Sailors know the joy of unsrewing the drum of there winches (and pray that no pawl springs shoot out!) and clean them and then lube them, this rather simple and easy way to keep sailing easy and fun is never done by most maybe as a fear of a "spring gone wild" or not knowing what to expect or the cost! Well all of these went through my mind when i turned the last thread on my winch mast i took a big gulp and pulled the drum off... nothing went flying! I went ahead and took the winch off and cleaned it with hot water nothing but hot water a few times and scrubed it with a old tooth brush to get grim out. Then i looked at new grease it runs as high as $20 a pop! So i called a rigger friend of mine, and he said hey its an older boat dont worry about using high dollar winch lube. Just get trailer bearing grease, so i got 1 pound of it at west marine for about $8. Then i got out a glove and wiped it on the inside of the winch bearings, and the drum. On the pawl springs use 3in1 oil, and soak them in it (dont not use grease for any springs only light oil) and put the winch back together and put a handle in and for about 20 turns non stop let the lubes set in, then opened the winch back up and wiped the extra "globs" of grease off, put the drum back on and reinstalled it on the boat. Works like a charm now and was only $8 less than half the price of a bottle of "winch lube". Its an easy job and one winch can be done in about 1 hour.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
