Gibb Winches/Lofrans windlass - maintenance

[sdn5486]

Hi there, i have trawled the internet to not much avail on advice/info on cleaning/servicing our 2 Gibb single speed winches and Lofrans Royal manual windlass.

Our Colvic is going through a complete refit before our expedition to the med later this year and i want to make sure we wont get any trouble from the above in the 18months we will be away.

I understand Gibb winches are now no more, so advice on lube and parts would be good, also the same for the windlass. Both work ok, but having a 2nd hand boat i have no idea when they were last looked at etc!

Thanks,
Shaun

 

[gwc2004]

Gibb winches! I had a pair on a Jag 27 some years ago that were very stiff. Stripping down was done by removing a central screw in the drum. By twisting the drum and easing it up at the same time the drum came off. I seem to remember the pawls are at the bottom so watch out once the drum starts to lift. The winch is very simple and will just need a good clean and a light lube on reassembly. My drums had a nylon bearing in the form of sleeve running through the drum. Don't as a previous owner had done lubricate the nylon or shaft it runs on. The nylon will swell and the winch will get very stiff. I had the bearing on mine reamed which worked for a while but they got stiff again. I replaced them the next season at great expense.

 

[Tranona]

Lofrans have all the information on their website www.lofrans.it (just put Lofrans into Google and you would get it) and they are distributed in UK by EC Smith

 

[donncha]

I had fierce trouble getting a Gibb winch off once. Like stated above remove central screw (and washer) and ease up while twisting. If it is really stiff you could do what I had to do and get 2 prying bars and use them as leavers on opposite sides in the little gap between the base and drum. Watch out you don't loose those prawls and springs. There was no nylon sleeve on mine though.

 

[sdn5486]

Great, thanks for your help guys, the winches are now apart and it all makes sense. contacted lofrans and they said they do not do stock 'service kits' for the royal and that no lube is required because they are pre packed with grease.

 

[Poignard]

Re: Lofrans Royal

They are pre-greased [but not packed]. Some people see the hexagon headed "bolt" on top of the windlass and assume it is an oil filler plug. It isn't. I bought one second-hand and some chump had, unbeknown to me, put oil in it which leaked out into my car on the way home.

The best advice I can give for these windlasses is to take it to bits and apply Zinc-chromate paste [Duralac] to all the screws before re-assembling. That will save you having to drill out corroded fasteners in future. How do know this? Because I had to do that with the aformentioned s/h one!

 

[Tom Dussek]

I've just serviced the Gibb windlasses on my elderly Westerly. I struggled with rubber mallet, levers and careful brute force, and finally got the drum off the first one. Cleaned it up using degreaser, reassembled it with only a spray of PTFE on the central spigot, and it runs beautifully now. I was struggling with the second one, when it finally clicked that there was a splined top. That'll be for a winch handle, then.... Turning the drum whilst applying a bit of upward pressure from a couple of screwdrivers (being careful not to snag the prawls) (after undoing the central retaining screw, obv) made the drum come of with relative ease.

 

[andygc]

Watch out you don't loose those prawls and springs. There was no nylon sleeve on mine though.

Don't worry, if you lose the springs I can sell you a set - but not the pawls. I have spares from my previous boat which I had made by Airedale Springs.

 

[neil_s]

Lewmar pauls in my 2 speed Gibb winches, now!

 

[ghostlymoron]

I've serviced both these items.
Gibb ST25s on my Mirage 28. I published a description and photos on here way back but they should be available if you do a search (or send me a pm).
The Lofrans Royales were fairly straightforward using their published parts diagram as a guide but corroded fixings are a challenge. (Stainless into alloy) Some had to be drilled out and greased when I replaced them. The mix of materials is a problem with them. On one, the main shaft was completely 'welded' and was finally freed up with a couple of sharp taps with a sledge hammer. There was no source for the plastic spacers at the time so I had to reuse them. (Lofrans was going through change of ownership at the time - I gather it's sorted now and all spares are available from their UK agent.