Second Winch and Boat Plans

Port spinnaker winch ready for cleaning

The base needs cleaning too

Pieces clean and ready for lubrication and reassembly

Clutch plates

It's been a day of rain and I managed to do only one more winch.

I was having coffee looking out of the companionway into a clear morning when I noticed hundreds of seabirds heading back to land.  Strange.  Twenty minutes later I saw a sharply defined bank of clouds headed our way.  More birds came in.  Then the squall hit and since then we've had a dark cloudy sky with intermittent rain. 

I rearranged my schedule and walked into town to do some do some grocery shopping and to purchase that mouse. The optical mouse cost a ridiculously low 30 pesos (less than $7) and it was made in China, of course.   Even the clicks feel and sound cheap.  I'll see if I can get something better in Buenos Aires.

I serviced the port spinnaker winch (the aft one) and had to finish the job in the rain.  This one was in better shape than the jib winch, though it still needed servicing. 

The first two photos show the components before cleaning.  Every piece must be cleaned by a combination of brushing, scraping, and washing.  Every tooth of every gear must be individually cleaned (with a tooth brush of course) and greased with a tiny brush.  The same goes for every roller of every set of bearings. 

The third photo shows the components from inside of the bell housing clean and ready for lubrication and assembly.  The screwdriver is  pointing to a set of clutch plates.  There is a second set at the lower left.  The sets can be flipped over without any consequences but if they are transposed the direction of turn of the winch is reversed – there is one clockwise set and one anticlockwise one.

As if to prove my point I tested the winch after reassembling it and found that it was going backwards.  Somehow I had managed to transpose the clutches.  After lunch and a short nap I went out during a lull from the rain and disassembled the winch,  swapped the clutches, and reassembled it in less than 10 minutes.  Of course: everything was clean, lubricated, and I had the "feel" of the winches.

The fourth photo shows a set out of my spares with the plates separated to show the ski jump pattern that yields the ratchet effect.  As I stated said earlier, I have had no problems with any of the clutches.

Pachuca Cabin Plan

Pachuca section plan

While looking for the winch diagram I came across Pachuca's boat plans.  I have published them before but it has been a while and more recent visitors to the blog might find it interesting.

In the cabin plan you'll see bunks on each side of the cabin.  They are actually above and behind the settees, and are suitable for an ocean racer where the skipper wants the crew to sleep as far to the weather side as possible.  However, Pachuca is a more genteel boat and that space accommodates a book case, cupboards, and general storage.  The rectangles with the stars just inboard of those bunks represents the settees where I actually sleep.  The rest of the plan is remarkably accurate, although the aft berths and forward berths are currently being used for storage.

The section plan accurate shows the settee seats, cabin sole, and entire engine below the waterline.  The plan divides the boat into 14 stations rather than the conventional 10.  Making the necessary adjustments Pachuca's mast is at station 3, which makes her a sloop, even though she is rigged as a cutter.  (She's been called a "slutter".)  A true cutter will have her mast aft of station 4, or at 5.6 on the scale of the plan at the middle of the keel.