Late last year I was referred to Jerry Davis regarding tiny amounts of oil dripping from the anchor winch gear box whenever I activated it. For various reasons Jerry asked me to contact him after the boat was back in her pen and last week he attended to the winch.
The motor had been replaced in New Zealand in 2008 but the gear box was the original from 1983 and it showed. Jerry worked hard for several hours over two days attempting to remove the winch without damaging it but everything that he tried failed, including drilling holes around the perimeter of the corrosion-fused top bearing, soaking the top of shaft over night with penetrating oil, and my using a heat gun on the fused top plate to the point where the wood underneath began to smolder. Jerry called it the worst winch job that he had ever encountered and coming from a trained fitter and turner with many years of experience that is a very strong statement. He commented that the shaft was so tightly bound that he was amazed that the winch had worked at all.
I agreed with Jerry that given that the winch was 36 years old and had had a very hard life at the bow of a low freeboard boat it was probably not worth saving, particularly since as far as I could tell Orca winches were no longer manufactured and parts would probably be impossible to get. He then spent another difficult hour with an angle grinder cutting the top plate (beautifully made of thick bronze) and removing the unit. He subsequently did an autopsy on the gear box and that evening sent me the following cryptic text: "Gobs full of brass rust and dirty oil ...."
Jerry recommended a Maxwell winch as being the best value and I am awaiting his recommendation and quotation. In the meantime I did some research of my own and I think that I have identified the suitable replacement: a Maxwell RC10-10. It can take a rope/chain rode, meaning that I'll have the capability of using less heavy chain. Also, the through-deck hole has the same 100mm diameter as did the Orca.
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| Fairly new winch motor, corroded original gear box |
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| Shaft fused at both ends with corrosion |
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| Jerry cutting through the top plate |
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| Winch Removed |
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| Hole covered in preparation of expected rain |
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