Building New Base for Barient 28 Winch

[billr]

Has anyone had experience with such a project? The winch was not functional when we bought the boat. It took us just about a year to get the winch off the base. The aluminum base was so corroded that this huge mass of aluminum oxide had been pushed up into the gears. It took more than a huge amount of work and patience to get that apart. It looks like I may be able to fabricate a new base from several layers of 1/2' aluminum plate (maybe T60601). The machine shop guys said they could build a new base out of stainless, but I suspect I can buy a whole new winch for what it would cost to have them build just the base. Has anyone else gone through this?
billr

[langdonpierce]

Am now running into the same problem, winch bases are deteriorated beyond usefulness. What did you end up doing???

[glhotka]

Me too except I have not been able to get the winch off the base. Open to suggestions on how it was accomplished in your case.

[Stumble]

My favorite material is G10 fiberglass board for both the base and backing plate. For just a base you can go with wood or starboard but they aren't strong enough for a backing plate.

[billr]

So, how did I get the winch off the base once I got the stainless screws out (which took a long time). I was surprised that when the 4 screws were removed that the winch would not budge. It turns out that the corrosion on the base was so great that the aluminum oxide was pushed into the gears and winch structure. I first used some bent steel wire to poke out some of it, but only part of it was accessable. I spent over 6 years of my life doing destructive testing on military gear, so I used some the techniques of the trade I was familiar with: thermal cycling and mechanically induced fatigue. I used a heat gun, a rubber hammer, a piece of wood, and a 3 pound hammer. I would beat on the whole assembly, carefully, with the rudder hammer, then heat the four areas by the screw holes, then use the piece of wood with one end pushed against the winch frame leg near a screw whole and carefully hit the wood with the 3 pound hammer in a direction to cause the winch frame to rotate on the base. After the winch cooled, I would go through the cycle again. Towards the end, it worked best to have my wife directing the heat gun on the frame leg while I was hitting the wood. I did use some penetrating oil in the vicinity of the screw holes, but that really had no effect because there was so much aluminum oxide pushed up into the gears.
I did not work on the winch last year (still have some screws in the bottom of it to get loose; just soaked it in some diesel, and worked my other projects.

[billr]

I agree with Greg about the Garrett G-10 epoxy glass. It is a great material, but it wears out cutting tools quick. You need to use carbides tools and water for cooling, and controlling the fiberglass dust. If you have the work done by a machine shop, you will pay a premium compared to having an aluminum part done. However, the Barient base can essentially be made of 2 half inch thick pieces if you can fasten them together. That would work well for either G-10 or aluminum. When I was doing destructive testing on military gear, I used G-10 for fixtures in the thermal-vibration chamber. I broke a lot of gear, and the chamber, but never a G-10 fixture.