Muir 1250A need to repair motor

[goelze]

Stuck on anchor in St Thomas. USVI

Voltage to windlass motoe no response.

Used 12V test light and clicked Down switch and light came on. I suppose that's a good test.

Need a new motor or tear down motor.
Where to find new and used motors.?

Love to have helpful input.

Seawind1000 33ft cat.

1250 watt motor. Muir.

16 year old windlass been flawless cruising.

[sailjumanji]

Gary, the specs for my Muir Atlantic VR-1250 purchased Dec 2006 from IMTRA indicate the motor is 1000 watts. The model number of 1250 might be in reference to the 125 kg working load, not the motor wattage.

I can't find reference to part number for that motor. Maybe someone else can. Oh, and when I purchased my windlass from IMTRA back then, it was a boat show demo model. Maybe they have one, discounted?

Anyone else had to replace or work on a Muir windlass motor?

[Wanderlust]

Maybe you will be lucky and find it is a power stud (correct term?) that has snapped. I had to get my Muir repaired when the down function stopped working due to a snapped stud.

Your motor probably has 3 studs, where the up, down and earth cables are connected. Apparently it is reasonably common for one of these to snap. If neither up or down work, then it could be the earth stud that has failed. A new stud will be a lot cheaper and easier to find than a new motor.

As far as I know, most are generic so a Muir specific part may not be required. The first place I called had the part in stock. I removed the windlass while at anchor and took it to their workshop.

Also, Muir are very responsive and in my case I was able to speak to a knowldegable person on the phone who helped with diagnosis.

[Steve Bedford]

When I purchased my 2005 boat in August, 2016, the Muir Vertical Wndlass had pretty rusty underdeck components. Mir worked, but for how long. I took pics and emailed Muir directly. In less than a few hours I received a response Jim Thomas, Product Manager, from IMTRA out of New Bedford, MA. I anticipated a new windlass. He problem solved for me, indentification the model I had, recommended what would below deck equipment I would need, did not suggest replacing what he called the "premium guts" above deck. All told, saved me a lot of money.

I suggest you email Jim Thomas directly at Jim@imtra.com. Very responsive and supportive. No affiliation with this company. Please customer.

Steve Bedford
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[wsmurdoch]

Originally Posted by Steve Bedford

I suggest you email Jim Thomas directly at Jim@imtra.com. Very responsive and supportive. No affiliation with this company.

I can say exactly the same thing. Great service for me two different times.

The replacement motor on my 1988 Muir 800 vertical windlass is a 1000W, 12V, 124A, 3000rpm, ROT L/R, CIMA Motori motor. The Muir label on the motor says VR-1250 Storm.

It is a pretty simple reversing DC motor. Any auto alternator/starter shop or a good shade tree mechanic should be able to fix it (as long as it does not smell really burned) if it does not run with 12V present on the F1 and A terminals or on the F2 and A terminals.

[sailah]

I have a Muir Cougar and had a similar issue although mine was a slowly degrading performance over the first season I owned the boat. Finally just wouldn't pull. I went into full diagnostics mode and anticipated the worst. Checked everything and fingers were pointing at relay box. So I took an auto jump starter box I had and connected to windlass directly. Worked perfect. Then connected at relay box, worked perfect.

So I traced the cables back to battery and voltage was low. Being the boat was new to me I assumed the batteries hadn't been taken care of.

When I installed the new battery, which was 1 of 2 house batteries and windlass attached directly to it, I noticed there were multiple positive leads going to it (windlass, parallel, alternator) but only 1 negative (windlass). Huh how was that charging? So I scrapped a perfectly good AGM battery but worth it for the lesson. Made up a new heavy battery cable to ground that battery back to engine block, now works great.

Not totally related to your situation but I found the portable 12v jump start pack to be an exceptionally handy diagnostic tool for the windlass.

If you truly need a motor, which I would think is possible but unlikely, have a motor or rewind shop repair what you have. They aren't as common repair shops anymore but they are still out there. I'd suspect the relay box first.

[Rick]

Y guy