WINCH REPACKING--Another Lesson Learned

Even if your winches are just out of the box brand new, they need to be repacked. Lewmar, and possibly other manufacturers, ship their winches with a heavier grease that needs replacing.

My first focus was on Whisper's two primary genoa winches, since they sit out in the weather in the cockpit.

It's a messy job, but rewarding as well. Here are all of the parts ready for oiling, greasing & reassembly.

The main shaft stripped of the gears.

Care should be taken to keep grease off of the pawls--they only get a light machine oil.

Here is the Lewmar 44 assembled & ready for the drum.

Once assembled, what a difference! They now spin much easier.

My next job will be repacking the Maxwell windlass which must get lots of abuse inside the bow anchor locker. Once that is done I will attack the 2 smaller winches inside the dodger.

If you haven't repacked your winches, you should. If you don't want to repack your winches--give me a call.