Servicing winches is very worthwhile. Can't believe you race and don't service your winches at least annually. A skipper must take steps to ensure the boat is properly prepared for the crew. You will learn on the first one, and kick yourself after, because of how easy it is to do. Take your time. Clean the old grease using diesle fuel or mineral spirits, lightly oil the pawls, and lightly grease the gears with a brush. If done every two years they will last forever. Skipping for 12 years? I don't know. Chuck S
> On 09/12/2023 7:20 PM EDT Jeffrey A. Laman via CnC-List > <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > > > Mike and others who have provided valuable input, > > This information on electric is very useful. I wasn't intending to purchase > electric in any case due to cost. > > I went to boat this afternoon. Ashamed to say I did not even know what size > the existing winches are. They are Lewmar/England 42ST, likely original to > boat, therefore 42 years old. From what I am hearing from everyone, a Lewmar > 42ST should be adequate for a C&C34. But man, even in 12 knts wind it takes > the full strength of two crew to get the last 2 feet in. I was sensing that > the winch handle was about to break. > > After reading more this afternoon, I am sure the winches are way past due for > servicing. Lewmar recommends 2 to 3 times a season! This may be part, if > not all, of the problem. I suspect the winches were disassembled and greased > about 10 to 12 years ago. Before that, who knows. > > Is a set of 42 year old winches worth disassembling, cleaning, greasing, and > reassembling? Will this result in a significant improvement? What parts of > the winch typically need to be replaced and can those Lewmar parts be > obtained for such an old winch? > > Thanks again for all the very helpful advice on winch sizes. > > Jeff Laman > 1981 C&C34 Harmony > Ludington, MI > > > > --------------------------------------------- > From: Hoyt, Mike via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2023 2:43 PM > To: 'Stus-List' <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > Cc: Hoyt, Mike <mike.h...@impgroup.com> > Subject: Stus-List Electric Winches - Winch Size for C&C34 > > Persistence came to us with Electric Lewmar 43ST winches for the primaries. > There were no secondaries. For cruising ease the primaries had been located > where secondaries normally would be and the mounting locations for the > original primaries were faired and painted over. The second set of manual > Lewmar 43ST winches were mounted on the cabin top for use as halyard winches. > THIS WAS WAY OVERKILL! > > ST43 as halyard winches way larger than necessary. Jib trimmers facing > backward to trim genoa was awkward to say the least. So we moved the cabin > top Lewmar 43ST back to the original primary location and replaced cabin top > halyard winches with Lewmar 30ST (Ocean series I believe) > > This still left us with electric Lewmar 43 ST. First of all an electric > winch can be nasty. An inexperienced trimmer can damage the headsail using > one. We always had the switches turned off and used as a manual winch. > Secondly these were AWFUL to maintain. To service the winches the motor has > to be dropped from beneath before the drums can come off to clean and > lubricate the gears, pawls, etc … Due to this and due to the lack of > accessibility from beneath to do this these winches were rarely serviced and > never properly. When running the spinnaker on these secondaries they were > stiff and made spin handling more problematic than it should be (due to the > lack of east servicing). > > In the end we traded these to someone with a pilothouse 44 foot boat for a > set of new Lewmar 40 ST that are far superior for our purposes. On top of > the ease of servicing and better sizing for the boat removing the motors took > away a LOT of unnecessary weight > > Just a story I thought I would share > > We are very happy with all of our Lewmar winches BTW > > Mike Hoyt > Persistence > Halifax, NS > > From: nausetbeach--- via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2023 3:23 PM > To: 'Stus-List' <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > Cc: nausetbe...@optonline.net > Subject: Stus-List Re: Winch Size for C&C34 > > Some other thoughts: For whatever you decide, believe both WM and Defender > have BOGO days on winches during the year which could help reduce the wallet > pain. Electric winches are more than a little $ more. Have heard / read good > things about > > Some other thoughts: > > For whatever you decide, believe both WM and Defender have BOGO days on > winches during the year which could help reduce the wallet pain. > > Electric winches are more than a little $ more. Have heard / read good > things about the “eWincher” as a viable alternative for people who do not > want to make the investment in electric winches. > > Brian > Please show your appreciation for this list and the Photo Album site and help > me pay the associated bills. Make a contribution at: > https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > Thanks for your help. > Stu >
Please show your appreciation for this list and the Photo Album site and help me pay the associated bills. Make a contribution at: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray Thanks for your help. Stu
