Practical Sailor recommended Finish Line Wet Bicycle Chain lube in a recent publication.
Haven't used it so I don't have first hand knowledge about it.
After further testing, that recommendation was withdrawn. There may be compatibility issues with bronze at high temperatures. Probably irrelevant, and not as bad as certain "winch" products, but just to be safe it was withdrawn. There are better products.
Lwemar winch oil is good. I like Penzoil HP gear oil because it lasts much longer than pawl oil and protects better against corrosion.
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Why test lubes? First, not all of the winch lubes are equal. For example, some protect much better against corrosion than others. There are also excellent industrial products that are better yet. Industry has some tough applications.
Second, there is something called progress. Lube technology has come far over the last century, and yet we're still hung on annual maintenance. Do you still change the oil in your car every 2000 miles? Probably 3-5 times that. Things change.
Third, winch manufacturers don't make lubes. There may be better stuff out there. This is NOT about saving money on grease. Either way it's cheap, we can agree on that.
Finally, not all of the manufacturers agree. In this case, we have major winch manufactures that like oil on pawls and those that like grease. The grease they spec on gears is also different, not because the gears or designs are different, but more likely because they bought into a different chemistry. Someone is right, and someone is probably wrong. Do you know which? I come from the automotive chemicals business, and I know they don't always make the best choices. Often purchasing and profit are big factors. Sometimes it is a single person that "likes" a given product. Who knows why. Lubes change. Engine coolant change. You must remember the disaster Dexcool was in the beginning; it was reformulated into what is an excellent product today (but the name did not change), but it caused considerable trouble for folks that followed factory recommendations.
Just sayin', it's not simple.