Tom.B
Moderator Emeritus
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2009
- Messages
- 5,839
- Location
- USA
- Vessel Name
- Skinny Dippin'
- Vessel Make
- Navigator 4200 Classic
Right on cue... As soon as we were settling down for a summer stretch of minimal spending for boating, we have had another failure.
While on the hook in the Cape Lookout bight in a pretty good blow, the windlass failed and I was forced to pull up 120' of chain rode by hand... And I have to say that it sucked.
Knowing what I know about the previous owner, the first thing I suspected was the wiring. Unfortunately, it, and the solenoid, checked out ok. So the last step was to pull the windlass and bring it home to bench test it. Low and behold, it appears that the case has been intruded by water. When I cracked the case open, a fair bit of water came out, there was visible corrosion, and all the white grease was brown and dirty. It appears that the caulk seal failed.
It is a Lewmar Pro Series 1000 and part are available. Not sure from where yet, but I'll start looking today. The motor is toast for sure as it was sitting in water. The needle bearings are falling apart and the gears have some surface rust. Luckily, windlass' are pretty simple devices and I think that if I can source the parts, a rebuild should be straight forward.
Anyone done this before? Should I take the gears out for media blasting to remove the surface rust?
Sorry I didn't take any pictures.
Tom-
While on the hook in the Cape Lookout bight in a pretty good blow, the windlass failed and I was forced to pull up 120' of chain rode by hand... And I have to say that it sucked.
Knowing what I know about the previous owner, the first thing I suspected was the wiring. Unfortunately, it, and the solenoid, checked out ok. So the last step was to pull the windlass and bring it home to bench test it. Low and behold, it appears that the case has been intruded by water. When I cracked the case open, a fair bit of water came out, there was visible corrosion, and all the white grease was brown and dirty. It appears that the caulk seal failed.
It is a Lewmar Pro Series 1000 and part are available. Not sure from where yet, but I'll start looking today. The motor is toast for sure as it was sitting in water. The needle bearings are falling apart and the gears have some surface rust. Luckily, windlass' are pretty simple devices and I think that if I can source the parts, a rebuild should be straight forward.
Anyone done this before? Should I take the gears out for media blasting to remove the surface rust?
Sorry I didn't take any pictures.
Tom-