Pre 1990 LS Anchorman Windlass - how to service??

[BrolleSenior]

Hi guys!

First sailboat purchased which came with a vintage, pre 1990 Manual Lawrence Simpson Anchorman windlass. Tried to give it a long needed service but it proved to be harder than I anticipated. I simply cannot get the parts to separate and I am reluctant to use force since I do not know is there is a locking mechanism or not.

No manuals available on the internet and I’ve gotten nothing from previous threads I know I could get the base plate of and check the ID but I don’t have any sealant atm so I’m reluctant to do so.

Removing the Fleming (? - the metal piece extending into the gipsy), turning the clutch nut CCW and unscrewing the shoulder screw from the center lets me slide the drum, gipsy and gipsy carrier from the baseplate. Here however progress haltered. I cannot separate these parts.
Light prying between the gipsy and drum lets the gipsy spin freely. However, continued prying does now seem to make anything else happen.

Again, this is my first boat and windlass so don’t e frightened to suggest obvious stuff.

It seems my webpage for picutres doens really work here so i got the photos on an external imgur upload. Sorry for the inconvenece.

Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

[BrolleSenior]

Talked with John at SLspare, who is a terrific fellow. He suggested WD40, something hollow to support the gipsy but large enough for the carrier to fall through, a hammer and some force from above. Will try this weekend and see if I can make any progress.

[sailor_ed]

This are a great little windlass. A friend has one and I may be able to get you a manual and first hand advice. I won't be seeing him until the 18th or 19th. I will check in on this post then or if you can pm me your email I can contact you direct.

[hellosailor]

Brolle-
WD40 is designed to displace water (Water Displacement formula #40). If you want to break rust, try PBlaster (available in stores) or Kroil (online only). They attack corrosion chemically, very different from WD40.
You can also try using cold, instead of heat, to separate things. You can buy canned cold spray, or use a CO2 extinguisher ($$) or put the winch in a plastic bucket, packed with broken dry ice and alcohol slush. Ice it down solid, then let it warm up again. Two or three cycles will break almost any corrosion.
I'd try to find an old illustration or other confirmation before just whaling on it, just in case there's some bolt, etc. you've missed. But if you're really sure...any machine shop or auto repair shop should be able to put it in a hydraulic press and press the sections apart, without the need to shock it with a sledge.

[sailor_ed]

Brolle

My friend is sailing and his manual is not with him but he had this to say:

"Drum and gypsy are not mechanically joined. Gypsy slides down onto shaft and is secured in place with a slotted machine screw located well down in the middle of the central shaft. Then the drum slides down onto gypsy and is held in place with the long nut that the winch handle engages."

It seems however that you are dealing with corrosion but I don't quite understand how " the gypsy spins freely" yet you can not separate them.

I seem to recall these are primarily chromed bronze so they should respond to a penetrating oil soak.

Good luck!

Ed

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Senior.

[BrolleSenior]

Thanks for the help guys, sorry that I haven't been replying, been out of data when working with the boat! I managed to get the parts to separate using a wooden rod, a hammer, WD-40 and a roll of electrical tape.

I let it all soak in WD-40 overnight, then placed the gipsy carrier on the roll of tape, which hade a diameter just big enough for the carrier to fit through. Then I got a wooden rod into the drum and placed the the carrier and started whacking with carefully light punches. After a good 30 minutes of tapping away the carrier finally fell through!

Cleaned it up with WD-40, light sanding and lots of fresh water, applied silicone lube and it works like a charm! However the bearing seems to be siezed though it doesnt seem to impact preformance at the time.

When the boat is out of the water I will probably do a more thorough cleanup, as you can see theres quite a bit of rust and salt comming out (the rag was clean when i started)





Will update with new pics of the finsihed cleanup when it's done

[BrolleSenior]

Originally Posted by sailor_ed

Brolle

My friend is sailing and his manual is not with him but he had this to say:

"Drum and gypsy are not mechanically joined. Gypsy slides down onto shaft and is secured in place with a slotted machine screw located well down in the middle of the central shaft. Then the drum slides down onto gypsy and is held in place with the long nut that the winch handle engages."

It seems however that you are dealing with corrosion but I don't quite understand how " the gypsy spins freely" yet you can not separate them.

I seem to recall these are primarily chromed bronze so they should respond to a penetrating oil soak.

Good luck!

Ed

Hi Ed! As you can see from the picutres your friend was 100 percent right! I believe that the reason the gipsy was able to spin after light prying was that it would be the last part to sieze as freefalling would keep it in motion to a higher extent than the drum and spacer. Seems that the drum and spacer siezed over time, creating a smaller and smaller wiggle room which in the end caused the freefall to malfunction. As of today my bow anchor is once again fully oporational

Thanks for the help, give your friend my best!

/Christian

[sailor_ed]

Congratulations. I have been "off grid" for a while but if you would like a picture of the original parts diagrams just PM me.

[RTSailing]

Hi, just checking if his thread is still active. I seem to be in a similar situation. I was able to get the drums off the base plate, but that's it. I was able to get the little screw out of the middle, but can't get the part out that you insert he winch handle into to release the drum. How did you free that one up and get it out? Also the pawl that is located on the base plate doesn't move at all unless I wack it with a hammer. 2 days of soaking in penetrating oil still doesn't do the trick. wondering if you can give me some guidance on that too. how free is ist supposed to move and be removed? Any help you can give would be great.