Ed, if I wanted to flame someone, I would go to S/A, here, we aim for a higher level of civility. The thing about releasing the pawl is that it does you no good in making the winch functional, it acts as a one way clutch, and seems to be functioning normally, since the O/P stated that he could get the keel to come up. The gear that the pawl stops only holds the drum if either the brake is applied via pressure from the threaded crank handle, or it is rusted solid. Given that the O/P has stated that he tried to lower the winch it would be safe to assume that the brake disc is rusted to the clutch gear. this being the case, sticking fingers in the vicinity of the pawl is dangerous since the pawl is located above the gear and out of sight and in close proximity to the cable reel, it's gear, and 10 or so feet of old, kinked cable which is attached to 625 lbs of steel. BTW since the O/P stated that the cable is frayed, I will take his word on that. The winch is 23 years old, obviously from the pictures is in sad shape and should be replaced for safety reasons. Age alone is not a reason to replace something, the hand cranked blower for my blacksmith forge is over 100 years old and still going strong. On the other hand, age and neglect on a mission critical part to me means replace for safety's sake. I don't think that is being a "scaredy cat" I don't want my last words to be "Hey y'all watch this" TIm