Cannot find winch springs

[Bruce Gage]

Hunter equipped their 25.5 sailboat with size 17 Maxwell winches. These winches seem almost indistructable EXCEPT for 8 tiny compression springs in each winch. I am advised that these parts may be available in Australia through Arco but surely someone has found a workable substitute spring here in the USA. Anyone know of a source?

 

[Steve Dion]

Contact Maxwell

Bruce:Contact Maxwell. They are still in business. They dropped their winch line and now only make windlasses.I believe that they are located in Southern California. They are probably out of all of the parts, but may be able to provide you with some specs so you can order them from someone like Granger.I think that you are thinking about ARCO winches and I believe that they have the parts for Barient's.

 

[Scott]

Use Arco

I bought springs for all three of my winches on my 25.5 from Arco. It only took about a week and half to get them and the cost was not all that bad and they were very pleasant to deal with through email. I bought an extra set for each winch at the same time.

 

[Bill]

Springs

Bruce,If you happen to locate specifications for those little springs, please pass them on. I have a few left and was thinking about ordering some more but would love to get them from a more local source.

 

[Bruce]

spring size

I suspect that the spring size would vary with the winch size. On the Maxwell 17 which are the sheet winches on the 25.5, the spring dia is .140 and the length is "around" 1/2 inch. I have no info on the "tension" factor but I suspect that is not critical as long as they are not weaker than the original and not more than twice as strong considering their function. If I find some and get actual spec's I will let you know. Bruce

 

[Flash15064]

springs

Springs are not rocket science and can be readily obtained in numerous places.These two sites can be very useful:http://www.tricorindustries.com/Emergency_Service.htmhttp://www.springsfast.com/cm_compression.htm