winches - oil or grease?

I use a light marine grease that is high in teflon and make sure I dont over use it. Old semi-solid grease will kill performance, and make it difficult to use the winch.
 
Use a light coat of grease except on the pawls where light oil (3 in 1 type) is recommended, to prevent any possibility of the pawls sticking and failing to engage.
 
I am a highly rated cheapskate(see posts passim re Lidl,Netto,Aldi et al)But after trying many different greases it is worth buying the special greases/oil from the manufacturers(Lewmar for instance).
Cost about a tenner for a small tubes which will last the average sailor a life time as you should only use a tiny amount per service.
Grease on bearings,light oil on pawls.
IMO 3-1 is not suitable,as with seawater it seems to create a sticky varnish.
 
Rarely have I ever had the misfortune to read such a load of incompetent codswollop in my life.

If brain cells were dynamite - between the lot of you - you couldn't blow the wax out of your ears -

Let me refer you to a rather interesting www.site - It is called LEWMAR -

Unusually for a company (nowadays) they actually tell you -

what to do

when to do it

and MOST importantly - HOW to do it - (for anyone who can read, that is)

Happie Chappie with the stickie winchie - where are you?

What temperature ranges are we looking at?

Use a toothbrush/white spirit - first - clean it (and I do mean antiseptic - all of it - inside and outside - and the parts that you can't get to - find a way - look at the book)

Then use a melange of oil/grease - depending on temps - applied with a paint-brush - and sparingly - (You will still use 1/4 kilo of grease on 4 to 6 winches - if you do it properly)

And the first idiot that I find who has used grease on pawls and springs I will personally brain with a rubber hammer.

They are assembled "dry" and then oiled

Read the bloody book - that's why it's PDF'd

regards all

brian
 
Brian,a link;
http://www.harken.com/winches/Harken_servicingwinchesmikelee.php
(I broadly agree with what is being said but would prefer not to use 3in1 oil)

I trust that your little paddy did not include S/Tommy or myself as we were giving the right info.

Using the amount of grease you suggest would cover Mirabella type yachts but on the more humble yachts that most PBOers own or sail a 200ml tube of grease and a drop of oil should last many years.(and lovely though they are Halcyon 23s are not the biggest boats in the world)

However if I were servicing winches for a living I suppose a tube of grease per winch, at a tenner a time would not be unreasonable!

Col(applying a great deal of self restraint in reply, as first draft was edited by YBW censors)
 
Strange, isn't it? All I can find on this thread is a perfectly reasonably question and four helpful replies.

What's the matter Brian? Did you sit up too sharpish in the quarter berth this morning?
 
Yes, Brian's response was a tad over the top. I suspect what's got up his nose is that, like so many questions on this forum, a straightforward piece of web research, or even a search on this site, would have turned up the answer. Self-reliance is a wonderful quality for a sailor. Like Brian, I suspect, it sometimes saddens me that we so often see the lack of it here.
 
True - but I for one am happy to answer questions no matter how many times they have appeared before. That's what the Forum is for. No-one makes us come here. We can ignore questions that bore us or even give the Forum a rest for a week or two. I can see no excuse for anyone giving an abusive response to a reasonable question.
 
Just want to add that the less grease you use the better - Harken says the same thing.

Coming up the Red Sea where the fine sand gets everywhere and in everything I followed the 'military' solution and cleaned them all thoroughly and re-assembled 'dry' with no grease or oil and they worked just fine for two months plus. Back in non sandy waters I just added a fine smear of winch grease and a drop of oil....
Michael
 
Of course follow manufacturers advice and data .... no question.

When I don't have data / manufacturers sheets - and I cannot download from web ... I follow the old Ships way :

Grease tends to pick up grit and dirt holding it in the mechanism .. so is frowned upon unless it's a non-moving / reasonably sealed / protected item or specific instructions on the item itself.
So oil is used sparingly to try and keep the items free of grit etc. but lubricated.
 
Brain,

I think you will find that under your occupation the correct spelling is Installation and not Istallation, also if you had looked you would have seen that Burnham_Bob sails on the river Crouch out of Burnham-on-Crouch. Like myself an East Coast yachtsman and proud to be so.

Best regards and a happy sailing season.
Trevor
 
Thanks to everyone that replied to me. The advice was helpful and as it was based on practical experience, and seemed in general to be consistent, I could feel confident in taking it.
As to research on the internet, yes I could have 'googled' the question and maybe turned up the site that Mr Moffatt suggested. In fact as a large part of my job involves internet research and advising people on knowledge management it's a technique I'm familiar with.
On the other hand, this forum offers not only a fast answer but access to the colletced wisdom of all its readers. So it's my first choice as research tool - not a substitute for checking manufacturers' sites.
In case anyone's interested, as a source of information the internet can be jugded by putting 'flat earth' into google. There are several helpful sites that deal with the subject, including one that informs you that the inside of the earth is hollow and inhabited by green skinned women..........
I'll stick to advice from the PBO forum.
 
I stripped GL's Barlow 23's this week... What a mess. Previous owners were obviously of the school, if a little grease is needed then more must be better!!. Took over an hour per winch scraping and then in paraffin and engine degreaser. Assembled with a very sparse application of Lewmar stuff and a dob of engine oil (SAE 30 is recommended). Difference is amazing
 
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