Thanks for all the suggestions. I did get it apart crow bar and pb blaster. In the end it wasnt the key but it was the worm
gear linkage itself was worn out. The unit was 11 years old and we are full time so it gets a lot of use.
I have a new one being delivered tomorrow and should be fully functional soon. By the way, pricing for Lewmar windlasses is all over the place. Its crazy that the
price range I found for my V3 vertical
gypsy only was from $1,700 to $2,700. The highest was the authorized lewmar
repair guys in Ft Lauderdale that also supply many of the Lauderdale
marine stores...so they all had that same
price. In addition, uless you are lucky, they don’t stock these. They take your order and then have Lewmar drop ship it to you.
I chose the best price and in the process found a very good seller. I bought through Darkhorse
Marine in
Florida.