Nilsson V1000 Motor Replacement

[Joe Okros]

I am looking for opinions from someone who has done this. I am in New Zealand and have contacted the guys at Nilsson. They have a replacement motor for the old Lucas starter motor used on these. Its a more powerful CIMA motor made in Italy and specifically designed for this type of application. (looks very pretty)

My hesitation is around the price of the motor in relation to a very old windlass. Over $NZ800 seems a bit steep.

Any feedback from fellow Kiwi's who may have done this would be most welcome.

No reflection intended on anybody , I would just like to get feedback from people without a dog in the fight.

[LeaseOnLife]

Originally Posted by Joe Okros

I am looking for opinions from someone who has done this. I am in New Zealand and have contacted the guys at Nilsson. They have a replacement motor for the old Lucas starter motor used on these. Its a more powerful CIMA motor made in Italy and specifically designed for this type of application. (looks very pretty)

My hesitation is around the price of the motor in relation to a very old windlass. Over $NZ800 seems a bit steep.

Any feedback from fellow Kiwi's who may have done this would be most welcome.

No reflection intended on anybody , I would just like to get feedback from people without a dog in the fight.

Not a Kiwi here, but these V1000s were on many boats, sold thru Maxwell back than. After lots of troubles with this windlass, we bought the new motor, plus a few little parts, and are now happy with the windlass.

The price might be a bit high, but being able to get parts for a 25-30 year windlass is good service.

Dirk

[Joe Okros]

Thanks Dirk, Can you elaborate on the other parts you bought? I have already replaced all the bearings in the motor and gearbox, - then I figured out that the Lucas motor was wearing/burning the brushes and commutator due to too much play on spacer designed to keep the worm gear in place. The gearbox top housing is very corroded and I don't want to keep throwing money at this thing.
cheers
Joe

[LeaseOnLife]

I bought the seal for above deck, plus the two little half rings, holding up the lower clutch cone. And I think the motor comes with, or needs, an adapter kit.

They are good to deal with via email, they had the parts, we were in the S-Pacific and had it all shipped to American Samoa. Our housing is/was corroded too, we stripped the paint, acid washed, some etch primer and paint. Has held two years now. They do offer new housings, made from "proper" aluminum, probably expensive.

If your gears are in good shape, and you can refurbish the housing, it should be worth the cost of the motor. Drilling new holes in the deck was stopping me from buying another windlass.

Dirk

[Marinheiro]

Suggest you call Roy or Ray Shingles in Henderson, Auckland (09) 838-0508. They refurbished the Lucas motor on my V3000 a few years ago. They will be able to tell you what can (and cannot) be done. They know the Nilsson gear as well as the Nilssons.

[matauwhi]

G'day, Mate. "The gearbox top housing is very corroded and I don't want to keep throwing money at this thing." After replacing the brushes on my V-3000, the housing "packed a sad" a few short months later. I could have gotten a new one (even had a source for it), but decided to go ahead and just replace the whole windlass, since we spend at least half the year anchoring out.

My 2 cents, if your more than a "weekend warrior", I would replace it. In my case, I didn't want to have to pull up a 55 kg anchor with chain in a hurry next time, especially with other boats anchored close by. Cheers.

[Joe Okros]

Thanks guys, I don't want to go with the Lucas under any conditions, Lucas aint known as the "Prince of Darkness" for nothing . Dirk, my gears are still fine and the coroded housing is still mechanically sound. What I'm trying to ascertain, is the new motor the same as the old one performance wise, or is it markedly better?

The new motor made by CIMA is apparently used by most of the windlass manufacturers and is not just a modified starter motor like the Lucas. The Lucas was never meant to be continuously loaded the way a windlass is for minutes at a time.

I dont mind the $800 so much, although it does seem a bit of a rip for a 12v DC motor, but I will pay it if people who have done the conversion rave about it. A comparable 1000W windlass costs over $3000 and that can be better spent elsewhere.

[Steve Pope]

Hi Joe, I have been looking for a new motor for a Maxwell 1200 that I have yet to install, the prices have only gone one way, up, if I hadn't procrastinated I would have had one for around $600.00 NZ when I first looked, a good condition prince of darkness model will still do the job though. If you come across a cheaper source for the Cima I would be interested, my thoughts are to go up to a 1500 if I go that way.

[matauwhi]

G'day, mate. You might want to check Defender.com out. Here is the Waxwell price (USD) link on their site for the various units:
Maxwell VW Series Windlasses for Sale

It might be worth the shipping to have it sent down from the States. Cheers.

[Joe Okros]

Thanks guys, I'm probably going to commit a bit of a faux pas now. I had the Lucas motor commutator skimmed when I rebuilt the windlass, that's before I realized how critical the wormgear spacer is to control brush contact and tension. As part of my rebuild I shopped around for brushes and located the brushes at Partsmaster for about $10, on EBAY they varied from $5 to $20.

Here's the faux pas,-Nillson on the Shore charge $80 for those brushes. Now this is probably impolite, but that got me wondering if the motor they wanted to sell me might not have the same sort of markup,--I wont say its a ripoff, --what you say is up to you, but the brushes looked to me to be 400% markup. (conservatively)

Now if the CIMA motor at $800 is the same story, I would be of the opinion that it should actually cost about $200 and I really have a problem supporting any business like that. If I'm wrong I'm happy to stand corrected, but those are the facts as I see them.

[Joe Okros]

The WAXWELL from Defender (1000w) will cost about $NZ3000 due to shipping and the 15% GST it attracts at the gates of hell. This thread is morphing a bit now, but what do you guys think of these being sold on TradMe New Vertical Stainless Steel Windlass | Trade Me

[Steve Pope]

The maxwell 1200 motor from Defender would cost about $600.00 NZD landed plus 15% GST roughly $700.00 NZD still better than $900.00 NZD from Nillson. possibly there it is possible to source direct from Cima? Italian freight might kill it though, I had 3 thermo couples sent from an Italian Stove maker, cheapest freight /post was EUR45.00 (weight less than 500 grammes) the post ticket was EUR 8.50, someone is doing WELL!!

[Joe Okros]

Hi Steve;

Yeah, its a bit of an arseburn. I don't want to knock a kiwi business, but sometimes you just get the impression that we are a captive market and being taken advantage of. If you follow that link to Trademe, those stainless windlasses look pretty good and cost shedloads less than anything else, if only there was some feedback from long time users I might buy one. I am seriously looking at just buying a normal winch that the 4x4 guys use and ripping out the motor and adapting a flange for my windlass. You can buy those recovery winches for a few hundred dollars COMPLETE and some of them have 3500W motors.
I did send CIMA in Italy an email about 2 weeks ago, but have had no response. Apparently I dont spicca da lingo LOL

[LeaseOnLife]

Originally Posted by Joe Okros

What I'm trying to ascertain, is the new motor the same as the old one performance wise, or is it markedly better?

It is probably not fair to compare an old motor with a new one. I had both, the Lucas POS and an old Prestolite. Both had trouble hauling my 40kg anchor plus mud. The new motor seems to work. Sure, when the anchor comes up from some 20 meters it takes a bit more time, but it works. No complaints in 2 years cruising since then. I won't talk about the price

Dirk

[Joe Okros]

Thanks Dirk;
That's the kind of info I was looking for. With the Lucas I had trouble hauling up a 35lbs CQR with 8mm chain from 20 metres. My reading of your post is that the new motor will make that problem go away?
cheers
Joe