Ongoing Lewmar Windlass Woes - any more ideas/advice

[BobnLesley]

Since my earlier posts regarding our dead V3 windlass, I've made some progress on getting it apart - I pulled a shoulder muscle hand-hauling the anchor, so wasn't able to get into the anchor locker to do much for a fortnight.

Anyway: I've got the four nuts and bolts that hold the two parts together loosened off (four hours) and got the sealant joints between the two halves of the unit and upper/lower faces of the deck free (five hours) but the two sections will not seperate; any suggestions? I really don't want to be chopping the whole think out and then rebuilding the deck. Have I missed some fixing anywhere? The diagram suggests that with the four bolts removed, the two halves should seperate, with the shaft in the upper half?

Given that the shaft turns along with the lower half of the unit, but not the top half, nor when the motor spins, I suspect that the gearbox is screwed and the shaft siezed into the lower half, so would prefer ideas that trash the probably unsalvageable windlass than any which might damage the deck.

Ta, Bob

 

[BobnLesley]

s'OK, it fell apart of its own accord - at 0230 in the morning, scared the life out of us as it crashed into the anchor locker door!

 

[Adamastor]

Check if there's a gliding bearing/bush beneath the top lip seal where the shaft goes thru the deck plate. I spent a day inside an anchor locker with your windlass's bigger sister. I choose the term because it was a b### to get apart because this wretched bush, made of something like acetal, had swollen onto the shaft to the point that two strong men (I kid you not) couldn't turn it, and in the end a 10t press coaxed it free so we could make up a new Vesconite bush...

 

[Zing]

What signs were there of imminent failure and how old is the windlass? It doesn't Look like there is much that can be done, but should any preventative maintenance have been done?