Just wanted to let you guys know that Midnight Sun finished first overall and first to fininsh in the Tampa Bay to Key West race. Not bad for a 35 year old boat. We did explode our starboard primary (Lewmar 46 st) that came apart like shrapnel from a hand grenade. Looking for parts. They quit making the "wave grip" series in 1991.
Midnight Sun racing
- Thread starter Blaise
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Blaise:
Congratulations on another successful open water race. The Cherubini design probably contributes, but I suspect primarily due to the skill and tactics of you and your crew.
Regarding the winch. Wow! I always thought that the type of catastrophic failure you had was just myth rather than fact. What came apart? The Drum? What were the load conditions?
I'm just being playful with this: .... must be you haven't been using the right grease? From the Andersen winch website http://andersenwinches.com/aw/support_winch_grease.asp?RnID=410B&selected_menu_id=20479:
"We strongly recommend always using ANDERSEN winch grease, when lubricating your winch" ..... "Non-suitable grease products can cause malfunction, which could result in fatal injuries for the user and others."
I had thought this warning was a bit exaggerated. Maybe not.
Congratulations on another successful open water race. The Cherubini design probably contributes, but I suspect primarily due to the skill and tactics of you and your crew.
Regarding the winch. Wow! I always thought that the type of catastrophic failure you had was just myth rather than fact. What came apart? The Drum? What were the load conditions?
I'm just being playful with this: .... must be you haven't been using the right grease? From the Andersen winch website http://andersenwinches.com/aw/support_winch_grease.asp?RnID=410B&selected_menu_id=20479:
"We strongly recommend always using ANDERSEN winch grease, when lubricating your winch" ..... "Non-suitable grease products can cause malfunction, which could result in fatal injuries for the user and others."
I had thought this warning was a bit exaggerated. Maybe not.
My winches get serviced annually. This includes complete dissasembly, cleaning, re greasing with waterproof lithium grease. I replaced the original 42 st's with the 46 st;s about twentyfive years ago. (Three sizes bigger than original) We were tacking up the Key West channel in 22 kts apparent with a full main and a kevlar 135% genny about 2 am. The whole top of the winct came apart. The crown assembly, feeder and screws just exploded at once. The drum and internal gears, pawls, etc seem to be fine. We uns 1/2" sheets and the winch probably had a few thousand pound load. We finished the race using ths secondary on the starboard side which is a 40 st. It survived, but we only had to use it for about 30 minutes.
Thanks for the failure description.
Makes me wonder though because I put two new Harken 44ST's* on my boat 6 years ago as the primaries. About the same size as the OEM Barient 25's (non self tailing).
I hope that the 44's hold up through the years in the +20kt conditions I normally sail in. I bought the them at a "for-the-trade" wholesale discount. But still the two winches set me back about 10% of what I paid for the ENTIRE 36' Cherubini Hunter boat .... all of which was very much in good working order!
Blaise: Presume you will be buying two new winches? For what it's worth my, Barient 25's, stored in my crawl space, are working fine and look to have life left in them.
Makes me wonder though because I put two new Harken 44ST's* on my boat 6 years ago as the primaries. About the same size as the OEM Barient 25's (non self tailing).
I hope that the 44's hold up through the years in the +20kt conditions I normally sail in. I bought the them at a "for-the-trade" wholesale discount. But still the two winches set me back about 10% of what I paid for the ENTIRE 36' Cherubini Hunter boat .... all of which was very much in good working order!
Blaise: Presume you will be buying two new winches? For what it's worth my, Barient 25's, stored in my crawl space, are working fine and look to have life left in them.
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