Lewmar V3 Frozen

[GeneM]

Heads up all V3 owners; after about 5 years of not knowing how to maintain a V3, I had to of necessity.

The boat I bought had a new V3, so I focused on doing other maintenance. The windlass had been hard to work for about 2 years and recently completely froze.

The deficiency was blowing the breaker on every try to move the chain. So, I pulled the motor, cleaned contacts and blew dust from the brushes. Testing showed it was good.

Putting a wrench to the flats on the vertical shaft revealed the issue. It wouldn't budge at all. I decided to remove the base rather than get some great leverage to force it. That was the right move.

With a gear puller and a heavy hammer, the shaft eventually emerged. Cleaning and greasing restored full function. I think there was some kind of retainer or seal under the brass bushing bearing that didn't survive, but seems to be not essential. I was going on a trip, so that has to wait, maybe indefinately.

Hey Lewmar, how about a grease fitting if you only rely on a brass bushing bearing!

I think the base wasn't mounted flat, so that may have allowed water into the shaft and the top seal must have failed. The white cake that bound up, was probably salt.

Lesson - pull the base about every two years and grease the shaft. My shaft now will slide out by hand, so hopefully, it still will in 2 years. The gypsy and motor key prevent the shaft from dropping out.