Confession - I have never serviced a winch

dylanwinter

dylanwinter

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www.keepturningleft.co.uk
Confession time here:

I have been a yacht sailor/owner for thirty years and never serviced a winch

and never had one break down on me

am I lucky/foolish/alone in this.

I see threads about servicing winches and I regard them as non-mission critical and best left alone

mind you all mine have been small

D
 
dylanwinter said:
Confession time here:

I have been a yacht sailor/owner for thirty years and never serviced a wench and never had one break down on me

am I lucky/foolish/alone in this.

I see threads about servicing wenches and I regard them as non-mission critical and best left alone

mind you all mine have been small

D
Click to expand...


There! Fixed that for you.... :D
 
The Gibb bottom-action winches on my 1971 Cirrus ground to a halt within a couple of years, so I suppose I have experienced a failure.

I service my Lewmar 43s every year for the good of my soul and because I enjoy it. It's a bit like singing hymns in church.
Maybe it isn't safety-critical, but a non-acting winch on my 34 foot boat could make life very unpleasant, and a pawl failure when I am being hoisted up the mast could be very messy.
 
dylanwinter said:
Confession time here:

I have been a yacht sailor/owner for thirty years and never serviced a winch

and never had one break down on me

am I lucky/foolish/alone in this.

I see threads about servicing winches and I regard them as non-mission critical and best left alone

mind you all mine have been small

D
Click to expand...

You haven't missed anything except grease and grime and the pain of losing bits over the side and having to go to the lathe to remake them.

Winches are superbly engineered and tough things.

I actually love them and did have 2 beauts sitting upon the mantelpiece until wife told me to stick them in the garage.

I like servicing them simply because I have time on my hands and like fixing almost anything and making things last for as long as possible.

But for someone who is busy, if the winches still turn, (even if it takes effort) carry on - I have seen solid caked grease on roller bearings that when cleaned were not damaged.

Edit: must agree with the pawl failure - that would be mission critical.
 
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Winches are like any other equipment on a boat , it need servicing other wise it will go wrong when you really don't want it to, has John just said , half way up a mast .
 
dylanwinter said:
Confession time here:

I have been a yacht sailor/owner for thirty years and never serviced a winch

and never had one break down on me

am I lucky/foolish/alone in this.

I see threads about servicing winches and I regard them as non-mission critical and best left alone

mind you all mine have been small

D
Click to expand...

Clearly you live in an affluent situation where you have always been able to own reasonably well maintained & to many of us expensive equipment........ah the benefits of celebrity hood.I dare say you have a boy to do it ;)
 
dylanwinter said:
Confession time here:

I have been a yacht sailor/owner for thirty years and never serviced a winch

and never had one break down on me

am I lucky/foolish/alone in this.

I see threads about servicing winches and I regard them as non-mission critical and best left alone

mind you all mine have been small

D
Click to expand...

There's full blown servicing, and there's taking the top off every couple of years, wiping away any obvious grot and putting a bit of oil on the bits that need oiling and a bit of grease on the bits that need greasing. Takes 5 minutes and is worth doing. Keeps them sweet.
 
Its an easy thing to do and they are transformed when they click round smoothly and are a joy to use. They can be done in winter when there's not much else to do for most of us. You wouldn't neglect servicing your car would you?
 
To avoid losing bits over the side, I cutout the bottom of a cardboard box to the size of the winch, slip it over and VOILA, no lost bits...
 
ghostlymoron said:
Its an easy thing to do and they are transformed when they click round smoothly and are a joy to use. They can be done in winter when there's not much else to do for most of us. You wouldn't neglect servicing your car would you?
Click to expand...
+1 for ashore in winter: much much easier to retrieve the bit that pops over the side. Mine get 15 minutes with a bit of metal polish on the outside every spring, but only stripped and oiled and greased every 3 years or so.
 
I am in the lucky situation that my wife finds winch servicing a therapeutic and satisfying weekend's work - and she does it beautifully!
 
Like most other stuff on boats, it's nice to know what's inside the shiny parts, how it works and how to put it together if ever you get stuck in a place with no "friends". Winches are at the relatively easy end of the scale
 
Like you, I think that annual servicing of winches is a luxury rather than an essential for lightly used cruising boats

We monitored the noise and performance of winches in the last boat and were as good after 5 years as when bought.
Applied the "if not broken don't fix principle"

Finally serviced after 7 years, largely as felt shamed into doing it, and no wear present. Equally no noticeable benefit
 
All I know is that mine were full of hardened grease which seems to attract grit which must lead to wear. Don't know what the official recommended service interval is but as it takes so little time, why not do them every year? I remember advising my pal to service his ancient, tufnol ones - he gave them a lengthy squirt of brake cleaner and said "happy now?".
 
dylanwinter said:
It is the time it saves that attracts me - leaving more time for sailing

all I can say is.... so far so good and the policy is working
Click to expand...

have you ever owned a boat long enough for the winches to need servicing?

Mine seem to grind to a halt after about 10 years of neglect, but it is a simple matter to restore them to silky smooth again. It only takes about 15 mins a side & can be done at anchor or on the mooring on a day when the tides or weather don't suit a trip out.
 
I had felt progressively more uncomfortable over the last eight years about not servicing my winches. Then I discovered that, as they are Antal, I would need to remove them to service them and now I don't feel so bad.
 
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