Yacht Maintenance - Part 5: Winches & Deck Fittings

A noteable exception are the winches. They are, of course, also relatively complex creatures with many moving parts which should be maintained regularly. Manufacturers even advise taking the winches apart several times during the boating season, cleaning them from the inside before re-greasing and oiling them. Personally, however, I would rather see this as a maximum of care advisable for heavily used yachts. For the common family or cruising yacht it is usually sufficient to do this once a year.

Watch the small bits and pieces
Before you remove the snap-ring on the head of the winch drum and take it apart, you should remember that some rather small parts work together inside. Some of them, like the pawls, are equipped with small springs. If you are unlucky or careless, such small parts can easily go overboard. This is still almost as annoying when it happens in your winter storage, although perhaps not necessarily as final as in the water. As a precaution, attach a cloth or something similar to the guard rail next to the winch to keep such parts safely on board.

Cleaning, greasing and oiling
After you have lifted off the drum, you can remove all other parts, carefully and one after the other. Clean everything with a soft cloth and perhaps also some benzine. The bearings and gears can then be lubricated with special winch grease before reassembling it. But take care never to grease the small pawls and springs. Otherwise there is the danger that they are no longer moving freely but rather "stick together" at some point. This can actually turn out rather dangerous if it happens at the wrong time. Always oil these parts, best with a special oil offered by the winch manufacturers - unless your Grandma still has some sewing machine oil left over, then you can also take this. While lubricating and oiling, put everything together in reverse order to taking it apart, carefully put on the drum - you probably have to turn it slightly so that the pawls can engage - reattach the snap-ring and you're done! It is easy as long as you take good note of how the parts belong together!

Hardware for the running rigging
Check the hardware for the running rigging: blocks, pulleys and clamps. Here too: check if everything is working? If not, sometimes some magic stuff, alias WD40 (or a comparable product), will help. Careful: Not all plastic pulleys, for example in the leading blocks for halyards and stretchers on deck, are really UV-resistant in the long run. Small fibres break or crumble at the edge, and you don't want them either in the ropes or in your fingers in the end. If this is the case, one or the other pulley, or the whole fitting, has to be replaced and renewed.

Text: Detlef Jens