The Black Pearls Windlass!

[MagicalArmchair]

The Cayman 88 windlass has never, ever let us down, even when resetting the anchor four times one fun afternoon. I had start to "wiggle" rather a lot when under load, and I had noticed the below.



So on my recent boat day, I decided it was high time to get the thing off, and my oh my, what a mess it is!





I'm going to fair down the bottom and fill it with epoxy aluminum filler, and perhaps mount it on a plastic plate to prevent this kind of corrosion in the future!

[symphony2]

Been there, got the T shirt. Hope you manage to made good. Mine was so bad one corner and stud had gone completely. Windlass had seized as well but could not take it apart because all the bolts were seized as well. so bought anew one and painted the bottom and removed all the fastenings before putting back with Duralec.

[Yngmar]

Had the same, epoxy filled and painted it, been working for years, even when the anchor was stuck - it's stronger than the bow roller!

The cause is the stupid rubber "moat" that surrounds it, keeping a nice puddle of saltwater all around the alu base. After repairing, I trimmed the moat away and filled the gap between it and the windlass with sikaflex, which keeps any water from pooling around it. No more problems since.

Also cleaned up some rust on the motor casing and changed the oil while I was at it. Oh, and I put a proper gasket (some gasket maker compound I had laying around) between the windlass and the alu cover of the motor.

The Lofrans Cayman is actually rather good apart from the design flaw with the moat. We've seen plenty of other boats around with underpowered, slow windlasses struggling to perform (and they had smaller anchors than us), where ours just got the job done.

[Jeffatoms]

I've opted to replace my very similarly spoiled Simpsom-Lawrance Spirit 1000 rather than repair.  And with that decision, the entire anchoring system is being replaced with new windlass, (Lewmar V1- same basic footprint), new chain and a new Rocna to replace the CQR.  I'm also adding cockpit control  and a chain counter to the mix.  Exciting stuff.

I have opted to bed the unit and the related mounting hardware for the backing plate with butyl tape (window sealant).  So far only regret is not buying a sheet of the stuff to put under the new stainless backing plate.

The only other lessons learned and addressed was tgat I potted the underside of the windlass with epoxy slurry to create a flat mounting surface rather than relying on the cast rim as the only deck contact.  I also replaced to stock mounting gasket with a custom waterjet-cut gasket that was a much better fit than the universal gasket provided and finally, I upgraded it immediately to include the winch handle enabled manual recovery which, IMO should be standard equipment but isn't for reasons I will never understand.  Yes, that was a lesson my back learned the hard way when I had to haul the anchor and chain up, hand over hand, when the original windlass gave up the ghost last summer.  So many lessons learned.

[MagicalArmchair]

I've taken it all apart and the internals look very good. I've got myself a service kit and some new bearings and I think it'll go together just fine.

It was clear water had made its way into the motor, so I want to get motor armature out of  the motor, however I am not sure how to released the bearing at the end of the motor armature. Just lots of whacking with a hammer??

[geoff]

If you end up wanting another motor I have a cayman 88 motor under the bench outside. I advertised it a while ago without luck. It is under lofrans 1000watt. Geoff

[MagicalArmchair]

I may well do the way I'm wailing on this thing  . How much do you want for it Geoff?

[geoff]

£60 + post [heavy] should do it. I an near Reading Berks. Geoff PS I will post a pic tomorrow

[MagicalArmchair]

Thanks Geoff, I'll let you know. I managed to get armature out with some more wailing on the housing with a rubber mallet with the shaft held in a vice:



So it's all apart and the bearings feel good, which is surprising considering it was sitting in water.





Rest of the beast all cleaned up and laid out:

[MagicalArmchair]

The motor is all serviced and back together. I even gave it a lick of paint to spruce the motor up a bit...

Whilst the paint dried I turned my attention back to the windlass gears and put the whole lot back together again. I drove in the new bearings and the new oil seals and all looked well... now that it is all together if I turn where the MOTOR shaft attaches, it turns freely enough. If I try and turn the main shaft, it is solid as the clutch is on... have I put something together wrong? I've left it in the below state of assembly (not filled with oil yet, as I'm worried I've screwed something up!):



So that leaves two questions.

• Is this usual before the clutch cone goes on? I'm not sure what disengages the dog clutch from the wormwheel, as the spring here is under compression as assembled.

• What do I NOT grease in the below as I reassemble?

[geoff]

I think that you will find that the nature of the gearing [worm drive] prevents you from turning the capstan shaft ,it is a very large reduction gear . It sounds fine, try it with 12volts on the bench ,if it goes both ways its good. Geoff

[Yngmar]

What do I NOT grease in the below as I reassemble?[/li][/list]

Anything that gets filled with oil!

The outer brake/clutch needs regular cleaning and greasing, several times a year if you're using it like us.

[MagicalArmchair]

Thanks Geoff, I'll plug on with the rebuild and put the rest together. What vexes me somewhat is how the dog clutch disengages with the big wormgear, as that big spring appears to always be loaded, so how do you let it freewheel out? I mean, I guess it must all work as that was how it came apart...



Photo from the deconstruction process (to excuse to treacle like oil!):



Yngmar, thanks! I had my doubts about the bearings inside the oil seals and had regrets I hadn't greased them... but they are behind the oil seals (and are open bearings), so that makes sense. I've seen write-ups where it says do not grease the "Braking surfaces", now where the hell is that? Or do I just grease the hell everywhere?

So grease here (plus the shaft and woodruff key):



Then put on the clutch cone, and grease that?



And then a light bit of grease on the rest of it?

[Yngmar]

Yes, the bits you marked in red is that braking surface, together with the outer cone. They clamp down on the gypsy and so engage it with the gear driven axle. Or let it freewheel when you losen the brake (the three-pronged wingnut) so you can gravity drop the anchor. They do get greased as part of the maintenance, which I'm pretty sure is in the user manual.

I think that inner dog clutch is just so you can spin the axle via the manual emergency retrieval system (handle stuck in the holes on the rope drum side). It's got one dog clutch in the rope drum so you can ratchet it (up only) and that second one inside the gearbox must be so the axle can turn via the manual lever without forcing the motor to turn - which you noticed doesn't work due to the worm gearing.

[MagicalArmchair]

Thanks Yngmar, yup, RTFM, it does indeed say grease the whole lot up. I have some very posh ptfe grease on the boat that shouldn't dry out, alternatively I have some lithium grease.

[MagicalArmchair]

I've got most of it back together now, just need to fill the little sucker up



Clearly spraying the motor black to cover the rust will make it operate much better... perhaps.



I'll bed it down onto its new rubber base (that doesn't have the daft lip) with some silicone, and then it'll be good for a few years with any luck.