Barient 23 Self Tailer troubles

[Ventuse]

Hi,
Over the summer I purchased a Hunter 37 cutter. I spent the summer enjoying the boat on the Chesapeake, and now I am working on refitting and maintenance. I took off the starboard Barient 23 winch to rebuild. I have a couple questions.
1. When I purchased the boat the winch was grinding badly. I took it apart to grease it (there was NO grease inside when I removed the drum), and noticed some of the grinding it was having was due to the shoulder bolts on the self tailer. All 4 of them were snapped off in the drum when I took it apart. I have been thinking of talking to a machine shop to extract the ends of the bolts, but I was wondering if it would be easier for them to just retap the drum in an offset location.
2. The large spiral retaining clip that holds the drum on was bent. I can get the the small spiral retaining clips for the top of the winch (they came in a lewmar/barient rebuild kit) but I dont know where to get new large retaining rings. Anyone have any clue?
3. The self tailing system was easy to remove since the bolts were already broken (the top just came off once the clip was removed) but I have not been able to seperate the line stripper from the central portion. I know it will be a problem once I have new screws. The manuals I find online say to take a soft hammer (like a deadblow) and tap counterclockwise to unscrew it. I tried that with a friend and no luck so far. Any tips or tricks to remove this?

Thanks everyone, I really want to rebuild these winches I am impressed with how well they still work since I don't think they have been serviced since they were put on the boat in 1981.

 

[Jim Legere]

Hi Venteuse (I like the name!) and welcome to the H37C community. It sounds like you are well into the rebuild and that you are encountering the typical long-term marine corrosion issues - dissimilar metals, salt, etc. I have only ever done routine maintenance to my Barients, so not much advice for your specific issues I'm afraid. I think a good machinist, preferably from a small, family-run shop with fair rates, will be your best friend. I assume you already have found this?
Good luck and please keep us posted.

BTW, if you want me to include your boat in the H37C Database and to receive a copy of it, please send me your boat's details (HIN, name, home port, any history) via PM or by email to jameslegere[at]eastlink[dot]ca.

 

[Ventuse]

Ok updates,
The machine shop was able to tap in new holes for the shoulder bolts. They also gave me some retaining rings (which were oiled finish which to me = WILL RUST). I did pick up some stainless steel rings from McMaster Carr, which I will try when I reassemble.
I have the entire winch in a tub of degreaser to clean it up before regreasing and oiling.
Only one problem to take care of, the line stripper. Can someone who has a Barient 23 fill me in. According to the manual online they say that you need to tap the line stripper counter-clockwise to unscrew it from the hub. They also say that it has left handed thread. To me, left handed would mean that you would turn clockwise to unscrew (lefty-loosey and all that for normal threads, opposite for other treads). Maybe someone with a Barient 23 could tell me which way i need to turn the line stripper to unscrew it. It seems stuck. I have hit it with a deadblow hammer a few times with no luck. I am tempted to put it in the freezer, then heat it up with my heat gun to loosen it. I just want to make sure I am turning it the right way.
Any info is appreciated.

 

[Dennis Kitchen]

Left handed threads tighten as you turn left. Normal threads loosen as you turn left; hence the "lefty-loosy" saying. Left being counter-clockwise.

 

[Ventuse]

Ok, updates:
I de-greased the entire winch, used new winch grease on all gears and bearings, and oiled the pawls. The winch was able to go back together without removing the line stripper from the center hub (it required some creative use of a screwdriver to put the shoulder bolts and springs back in) and the winch is now working like new
I am in the process of cleaning and polishing up the aluminum drum. It was very corroded. (lots of white corrosion and pits).

 

[spike]

Just in case someone else like me ends up here looking for info on Barient 23 winches, I've made a disassembly/reassembly video at

. It's long and boring, and the videography's not great, but it's got all the information.

 

[jmce1587]

Can you download the (native video) file to the Boat Info/General Downloads? Not a lot of info on Barient winches. Hope this works and thanks for making the video.

 

[spike]

Can you download the (native video) file to the Boat Info/General Downloads? Not a lot of info on Barient winches. Hope this works and thanks for making the video.

It took approximately forever to upload to youtube; I think I'll just leave it there. I've got more boat-work to do!

 

[Jim Legere]

Great video Spike! Thanks for making it and putting it up. I do pretty much annual cleaning and lubing of the main roller bearings and the drum pawls, but I have never yet disassembled the bottom gear clusters as that involves removing the base from the cockpit coaming. One of these years...