How much would you pay to have your winches serviced?

[SaltyMetals]

I would rather do my my own winches and know 1) what state they were in to start with and 2) how i left them. If you get a third party to do it you will not know either 1 or 2.

Not complicated so i suggest that if you are trying to make some income you focus on something else. Splicing an eye with a ss insert for a SS spring mooring line gained me a few beers and a dinner with a marina neighbour.
Andrew

[Hoodsail]

Agree with most in that in servicing my winches, easy work, and would not pay to have done. What about winterizing diesels? Such as oil changes? replacing raw water impellers? Stabilizing fuel? Checking/replacing belts? Checking coolant status? Check flooded battery status. All relatively simple tasks, but necessary maintenance. Would just have to clear it with the yard where the boat is kept...

[sinnerman]

The cheapest you will find here in Houston Texas is probably $85/hr.

Most boat shops charge $100/hr or more to do anything.

That is why there are so many boats here in various states of neglect. People buy a boat as part of their "dream", only to find out that they do not have the time or skills to do repairs themselves, nor the money to pay someone else to perform them..

Cheers.

[wrapper]

If they are serviced regularly it is easy. If they have not been serviced for a long time, that is another story.

[sinnerman]

Originally Posted by sinnerman

The cheapest you will find here in Houston Texas is probably $85/hr.

Most boat shops charge $100/hr or more to do anything.

That is why there are so many boats here in various states of neglect. People buy a boat as part of their "dream", only to find out that they do not have the time or skills to do repairs themselves, nor the money to pay someone else to perform them..

Cheers.

Parts are another issue. The main winches still in production today are Lewmar & Harken. If they are older winches, replacement parts can been VERY hard to find.

[edlepera]

I picked up a couple of old plastic containers size 8x8. Figure out the diameter of my winches and cut a hole in one. The other one is for tools etc to I place the one with the hole over the winch. That way I take the (dropping a part into the boatyard or water. I got one lid to stack them together when not in use

[Sailing Ohm]

As others have said I’d pay $0 as it is one of the easiest service jobs on the boat.
It is incredibly simple and you can likely do all your winches in a lazy afternoon with nothing other than a beer, a screwdriver, some solvent, a wire brush, and new lube (maybe new pawl springs).

FYI my min rate I charge for boat jobs is $30 an hour and I’d expect an hour for each one. If someone was close and I didn’t have to travel far to get there I probably wouldn’t say no to such easy money it just doesn’t seem cost feasible if I was the one offering the job as it is so incredibly simple.

[Martkimwat]

All sailors should know how to service their winches, its a very simple process only requiring a small bowl or tub to hold the springs and pawls in some paraffin or diesel to get the muck off, an old toothbrush and rag and some fresh winch grease and pawl oil. it will probably take 20~30 minutes per winch. Depending on the winch, you either knock the rope stripper around anti-clockwise with a soft mallet or in the case of Lewmar winches, a sharp tip of a penknife or very small screwdriver under the small edge of the circlip which then unwinds two full turns (it is like a flat two-turn spring). Once they are removed, you CAREFULLY lift the drum off being ready to catch the odd stray pawl and/or spring that might lift off with the drum. Once the drum is off, carefully remove the pawls and springs taking care to note the direction the springs are inserted. Clean off the old grease, especially any that has gone wax-like hard. re-grease the gears and oil the pawls (not grease) then reassembly is the reverse. It's probably taken me as long to type this as it would take to disassemble and reassemble the winch. The cleaning is probably the longest part, but if you do them frequently, it won't take much cleaning. You can get a pack of spare springs (pretty much universal) and pawls in case you lose or break the odd one.

[houseofcharm]

Perhaps boating noobs that have never done it-a teaching service so they can do it from then on. Make a flat rate for the instructional and a price for each subsequent winch. Offer that and you'll be reeling them in.

