for $10 fit all my winches fine. I read somewhere that in our world of non-interchangeable parts, a universal standard for the springs was agreed on years ago. Hallelujah to that.
Now the 30-year-old winches work swell again, ratchets clicking like a Hare Krishna parade.
If yours have been abused by neglect, it may be worthwhile to remove them from the boat and take them home for disassembly. The big gears and pawls of larger models are mounted upside-down deep in the drum, and so servicing Barient 27s without unbolting them from the deck leaves the job only half done.
I've concluded that my hose wash-down of the exterior winches after sailing does little to remove salt buildup inside, where it tends to get mixed with grease and grit under the protection of the drum. I'll now just pop the drums off periodically for a look-see.
And working on the winches in sun reminds you how very hot that dark aluminum drum can get, which we are told cooks old grease hard and causes it to migrate into the pawls. Light-colored winch covers are recommended.
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