Aries wind vane maintenance

[chasmoore]

The vertical shaft which turns the blade in the water on my Aries is very stiff. Should I be oiling, greasing or otherwise lubricating the bearing surfaces? If so, what with??

THanks for any info

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[AndrewB]

Do you have a user guide? The recommendation there is to use plenty of light machine oil on all moving parts on a very regular basis - pretty well every time its used. That vertical shaft in particular, which has a reputation for getting sticky.

It pays to do a complete dismantling of the gear every couple of years to keep it smooth running. A refurbishment kit of all the bearings etc costing around £90, available from Helen Franklin (advertises in small ads of YM and PBO) made an enormous improvement to mine.

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