Lewmar 30 winch maintenance problem

[JKO]

I'm having problem with Bavaria 31 Cruiser 2009 Lewmar 30 winch maintenance. There is not enough room to push gear stack out of baseplate (see picture). Also 2 or 5 baseplate screws are badly stuck and I'd rather not take a risk damaging them. Is there some trick to get gear stack out without removing base plate?

[Yngmar]

They do slide out sideways, but with the winch mounting in this orientation it's blocked by the coaming. So put some release spray on those bolts, choose a well matching bit and impact driver and extract them. When you put them back in, apply some waterproof grease - that way there won't be a problem next service.

[JKO]

Thanks for the hints! Managed to get screws out, but base plate does not move. Seems that it has been glued to deck. Could be also silicone as screws were covered in silicone (is similar substance).

It's unlikely that some the previous owner would have changed base plate orientation or applied the glue. Also it feels strange that this would be factory setup making maintenance of one of the gear stacks very difficult or even impossible. I also tried to separate gear stack inside baseplate but there is not enough room inside for that (2-3mm vertical room missing).

Any further ideas or experience how others have handled it?

[Yngmar]

Yup, looks like someone gooped in a bunch of adhesive sealant. Grab a putty knife (or oscillating multitool) and shove it under the base to separate them.

There's absolutely no need for this and in fact it's probably bad because the winch bases have drain channels which are now almost certainly closed and no longer functional, leading to water pooling in the base. Bit of waterproof grease is all it needs.

[Ailatan]

I have a different brand of winch but the same problem, so my solution is to clean the gears where they are.

Use a syringe to inject a lot of diesel a toothbrush and a lot o paper towels and they will end up as clean as if you had taken them out

[JKO]

I though this approach as well but injecting diesel/white spirit inside gear stack but not being able to dry it out did not feel like good idea. If some of diesel/spirit stays inside the stack then oil won't stick and lubricate as is should.

Was your winch also glued to deck adhesive sealant or was in-place maintenance chosen just to avoid trouble of screwing out base plate?

[Ailatan]

If that is your concern use gasoline instead.

Regarding unscrewing the base plate. I think the winch had never been cleaned in 20 years so I just tried once with regular tools and, as they didn't want to come out, I went for Plan B, but now they sound much better than before.

[JKO]

Ended up cleaning the gear stack without taking it out as well.  Result is not perfect, but good enough.

Base plate is very tightly attached to deck and I could not even fit my sharpest putty knife in between. New attempt in next spring maintenance with new tools (fishing line maybe?) and new energy