[Bill_Giles]

When I first serviced mine they were solid with grease which took ages to get out. And many of the little ratchets and their springs were shot. Also the two speed winches needed to be unbolted from the deck to access the inner workings. Some of the bowls were near impossible to remove. On average I’d say an hour per winch plus spares and lubricants. In the UK that would be £50 an hour.

[Sailing Ohm]

Originally Posted by houseofcharm

Perhaps boating noobs that have never done it-a teaching service so they can do it from then on. Make a flat rate for the instructional and a price for each subsequent winch. Offer that and you'll be reeling them in.

I guess you’ve never heard of YouTube or for that matter instruction manuals...
Anyone whose done it realizes it’s really not that hard and no one has ever claimed it difficult so I can’t see how you’d possibly be “reeling them in”. Sailors usually don’t just throw money away on a job they could easily do themselves in an afternoon and the ones who do often have a crew...

[glanrock]

The OP never replied, or even posted a 2nd post anywhere.


Time to

[Gadagirl]

Originally Posted by glanrock

The OP never replied, or even posted a 2nd post anywhere.


Time to

Perhaps because they received mostly negative feedback and so gave up.

I like the idea of offering it as training. But more probable is to target marinas/sailing clubs where most boats aren't cruisers but weekend day sailors. Lot's of people have more money than time and want to show up on Friday and slip lines. People pay to save time so it would be wise to offer other services as well. Eg. Stock the cooler clean the cockpit before arrival, offer interior and/or exterior cleaning services so the owner can just commute home after their weekend sail. Cleaning the isinglass, doing a dock side pump out, offer provision shopping and delivery, offer cap service to help unload your car and move items and luggage to your boat (lots of older sailors with bad backs!) etc. There's many easy jobs that some people would rather pay than spend time doing and that makes things easier for them. Maybe stike up a contract with a marina for these services to limit competition. The marina wins by offerring these simple services, boat owners win by having an optional service, you win if you make some money.

[paralog]

Originally Posted by Shelles

Hey folks,
Things have been slow in my neck of the woods because of the pandemic. I bought a sailboat then the country shutdown (and my usual work as well). I'm thinking of ways to make a bit of money doing things that I enjoy and that are useful.
So tell me please, how much will you pay to get the winches on your boat serviced? Any advice? I'm only going to do manual winches.
(I know that a lot of sailors just do this themselves but I also know that it takes some time and maybe they're not crazy about doing it?)
Should I charge differently depending on the size of the winch, should I have a set cost per winch? Should the price depend on the condition of the winch?
Has anyone done this before? I'd be happy for any feedback.
Thanks!

Owning a boat for the majority of us means that we should be able to carry out many of the repair and maintenance tasks ourselves. As the servicing of winches is probably one of the easiest tasks you can do on a boat. I would suggest that if you are unable to do that then boating is not or you as there will be many times that maintenance issue that will arise when you are out boating that you have to fix to get safely home.

[glanrock]

Originally Posted by Gadagirl

Perhaps because they received mostly negative feedback and so gave up.

I like the idea of offering it as training. But more probable is to target marinas/sailing clubs where most boats aren't cruisers but weekend day sailors. Lot's of people have more money than time and want to show up on Friday and slip lines. People pay to save time so it would be wise to offer other services as well. Eg. Stock the cooler clean the cockpit before arrival, offer interior and/or exterior cleaning services so the owner can just commute home after their weekend sail. Cleaning the isinglass, doing a dock side pump out, offer provision shopping and delivery, offer cap service to help unload your car and move items and luggage to your boat (lots of older sailors with bad backs!) etc. There's many easy jobs that some people would rather pay than spend time doing and that makes things easier for them. Maybe stike up a contract with a marina for these services to limit competition. The marina wins by offerring these simple services, boat owners win by having an optional service, you win if you make some money.

You might be right, though I saw a lot of replies similar to yours. You give some great advice. OP could at least drop back online and thank the good advice and disregard the 'negative'. You post on a forum and you're going to get both the good and the bad. That's the risk ya take asking questions on a forum. LOL, just look at all those 'Tell me what is a blue-water boat' inquiries over the past year.