How Often Do You Service Your Winches?

[a64pilot]

Maybe not ecstasy, but a gear head type does appreciate high quality tools, and I do take pleasure in using good old German made micrometers and the like. I have a few very well made firearms that I keep for just that reason, a grade VI Browning four barrel set shotgun for instance. Truth is it doesn't shoot any better than a Mossburg, but it is finely crafted and out of production for years, they really don't make them like that anymore.
I wouldn't know what to do with a Sextant, but I have a feeling that there are well made ones that you can't even feel the moving parts move they are so well made and the tolerances are so close, and maybe even cheap plastic ones, that may work well, but there is no pleasure in using it.
Myself I love finely crafted precision tools, a very good precision clock won't approach the accuracy of a cheap plastic quartz watch, but if you enjoy watching all the moving parts, you understand.


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[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Any owner of really beautiful equipment -- like mechanical Leica cameras -- knows what I am talking about.

What's inside a Lewmar winch is like that. Taking them apart is a pleasure just for its own sake -- hold the bits in your hand, feel the weight of the bronze, admire the mechanical design, hear the mellow clicking of the pawls . . .

Don't forget to clean and lube them, by the way

The greasy winches aren't anything like my Hasselblad. I'll stick to maybe a two year plan for the primaries and three years for the others, and you can come fondle the innards of my winches anytime you like, just remember to clean and lube them.

[Siberianhusky]

Yearly.
Any of you guys want to buy a couple Leicas?
I have two I'd sell.

[SniperSailor]

I try to spend some time with each of my wenches every day. They really crave the attention and you want to keep a wench satisfied.

[powsmias]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

My 40 year old winches, that may have been serviced twice in that time are still going.

I'd bet if you could remember to take care of them Every 5 years you'd be ok.

I do have to admit that I was sucked into a 2for1 sale and just bought new lewmar winches for the 40 year old boat.


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same here.. wonder if they were ever done... '76 boat.. spent a day cleaning and lube them.. seen the cost of new and wasn't tough decision to clean em up... chiseled off old hard as plastic grease but they're clickin real good now

[TheThunderbird]

Dust makes a difference, not timing, nor salt

[Training Wheels]

Ever read the Edson steering pedestal manual? Your supposed to grease the bearings and lube the chain monthly. Weekly if you're on a passage. Of course, you have to take your binnacle apart to do it. Right.....

[SV THIRD DAY]

they need service....???.....ha ha ha

[DMCantor]

I take one of the winch drums off a couple of times a year. I pick the most exposed winch. If it looks good, then the drum goes back on. If not, I service ALL of our winches.

David
s/v Callisto

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by SniperSailor

I try to spend some time with each of my wenches every day. They really crave the attention and you want to keep a wench satisfied.

You're as confused as Dockhead.

[SV Bacchus]

Not sure, before reading this, that I ever fondled very fine mechanical equipment. I will admit holding, admiring, etc. so now I'm thinking, maybe I was fondling.

To expand on that thought process, it is a real pleasure to work on something very well made, finely designed and is, for all practical purposes, a work of art. Those items are actually enjoyable to service.

I know that because the exact opposite is true of cheap, ill made, ill fitting, improper material used pieces of garbage. I absolutely loth working on garbage..

[redhead]

Okay - another question (I'm really not trying to hijack, am enjoying the humor).

We took our relatively new Lewmar 55s off our old boat, had them serviced and brought them to the new/old boat. They sat in boxes for the last year and a half in the back of our old diesel where it gets nice and moldy and when we took them out they looked, well, kinda crappy. I've cleaned them up externally and they seem to turn just fine, but based on what looks like the beginnings of exterior corrosion on the top ( which cleaned up just fine) I'm wondering if I need to watch that Lewmar Utube video and take them apart.

Please tell me no. My list of things to do is soooooo long.

[Compactorguy]

We just had a class on winches at Shoreline Yacht Club. Racers should be once a year or less depending on how active they race. Casual sailing every other year. I was glad to hear I needed something else to do regularly on the boat since I don't have enough to do already.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Siberianhusky

Yearly.
Any of you guys want to buy a couple Leicas?
I have two I'd sell.

Yeah I looked up what my Zeiss would sell for on EBay and was a little shocked.
I guess film cameras are pretty much worthless now, even if I believe many like Leica's and Zeiss have superior optics, and has digital gotten as good as film resolution wise?


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[AZ-Oldguy]

I feel the same way about fine precision machinery. "With my fingers".