Quick Windlass Gypsy wheel fix

[Tin Tin]

We have a Quick Antares windlass with 8mm gypsy wheel. The wheel's flukes are quite worn and the chain will slip under load. We are replacing the old worn chain, but I was wondering if the gypsy wheel could be shaved to make it slightly narrower by say 1mm. The wheel is in two halves and there seems to be a couple of mm that could be shaved off the mating surfaces without impacting the floating stripper. Anyone done this?

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by Tin Tin

We have a Quick Antares windlass with 8mm gypsy wheel. The wheel's flukes are quite worn and the chain will slip under load. We are replacing the old worn chain, but I was wondering if the gypsy wheel could be shaved to make it slightly narrower by say 1mm. The wheel is in two halves and there seems to be a couple of mm that could be shaved off the mating surfaces without impacting the floating stripper. Anyone done this?

I would replace. Not saying it won't work, but if you mean what I think you mean, you will be making the assembled and installed gypsy narrower by the amount you mill off of the two inner faces. Is that acceptable? Maybe, maybe not. Also there is the actual wear on the gypsy, the actual removal of metal.

I don't do metric but 1mm sounds like not very much. Might work. And maybe the gypsy as is will already work just fine with the new chain. My feeling on this is worn chain is hard on the gypsy, and a worn gypsy is hard on the chain. Ditto for chain and gypsy that are not properly matched.

Another factor is how often you anchor. If you anchor a lot then I would definitely replace. If you anchor two or three times a year, not such a big deal.