Association Forum - Lewmar 7 Single speed

Assn Members Area · Join

Home.

Association Forum

Ships Store

Cruising

Racing

Technical Tips

Photo Gallery - New

Boat Search - Updated

Manuals & Brochures

Swap Meet

Links

Officer Flag Line & Staff

Bylaws & Constitution

Members Area

Join the Association

Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.

Association Forum

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Lewmar 7 Single speed

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Author

Topic

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

Member Avatar

USA
3444 Posts

Initially Posted - 05/02/2009 : 18:37:05

Well I pulled two Lewmar 7 single speed winches off of a derelict C25 today. Now I need to clean and re-grease them. Any advice? Solvents?

John Russell
1999 C250 SR/WK #410
Bay Village, Ohio
Sailing Lake Erie
Don't Postpone Joy!

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 05/02/2009 : 19:09:07

Acetone should clean it up. Lewmar makes the grease.

We have a Lewmar 7C for raising the main and have been pleased with it.

Edited by - on

Peregrine
Admiral

Members Avatar

830 Posts

Response Posted - 05/02/2009 : 23:54:32

PYachts used to have a page devoted to winch maintenence. I can't find it right now but the following [url="http://www.cncphotoalbum.com/winches/winches1.htm"]article and exploded view[/url] may help.

Underlined words are HOT links.

Edited by - on

Peregrine
Admiral

Members Avatar

830 Posts

Response Posted - 05/03/2009 : 00:08:03

Here is [url="http://en.lewmar.com/products/index.aspx?lang=1&page_id=562"]Lewmar's Maintenance page[/url]

BTW - If you do this over the water or just don't want pieces and parts to go flying use this technique.
Take a cardboard box and cut a hole in the bottom so you can lower it over the winch and tape the box to the deck. Then when you loosen a part it will stay in the box and not on the lawn, driveway or ... go "Ker Plunk"...

*Added in response to Steve's post below. He is right, here is Lewmar's suggestion on "greasing" at the link provided.

"Never use grease to lubricate your pawls, (see exploded view at the link provided) as this can lead to pawls sticking in their pockets and disabling the winch. Instead, lubricate with a light engine oil.
Use only a light smear of winch grease when lubricating ratchet tracks, gear teeth and bearings. Otherwise excess grease will be forced out and collect in potentially dangerous areas, such as pawl pockets."

Underlined words are HOT links.

Edited by - Peregrine on 05/03/2009 08:00:31

John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 05/03/2009 : 06:31:14

Thanks guys. Never would have thought of acetone. Should I just use a cloth soaked in it and wipe or drop the winch in a bucketful?

Edited by - on

Tradewind
Admiral

Members Avatar

USA
531 Posts

Response Posted - 05/03/2009 : 07:43:43

WD-40 also makes a good cleaner, I like it better than acetone. Don't go overboard with oil and grease when you put it back together, just use the minimum.

Edited by - on

Nautiduck
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
3704 Posts

Response Posted - 05/03/2009 : 07:57:57

Put the Acetone on a cloth and wipe the metal clean. Peregrine's box suggestion is a very good one for doing maintenance on an installed winch but I would strongly recommend doing your work inside.

When I moved our winches to the coaming I pulled the 16STs apart and did all this work. Looks complicated but really isn't hard at all. Note that you will need winch grease and winch oil.

Edited by - on

Tom Potter
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
1913 Posts

Response Posted - 05/03/2009 : 09:35:11

And when you get it apart and find a broken pawl spring like I did. Lewmar sells a [url="http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|118|3071|311604&id=4707"]maintenance kit[/url] that has everything you need including new pawl springs.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 05/03/2009 : 10:36:59

Some years ago in a thread like this (probably in the archives), Ken Cave, I think, described simply saturating the winch annually with WD-40, in place, un-disassembled. He just poured or sprayed it down the center hole until the stuff that came out of the bottom was clear. (At the start, it'd be gunk.) WD-40 is just light oil and solvents--the solvents will wash out the crud, and then evaporate, leaving the oil. Given the likely alternatives of (1) not doing the proper maintenance often enough (few people do), and (2) simply running WD-40 through to both clean and lube, the latter seems to have some merit. If you're disciplined enough to do it by the book and by the schedule, more power to you.

Edited by - on

Stu Jackson C34
Admiral

Members Avatar

844 Posts

Response Posted - 05/03/2009 : 13:03:30

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Dave Bristle
 ...saturating the winch annually with WD-40, in place, un-disassembled. He just poured or sprayed it down the center hole until the stuff that came out of the bottom was clear. (At the start, it'd be gunk.) WD-40 is just light oil and solvents--the solvents will wash out the crud, and then evaporate, leaving the oil. ...If you're disciplined enough to do it by the book and by the schedule, more power to you.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I agree with the conclusion, but not the method. Done that way, the grease would be gone, which is NOT good for the winch. No grease on the pawls and no oil on the parts that require grease. You're right, Dave, your boat deserves that you do it right.

Edited by - on

dmpilc
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

USA
4593 Posts

Response Posted - 05/04/2009 : 10:37:58

Alternative to Peregrine's box idea: If you decide to take the winches apart on the boat, get a disposable aluminum cake/baking pan, cut a round hole the diameter of your winches, and place the pan over each winch before you take it apart. The pan will improve your chances of catching parts that you might drop.

Edited by - dmpilc on 05/04/2009 10:39:29

crcalhoon
Captain

Members Avatar

USA
303 Posts

Response Posted - 05/04/2009 : 12:35:42

I have to do some winch maintenance this year. "Novia" is a 1979 model with Lewmar 7 winches. Seems I read somewhere that Lewmar has changed their design. Will the currently available re-build kits for the Model 7 work on the old ones?

Edited by - on

jlannutti
Navigator

Members Avatar

USA
102 Posts

Response Posted - 05/04/2009 : 13:00:24

Last season I mounted two Lewmar 7s on the coaming. While I was in the mood to play with winches (that's winches not wenches) I decided to disassemble and clean those on the cabin roof. It was my first up close encounter with winch disassembly. I half expected that there would be something that needed replacing due to wear but that was not the case. They did not look much different than those I had just installed. Gracie is a WB, Hull # 360, more than ten years old, for the parts to be in the condition that they are is remarkable. To the best of my knowledge the p/o never did anything to them. I do keep them covered when the boat is not in use. I cleaned them with a commercial parts cleaner that a friend gave me, I forget the brand, and greased them with the Harken grease. Upon reassembly I seemed to have enough parts to finish the job with none left over so I think I did it correctly. I wish I had thought of placing that box over the winch before starting as dropping something was my greatest fear. The point of this too long story is that I couldn't be happier with Lewmar.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

Members Avatar

Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 05/04/2009 : 13:22:34

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Stu Jackson C34
 I agree with the conclusion, but not the method. Done that way, the grease would be gone, which is NOT good for the winch...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I've known many sailors who've never taken their winches apart. Whatever dirty, salty grease is in there is probably more of an abrasive than a lubricant. Ken's method (I just looked it up in the archives) basically replaces crud and dirty grease with clean oil, and makes it easy enough to do regularly, which is probably better than leaving the winches as they were. Of course, taking them apart and doing it by the book is better.

Edited by - on

Topic

New Topic

Topic Locked

Printer Friendly

Jump To:

Association Forum

Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.