Are those racer boys using the standard clicker winches, or are they using the silly expensive silent racing winches? The quiet ones are VERY sensitive to proper lubrication & lose reliability quickly if not serviced often.
All good advice. I've finished rebuilding the two single speed winches on the mast without incident (well except for dropping part of it in the lake which did get retrieved ). All my winches must be removed and fully rebuild. I've now started on the two - two speed winches for the jib/Genoa sheets. Attacked the first one, the one that wasn't working, and discovered that it's not cleaning that is the problem there. There are stripped gears. So I found two working - identical to mine - winches on eBay today and bought them. I figure that way I'll have spare parts - possibly even an entire replacement winch for this boat. So I'm stopped at the moment until those two arrive.
This could be the answer to knowing what oil/grease types work best in my application. I'd just have to take a few years to see what was happening, and the issue of actually loosing parts in the frequent disassembly/reassembly is still there. So that aspect is still a concern with these old winches as nothing more than the pawls and springs are available should another small part get dropped/lost/broken during this process.
If Harken and Lewmar would give me the specifications to what they recommend I wouldn't have to second guess them. As it is, I either have to now buy multiple oils/greases, some quite expensive (in oil and grease pricing terms) instead of simply knowing what the specification is for the recommended lubricant. Harken and Lewmar likely do not formulate their own lubricants. Much more likely they purchase off-the shelf lubricants.
Actually, the correct question is "how many formulators are there," and that answer to that one is certainly many hundreds.
I wonder if the service intervals are based not on the performance of the grease and oil as lubricants, but rather on the need to clean them anyway. When we got our new boat and read the winch manual saying to service annually, I'll admit that I thought "well that seems like overkill compared to what I used to do". But I will say that by the time 12 months go by a remarkable amount of dirt particles get washed off into my basin of mineral spirits. I can't imagine keeping those particles in there is healthy, regardless of the lubrication.
Grease seals? When was the last time you serviced a roller bearing on a car, and they are FAR higher speed and not stainless. Construction equipment? A boat may be a salty environment, but not dusty or dirty compared to on land.
They will protect the plastic parts from UV.
Indeed. I also put towels on the deck, a couple of layers thick, so in case something lands there it won't bounce, will stay put.
Please elaborate! I've been using Supertech (Walmart) marine grease for all grease applications - could I be damaging my winches? (Except the Maxprop, for which I use the specified Lubriplate 130AA.)
