Sources for autohelm and lewmar spares

[tjfmmaes]

Hi

I have been trawling the online chandleries for the above without any luck. They all seem to focus on new gear and clothing and all the nice bits and not hardware spares. Does anyone know of a good (read: cheap but reliable) source for the following:

1) Maintenance kit for autohelm 4000 (drivebelt etc)
2) Service kit for Lewmar 43 (oldie winch)

I also need some grease for the Furlex furler but have been told that ordinary waterproof grease would do the trick. Is that right?

Thanks a lot, as always, for your help.

Thomas

 

[fireball]

Have you tried contacting Raymarine and Lewmar directly?

 

[Robin]

You are close enough surely to Raymarine in Portsmouth to call there for the Autohelm bits, you will find them very helpful.

You might find spares kits for Lewmar winches in somewhere like Aladins cave chandlers in Hamble/Bursledon area, see their ads in the mags for addresses. Strange as it may seem, West Marine in the USA show Lewmar spares kits in their catalogue. See www.westmarine.com

Re the Furlex grease. I know there are grease points or rather cut out slots marked 'grease' on the drum but I'm not a fan of using grease there. IMO grease at this point will just pick up salt crystals and create a nice little grinding paste rather than a lubricant. What I do on our Furlex system is simply put the freshwater hose on the grease points regularly (every time I fill up/wash the decks). Once per year after hosing like this and giving it a little time to dry, I spray a Teflon lubricant (NOT WD40) into the grease points and move the system about a bit to distribute it. This coats the ball bearings but not with anything that will attract the salt crystals. Personally I would only use a grease if the bearings were sealed, these are not and they are continually flooded with salt water which when the boat is at rest will evaporate and leave a whole load of very gritty salt.

 

[mainmarine]

try here to identify what you need; http://www.lewmar.com/webspares/index.asp
Malc
Mainmarine

 

[tjfmmaes]

Thanks for that - I'll try the teflon option then. I hose down the furlex anyway, so that should be ok.

Thomas

 

[boomerangben]

I have been stripping four elderly Lewmars recently and managed to get hold of the spares I needed from the Scottish Lewmar dealers, Duncan Yacht Chandlers. Very efficient and helpful. I think the pawls and springs are fairly standard, the rest depends on what stock Lewmar still hold.

I hope our bits will arrive soon, we are missing some cracking sailing conditions up here. We had perfect conditions for a St Kilda trip, but the boat is still in the shed.