Reconditioning Barlow Winches

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luismartins

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Lisbon, Portugal
dovetailkid.com
Hello everyone,

I need to recondition the Barlow winches on my new old boat and I'm looking for advice on how to handle the exterior of the drum and top of the winches. The winches are #16 and #22 (non self tailing) and look like they are chromed. May be stainless steel but I can't tell as I haven't taken them apart.

They look old and tired, stained and scratched and since I'll be taking them apart for a full TLC I'd like to improve how they look.
Can I polish them with a buffing compound and a buffing wheel or should I have them re-chromed?

They look like these:

http://www.tommysolomon.com/photos/barlow_24_barient_20_full_recondition/68/large/#nav

And I'd like to make them look like these:

http://www.tommysolomon.com/photos/barlow_24_barient_20_full_recondition/74/large/#nav

Any pointers / recommendations on materials, etc?
Harken has a winch metal polish compound. Can I use this or a similar product?

I've already located a source for spare parts - Hutton-Arco in Australia - which will be helpful after I see what's going on inside the winches.

Regards,
Luis
 
Classic car restoration companies are often good for re-chroming and will advise on materials and prep.
luismartins said:
Hello everyone,

I need to recondition the Barlow winches on my new old boat and I'm looking for advice on how to handle the exterior of the drum and top of the winches. The winches are #16 and #22 (non self tailing) and look like they are chromed. May be stainless steel but I can't tell as I haven't taken them apart.

They look old and tired, stained and scratched and since I'll be taking them apart for a full TLC I'd like to improve how they look.
Can I polish them with a buffing compound and a buffing wheel or should I have them re-chromed?

They look like these:

http://www.tommysolomon.com/photos/barlow_24_barient_20_full_recondition/68/large/#nav

And I'd like to make them look like these:

http://www.tommysolomon.com/photos/barlow_24_barient_20_full_recondition/74/large/#nav

Any pointers / recommendations on materials, etc?
Harken has a winch metal polish compound. Can I use this or a similar product?

I've already located a source for spare parts - Hutton-Arco in Australia - which will be helpful after I see what's going on inside the winches.

Regards,
Luis
Click to expand...
 
I've got the same dilemma with my 6 x Barlows.

The Hutton-Arco guys in Oz are very expensive and not great at responding to correspondence. I gave up with them in the end, they obviously didn't need the business. Lewmar Pawls and springs fit perfectly well, take yours along to a chandlers and match them up as best you can. Been using then for 2 seasons now with no probs,whatsoever.

As for chroming, you want 'proper' stuff, hard wearing, durable, not decorative chroming that you get on classic cars etc that will not be up to the job. They need stripping of all remnants of old, then rechroming but with some way of putting a 'gripping face' on the inner surface or they'll be useless without a dozen turns on.

There are guys that do it, such as for plant machinery etc but it isn't cheap. I think I was quoted about 1k for mine. I have left em as they are :)

I'll try to find the company names I went to for you later.
 
Last edited:
KevO said:
Lewmar Pawls and springs fit perfectly well, take yours along to a chandlers and match them up as best you can. Been using then for 2 seasons now with no probs,whatsoever.
Click to expand...

I bought Lewmar springs and pawls as spares for my Barients but not needed to replace the existing ones yet. I'm a bit worried that the Lewmar pawls seem slightly shorter. Did you find the same thing but they were OK anyway?
 
re: laika's post: I've used Lewmar pawl springs on Barlows: worked just fine. But maybe not all Barlow springs are the same?

re: chroming: make very sure the chroming shop understands what's required. Some have a habit of making the friction drum lovely and shiny.
 
Hi Everyone,

Thank you all for the very informative replies.
I guess I'll first try to polish the winches with some buffing compound if that would be OK, before I try to have them re-chromed and possibly ruined in the process.

Any ideas on what I should and shouldn't do?

Thank you,
Luis
 
luismartins said:
May be stainless steel but I can't tell as I haven't taken them apart.
Click to expand...


Isn't that the very first thing you should establish? Barlow made a lot of S/S winches. I have 2 which polish up as new with any ordinary metal polish. On the contrary 2 others (which are chromed) clearly show pitting and the underlying brass after 30 years.

As others have said, Lewmar pawls/springs work fine for me (there are several Lewmar sizes).
 
Last edited:
Hi Vic, Thank you for your reply.

When I asked if the winches could be made of stainless steel it was just a wild guess. I thought most vintage winches were chrome plated.
I will open them and see what they're made of.

Thank you,
Luis
 
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