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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

winch maintanence and jib cleats

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Sunshine Daydream
1st Mate

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57 Posts

Initially Posted - 11/18/2003 : 18:33:48

I am taking apart all my original Lewmar 7's and would like to give them a little lovin' care. Can someone tell me what kind of lube will work and where to apply it. I hesitate to buy the maintanence kit since I do not know if it is overkill for the non self tailing winches. I also plan to replace all the pawl springs but the pawls seem fine. Any other maintanence tips? They seem pretty straight forward and I was thinking that some good marine grease would work in place of the factory brand.

Also, I removed the old jam cleats since they released my jib sheets this summer several times. Should I just get new ones or is there a better alternative?

So much to learn, I love it!!

Scott & Kelly Larson
"Sunshine Daydream"
'80 C25 SR / SK

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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 11/18/2003 : 18:47:07

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Sunshine Daydream
 Also, I removed the old jam cleats since they released my jib sheets this summer several times. Should I just get new ones or is there a better alternative?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Sea Dog Clam Cleat makes most of their cleats in regular(nylon) and Racing (Aluminum), I replaced my 21 year old CL205 Majors http://www.shipstore.com/ss/html/SDG/SDG002050.html last month and got the aluminum. http://www.sailnet.com/store/item.cfm?pid=16011 I may have made a mistake. The aluminums are very hard to get the lines out of at this point. They may wear and be great, but I would buy the cheap nylon ones if I had it to do over again. If they did not work out they are cheap enough to replace. There aare lots of alternatives but a lot of us agree that this type of cleat is a good choice for sheets.

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Gloss
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1916 Posts

Response Posted - 11/18/2003 : 20:12:32

I bought the Lewmar kit and it had some grease, springs, pawls, and a great instruction book. I seem to remember some good diagrams on a Lewmar website, or was it harken?

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Bill Holcomb
Admiral

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USA
769 Posts

Response Posted - 11/19/2003 : 09:53:37

Hi Scott,

I've always used the "name brand" winch grease. It's not all that expensive and a tube will last for years. So certainly a small investment over time. Plus, the zinc oxide base will not wash out of the winch in a rainstorm or deck washing. Other greases can wash out.....and have......making an awful mess.

A couple things to keep in mind. First after you've disassembled the winch, thoroughly clean everything. We used to use solvent cleaners, but that's an environmental no-no now. I've found that 409 works almost as well as the solvent. I use an old tooth brush to make sure that everything is really clean. And, I wipe dry the cleaned parts as I go.

Second, the winch grease goes on the spindle, gears, inside of winch drum where it bears on the spindle, bearings, and so on. But!, not on the pawls and pawl springs. Use a light oil on these.

Bill Holcomb - C25 Snickerdoodle #4839

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dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 11/19/2003 : 10:20:33

Check out this link to the [url="http://www.lewmar.com/support/support_dloads.asp#winches"]Lewmar Winches[/url] support page where you will find both the "Volume 10 Parts Manual" and the "How to Service Your Ocan Winch" pdf's that you can download. The parts manual has exploded views of their winches and the service manual contains procedures for all Lewmar winches.

The procedure for servicing Lewmar single speed winches(6,7,& 8) in the Lewmar Service manual is rather basic and is as follows...

1. Carefully prise off circlip.
2. Remove top plate and lift off drum.
3. Remove and clean the drum bearings.
4. Remove the spindle by easing out the retaining key, clean, regrease and refit.
5. Remove, clean and inspect the four pawls located in the drum, replace as necessary and lubricate with light oil.
6. Lightly grease the two rachet tracks and the bearing surfaces. Reassemble winch in reverse sequence.

Edited by - dlucier on 11/19/2003 11:46:15

1grndslr
1st Mate

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34 Posts

Response Posted - 11/19/2003 : 12:24:26

How often should the winches be serviced? What happens when a winch goes bad?

ted childs "Childs Play" #5272

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MattL
Admiral

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USA
990 Posts

Response Posted - 11/19/2003 : 15:01:15

The manual says to service the winch (OK that could be a great blooper) a couple of times a season. I did it for the first time after having the boat for 2 years. Of course I sail on an inland lake and we don't get the corrosive effect of salt water all over everything. The kit is great, west marine has them for a fairly low price, order it. Took about 20 min to do three, the admrial called me in before I got to the last one. The first one took about 10 minutes and the others a lot less time.

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dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 11/19/2003 : 15:27:17

From the Lewmar Winch service manual...

"Lewmar winches, like any other precision engineered product, must be serviced regularly. Yacht winches are required to carry deceptively high loads. For example, FREQUENCY the genoa sheet load on a 40’(12m) cruising yacht can easily reach 1000 lbs (453kg).
Regular servicing with attention to correct assembly and condition of parts is vital to the safety and performance of your boat."

WHEN?

1. TWO OR THREE TIMES DURING ACTIVE SAILING SEASON: Lewmar winches should be stripped, cleaned and re-lubricated.

2. AT THE END OF EACH SAILING SEASON AND BEFORE STARTING THE NEW SAILING SEASON: All Lewmar winches should be completely stripped, cleaned, thoroughly checked for damage and lubricated with reference to the information provided in the Lewmar Volume 10 Service Manual.

EXTERNAL CLEANING OF DRUM
Chromed winches - Wash drum regularly with fresh water and dry with a cloth. Occasionally use non-abrasive liquid chrome cleaner to remove dirt deposits.

Anodised aluminium winches - Wash drum regularly with fresh water and dry with a cloth. DO NOT USE POLISHES OR ABRASIVES.

Stainless Steel Winches - Wash drum regularly with fresh water and dry with a cloth. Occasionally use non-abrasive liquid cleaner to remove dirt deposits.

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 11/20/2003 : 07:25:52

Another tip I came across--particularly useful if the boat is in the water, but also on the hard (where things can still go "SPRONGGG"... Cut a hole, the size of the drum, bottom of a box with an open top. Fit the hole over the winch, and then start taking the winch apart inside the box.

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