Tufnol/Tuphnol Winch Maintenance

[ducked]

Any special considerations?

In particular, I'm wondering if the apparently generally recommended practice of soaking everything in organic solvent (for example, white spirit, kerosene, or diesel) to clean and degrease might damage the material

I assume it should be OK to do this to the removed gears, etc as long as it doesn;t get on the tufnol

 

[justanothersailboat]

There seem to be lots of grades of tufnol, but they generally are described as having good resistance to oils, solvents and hydrocarbons. Lots of tufnol parts running in oily machinery in other applications. I don't think I would worry if I got a bit of paraffin on tufnol. I would try not to soak it as I don't think it's 100% impermeable.

 

[Stemar]

I agree. I wouldn't soak the tufnol, but wetting it with a solvent long enough to scrub the greasy bits with an old toothbrush and a rinse with clean solvent never did any harm on my boats.

 

[vyv_cox]

According to their website Tufnol has good resistance to oils and other hydrocarbon fluids, including solvents.
The characteristics of Tufnol Laminates | Tufnol

My experience with it over many years confirms this.

 

[justanothersailboat]

I did read their site, though they have a surprising number of grades and I can't guess what grade old yacht hardware is. Probably one of the more basic ones though.

Very little tufnol left on my boat any more (just one sheave I think) but I've had the stuff in old machinery and things at home and think it's a pretty robust and capable material. I know it can delaminate but the number of tufnol bits that I've seen on totally neglected boats where the tufnol is still fine, makes me think this isn't likely.

 

[ducked]

I did read their site, though they have a surprising number of grades and I can't guess what grade old yacht hardware is. Probably one of the more basic ones though.

Very little tufnol left on my boat any more (just one sheave I think) but I've had the stuff in old machinery and things at home and think it's a pretty robust and capable material. I know it can delaminate but the number of tufnol bits that I've seen on totally neglected boats where the tufnol is still fine, makes me think this isn't likely.

Oiling isnt generally a threat on totally neglected boats, pretty much by definition.

It could be on mine though

 

[justanothersailboat]

On deck hardware it gets worn, wet, salty, and (in some places) exposed to freeze/thaw cycles. Tufnol gears also run happily in oil in machine tools for decades. So my confidence in it is pretty high either way.

 

[ducked]

On deck hardware it gets worn, wet, salty, and (in some places) exposed to freeze/thaw cycles. Tufnol gears also run happily in oil in machine tools for decades. So my confidence in it is pretty high either way.

Good, cos I gave the horrible-looking-design halyard winch on the mast a pretty good soaking in case I muster the courage to try and get it apart.

https://forums.ybw.com/attachments/91b68cae-fba6-4a32-bd0d-34ccda67120a-jpeg.207454/

I think it'll be a case of "if it aint broke", though I should probably keep soaking it until it is.