Inspected your windlass oil lately?

[Westfield 11]

I changed and flushed my windlass oil last November when I discovered it was contaminated with water. Fast forward to yesterday when I found that it was an oil/water emulsion again. I flushed and filled again then called GalleyMaid to find out why this was happening.

Fun fact: there is no seal to exclude water in the original design. No Seal! If you have had your windlass rebuilt in the last five years or so the shop will have seated the top bushing 1/8” below the original position and installed an o-ring under a shop made SS washer to try to keep the water out. But as designed and as built there is nothing to keep rainwater or spray from running down the shaft into the gearbox.

Our windlass was overhauled by GalleyMaid three years ago and “should” have the o-ring installed. I’ve ordered a replacement and will put it in when it arrives later this week. BTW this is an above the deck job, no need to drop or remove the windlass.

All GalleyMaid could suggest was to keep the windlass covered at all times unless in actual use and to change and flush the oil annually...... So if you haven’t changed the 90wt gear oil recently, you might want to put it on your to-do list.

 

[Sadey]

I just pulled all of the chrome parts off our windless and had them re-chromed. Space Coast Plating is who GM recommended. I had planned to change the oil as well. How did you remove the old oil, pump? Good to know about the seal I'll order one just in case. We had a cover made for our's last year but now that everything is brand new looking I'll hate to put baby in the closet!

 

[Hat43c1981]

I have had the same exact issue. It is crazy to think that from the factory nothing was put in place to keep water from running the shaft down into the fluid reservoir. Last year I was having the issue of the 90w oil spilling out onto the bow pulpit due to water getting into the reservoir causing it to overflow. It was a mess! I am hoping a cover for the windlass will help keep water from making its was down into the reservoir. Has anyone experienced success with this fix? Thanks!

 

[Hat43c1981]

Also, has anyone had good luck with finding a cover for your windlass that can be ordered? Or do you know of anyone that could make one for me and ship it to Ohio. Our local canvas company is scheduling out about 5 months for any canvas work. I would like to get a cover prior to when we launch late April.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Westfield 11]

At the base of the gearbox there are two square head plugs on the starboard side facing aft, easily visible and reachable from the top bunk. Remove both plugs for faster draining, replace the lower plug and fill until it overflows from the top hole. Run the winch back and forth to mix clean oil with emulsion and repeat until it is clean. Then reservice with quality gear oil. I used the cheapest gear oil I could find for the flushing procedure and I may even use 15/40 motor oil the next time on the assumption that thinner oil will more easily mix with the emulsion and remove it.

The o-ring should arrive in a few days and I’ll report how it fits. There was NO O-RING in mine and the washer under the snap ring was so worn that it had separated into two rings! We shall see what happens in a few days.

 

[Westfield 11]

I just pulled all of the chrome parts off our windless and had them re-chromed. Space Coast Plating is who GM recommended. I had planned to change the oil as well. How did you remove the old oil, pump? Good to know about the seal I'll order one just in case. We had a cover made for our's last year but now that everything is brand new looking I'll hate to put baby in the closet!

We also had Space Coast replate our capstan and gypsy, but they got it on too thick and the chain would not release and fall into the locker. The Admiral got tired of hitting it with a stick as it was lifting the anchor and insisted I do something. So I removed the gypsy and used a Dremel and a sanding drum to remove the excess plating. Now it works just fine.

We have a canvas cover, but didn’t use it for the first three years. Since November it’s never been uncovered unless it’s in use.

I would not be surprised if there was water running down the outside of the tube where it fits into the housing too. It depends if it was installed “wet” (with sealant) or dry (without).

 

[Sadey]

I used Space Coast hoping their experience would prevent the gypsy from being over chromed. So the oil change is done from chain locker? I thought I removed the cover plate from the windless on the deck and changed it that way. We had a local canvas company make ours for around $150. They were busy as well but said they could fit a small job in.

 

[Briankinley2004]

I checked mine a couple years ago and it was full of water too. I flushed it with til the oil ran clean then topped off. I thought I had a bad seal or something so glad to know this. I put one of those turbine attic vent covers on it for a while until a storm blew it off. I guess I need to check it again and start covering.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

What is the oil capacity? Its been years since I changed mine. I guess I'll do that before spring launch. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[scottinsydney]

I'd never though of putting a cover over the capstan. Great idea.

Have a look at this link which has lots of windlass suggestions from forum members.....

https://www.samsmarine.com/forums/s...dlass-Motor-Slow-and-Circuit-Breaker-Tripping

TIP: Spraying WD40 down the side of the shaft certainly improved the performance of windlass.
The shaft bushings enjoyed the soaking.

The gear case takes about 1.5 litres or 1.5 quarts of oil. 90W gear oil is what I used. The most difficult part was finding a method to inject the oil into the fill holes.

 

[oscarvan]

I have a cover over the whole boat.... (it's under roof) so that "covers" this problem too. But I do take salt water over the bow so I will take a look in there this spring too. I know the PO kept the level up as there was an oil bottle in there.....

 

[Westfield 11]

I'd never though of putting a cover over the capstan. Great idea.

Have a look at this link which has lots of windlass suggestions from forum members.....

https://www.samsmarine.com/forums/s...dlass-Motor-Slow-and-Circuit-Breaker-Tripping

TIP: Spraying WD40 down the side of the shaft certainly improved the performance of windlass.
The shaft bushings enjoyed the soaking.

The gear case takes about 1.5 litres or 1.5 quarts of oil. 90W gear oil is what I used. The most difficult part was finding a method to inject the oil into the fill holes.

I tried your tip and it made a big difference! I used Breakfree CLP, a Teflon type gun product and the results were just as you said: smoother and maybe even faster operation. I used the CLP instead of WD40 because it leaves a lubricant behind when the carrier dries. It looks like the drag was coming from the upper bushing at the deck level. The lower bushing is probably lubed by splash and spray from the gearbox.

 

[Westfield 11]

I just installed the o-ring and SS washer and everything fit perfectly. I lubed everything with grease and put extra around and in the o-ring pocket under the washer to help exclude water. Either my o ring had worn completely away or it was never there since there was nothing in the pocket under the washer. I also greased the shaft that everything fits over to prevent everything from seizing up and preventing disassembly next year.

It looks like windlass service is going to be an annual event!

 

[SKYCHENEY]

The most difficult part was finding a method to inject the oil into the fill holes.

How about gear lube in a squeeze bag?

 

[scottinsydney]

The nozzle needs to be wide enough to seal the lower oil port. Keep the top port open until oil spills over.In the end I found one quart bottles of outboard gear oil 90 was the easiest way to fil the oil pan.

 

[Westfield 11]

Or you could fill from the top port until it overflows.........

 

[Hat52MY]

I use the same pump that is used for changing the oil for an Outboard’s lower unit. You fill from the bottom up to push air out of the housing. Quick and easy. If you do not already have one, do a search on “Boat Lower Unit Gear Lube Fill Pump”, $8 well spent on Amazon.