When Was The Last Time You Serviced Your Windlass

[chuckr]

ok be honest -- when was the last time you took apart your windlass, cleaned it, put some grease on and put it back together again -

i know a bunch of you probably have - but for those who have not and i will include myself in that you need to do it at least yearly

i went to change out my gypsy and what a mess i had -- we are full time cruisers and use the windlass a lot - once i got it apart and boy was that a struggle - i could not believe the dirty and junk build up

so do yourself and your windlass and do a bit of preventative on it

maybe we should start a windlass maintenace day


just my thoughts
chuck patty and svsoulmates
in trinidad for hurricane season

[Vasco]

Last December. Had to it wasn't working. Mine was clean after seven seasons of anchoring. I did put a bit of grease on the gears.

[rtbates]

EVERY night, right before bed...20 sit ups, 20 push ups...haha

back to the serious question at hand...

[ohdrinkboy]

I'm the windlass. I keep asking the admiral for a tune up with some lubricant....oh well, I keep asking.

[skipmac]

Did a total overhaul on mine after I bought the boat. Other than cosmetics the only thing it seriously needed were the main bearings supporting the shaft holding the gypsy. Even though they were "sealed" bearings they were exposed to the elements and the salt water on the wet chain and were totally rusted. The ball bearings were frozen and the shaft was just turning inside the race like it was a bushing.

Fortunately no damage to the shaft so new bearings and it's like new. However, since it is 25 years old and looked pretty beat up I also stripped it down to bare metal and repainted. Now it looks as good as it works.

[sailorboy1]

about this time last season, so around 20-30 uses ago

[GeoPowers]

Originally Posted by ohdrinkboy

I'm the windlass. I keep asking the admiral for a tune up with some lubricant....oh well, I keep asking.

The obvious follow-up question is whether you have a chain or rope gypsy!

(I clean/grease my windlass annually in April)

Frank

[sarafina]

I get serviced pretty regularly....

; -D

[bstreep]

Originally Posted by sarafina

I get serviced pretty regularly....

; -D

Oh dear... I think I'm speachless!

This thread could not have been timed better. Ours has been greased about every year. However a few weeks ago we took the step of having our anchor chain regalvanized...

Typical boat project... Led to removal of the windlass (vertical Nilsson), removal of the teak bedding for it, and then... removal of about 2 square feet of deck sandwich. It seems that whoever put the windlass in decided that 2 2" holes through the deck, including balsa core, didn't require protecting the balsa core (one hole for the drive shaft, one hole for the chain hawspipe).

Upon disassembly, found some serious corrosion where salt water gets trapped.

Tonight I'm finishing up the final coat of POR-15 on the windlass, and then tomorrow afternoon it all goes back together - all 70 pounds of it. All disassembled, cleaned, painted, quart of 00 grease in it. Then on Saturday it goes back on the boat. UGH.

[Hudson Force]

I was doing well with this, but about six months ago I found that the stainless steel pike that strips the chain from the gypsy was fused in place in it's seat within the cast aluminum base. Time is my enemy! I can't open up my windlass for service without removing the gypsy and I can't remove the gypsy with the stripping spike in place. I need to get some serious heat and cold on the spike to break it free. Maybe someone has some added advice. I need to free the spike, but I don't want to break anything! I'm also actively cruising and not spending many days without the use of my windlass. At least those items that are actively used seem to function better!

[Jim Cate]

OK, here's a specific question for folks with Maxwell windlasses:

The manual says to grease the clutch faces lightly when you service the unit. My long term experience is that if you don't do this the clutch will not release reliably. But, if you do do it, then it slips under load no matter how hard you tighten it up. (This is on a VCW1500).

So, has anyone found a good way to deal with this?

Cheers,

Jim

[capngeo]

Originally Posted by sarafina

I get serviced pretty regularly....

; -D

well there's a short answer entry!

[bobconnie]

We can undestand that Sarafina, when we were the windless we got serviced on a regular basis!!

[Capn Morgan]

Jim

We always grease the brake, else it doesn't realease. Ours is a a horizontal 2200 and the pawl stops the gipsy from running. The human left it on last time I anchored (this week) without realizing, and couldn't get the chain out for love or money.... till the orangutan came to the rescue!

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by sarafina

I get serviced pretty regularly....

; -D

what type of grease?