I have had a terror of servicing my two speed winches. I used to do all my single speed, but transmissions and I don't get along well, so I paid to have these done. Since being retired, I work cheaper than nearly any boat personnel, so I finally screwed up enough courage to do it myself. Anyhow, it went reasonably well with some modest complications I'll address next year.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the winches in pretty good shape despite five years without service. I think covering them really helps. They were a bit dry as you'd expect. The job took about an hour a winch to clean and re-grease them. What proved problematic was the power winch which must have some extra step to remove one of the gear sets. I assume it is the powered one and further assume the motor must be pulled. The genoa winches were a problem since the way they are installed, the larger gearset access is made impossible since the cockpit molding is too close to allow removal. Next year, I will take an impact wrench and remove the winch entirely and see if rotating it 180 degrees will permit access.
There was no need for my terror and the job was straight forward. It is, as everyone cautions, wise to build a cardboard dam to keep parts from rolling off the boat. I'm probably the last guy on the site to DYI!
I was pleasantly surprised to find the winches in pretty good shape despite five years without service. I think covering them really helps. They were a bit dry as you'd expect. The job took about an hour a winch to clean and re-grease them. What proved problematic was the power winch which must have some extra step to remove one of the gear sets. I assume it is the powered one and further assume the motor must be pulled. The genoa winches were a problem since the way they are installed, the larger gearset access is made impossible since the cockpit molding is too close to allow removal. Next year, I will take an impact wrench and remove the winch entirely and see if rotating it 180 degrees will permit access.
There was no need for my terror and the job was straight forward. It is, as everyone cautions, wise to build a cardboard dam to keep parts from rolling off the boat. I'm probably the last guy on the site to DYI!
