In this video I start the process of re-bedding and servicing our anchor windlass by isolating the deck core where the windlass is mounted. I then turn to di...

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last time on sailing Bala Chandra we'd

hung out in IO Coco Cuba for a week and

we announced that we're sailing to the

Bahamas next winter hey guys so as you

know I'm planning to rebuild our anchor

windlass before we go to the Bahamas I

have the Lamar Ocean capstan windlass

these windlass a--'s are made out of

mild steel so they do tend to rust over

time mine's been painted once or twice

before and you know it's still working

we used it last summer but I'm really

nervous about it it looks like it hasn't

been serviced in a while and it was just

really important that we take it apart

and make sure we know what we got before

we sail away for six months and anchor

almost every day and have to rely on

this thing this is the anchor Locker

door that was modified to hold the

windlass basically this piece here is

bolted right onto the deck and the

windlass is then bolted into this piece

and this is supporting the windlass this

was plywood that was glassed-in here too

for extra support fairly thick piece of

plywood but right here

they didn't isolate it this is where the

chain comes through right here that's

exposed to rain water sea water waves

whatever and this plywood right here is

gonna get wet if you don't isolate this

with like a layer of fiberglass say like

a ring a doughnut or whatever all the

way around the inside here that would

keep this from you know wetting all that

core so I drilled these bore holes here

just to see what was going on and if the

wood was dry around these bolts and it

turns out the wood in here is dry

chances are this was dry too so I took

some chisels and I dug this out and made

a cavity and it's all been dry wood so

far so I'm not cutting this back piece

off and replacing the plywood which was

my instinct when I first started this

and I use sandpaper to make sure I had

clean glass I'll clean that with some

acetone I'll mix up some epoxy and

fiberglass strands like pieces of just

raw fiberglass cut up to thicken it even

more and I'll shove it into these

grooves so that will keep the plywood

dry and give me a total fiberglass seal

around here so that as my chain goes

through this hole and it's spilling

seawater it won't

into this wood I did the same on this

side dug it right now and there's bolts

here so I had to dig even deeper to get

around with these bolts go so the bolts

will be isolated as well as this big

hole where the shaft goes through this

piece if you happen to be installing a

new windlass or you're having someone

install a windlass for you make sure

that they're isolating any core that

they dig through I mean these are some

pretty big holes put through a piece

that's a permanent fixture on your boat

and didn't isolate these holes

eventually the sealants gonna go the

water's gonna go in and your cores gonna

get wet all right so to get started I'm

just gonna wipe down my project area

with acetone the reason to do this is

just to get rid of any particles or dust

or fiberglass or anything that's in

there that's gonna keep the epoxy from

sticking to the existing glass at this

project I'm going to use some West's

system 105 epoxy and with systems 206

hardener got some rubber gloves so I

don't put my hands all messed up and

I've got some chopped strand mat Inge

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all the voids are now filled in and so

then I filled up these big Boyd's here

using unthinking epoxy first then I had

it some chopped strand mat Aang in

layers with epoxy matting epoxy and then

at the final stage I just made like a

fill it with some thickened epoxy and

then just scooped all that in there

using a popsicle stick so here's an

example of what not to do when you're

mixing epoxy I mixed up this bit of

epoxy here it's quite a bit you can see

in this container I didn't get to it

fast enough and I guess it maybe sat for

12 10 minutes 20 minutes or something

like that and just when I got to the

point that I was ready to scoop this out

and put it into those voids it just

flash hardened on me like really really

fast

it is solid and yeah kind of an

expensive mistake you make a mistake the

first time that's okay you learn maybe

the first time you work with this stuff

don't use as much as I did alright this

epoxy is dry and it's rock solid ready

to start sanding and clean up these

holes

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so here's my windlass mount all isolated

is a good solid ring of fiberglass in

here good solid rigging fiberglass here

he's holders are drilled they're all

isolated everything is good to go the

whole stern doubt really nice this is

where I had used a big bit and drilled

out a whole big dowel section of core

filled that with epoxy and then drilled

it in it's kind of a big job but really

this is what you have to do this is the

proper way to install anything through

your deck where you have cork the

windlass itself from the look of it you

can see hasn't been serviced in a while

I'm surprised I wasn't having serious

electrical problems this summer because

these are really rusty looking saltwater

has gotten underneath this paint and

then dried and there's like crystallized

salt under the paint and you can chip it

away and like pieces of salt actually

fall out this needs to be stripped down

and cleaned and then repainted it was

working in the summer and it should

still work but it definitely needs some

major TLC here's the main shaft windlass

drum that's in good shape just a little

pin that holds the shaft on this is the

piece that fits on top I use sandpaper

and wire brushes and a dremel with a

wire brush tool to clear off most of the

surface rust ultimately yeah I've got to

completely disassemble this and I want

to because we have to rely on this thing

and I don't want it failing for some

gear issue all right so I got the cap

off the end here you know one of my main

concerns is these bolts here are pretty

rusted I'd really like to remove them

and replace them so yeah as you can see

I have been able to remove the motor

shaft rate from the motor I just noticed

that this seam right along the bottom

just sort of started to separate all by

itself once I've removed these two bolts

that run down the center of the motor I

just gave it a tug and Bank the whole

casing camera at all so yeah I should be

able to access the inside of this guy

maybe replace these with new ones so I

can have a better metal contacts I've

cleaned up all the part

from the windless everything's clean and

tidy and I've used a little bit of

mineral spirits and stuff to get a lot

of the grease off and whatever so it's

it's looking pretty good there's a bit

of pitting and a bit of corrosion here

you can see there in the aluminum that

whatever coating was on here has been

since worn off and the salt water kind

of takes its toll but they'll be fine

for now the windlass still has several

years left in it so so far you saw me

completely remove the motor and expose

the electric drive shaft inside I've

since put it back together and you'll

notice that I left these guys on here

these posts are looking kind of rusty

and gross some of the threads are

actually going on one of them and I was

worried about my electrical contacts

unfortunately these bolts are hard

soldered right into the magnets that are

inside this motor and if I were to go in

intrusively and try to remove these

bolts and replace them I run the risk of

damaging the motor to the point where I

may not be able to use it and to me I

had to sort of take the lesser of two

evils what I'm going to do because I've

got one here with excellent threads one

with okay threads and one with virtually

no threads I'm going to use a tap and

dye kit and I'm going to clean up the

threads on the good one and these two

that are kind of not so good I'm going

to reduce the diameter of these bolts

and retype new threadings on them with

smaller bolt size and that way I'll have

usable threads on these guys and after

that as long as I use dielectric grease

or some vaseline just something on there

to keep it from rusting I've already

painted the cover that goes on the back

and I reattached there was no gasket

here but in order to read bed the motor

housing on to the casing I had to use

something as a gasket so I actually put

a bead of Sikaflex around there which

I've been using lately you've seen in

some of my videos so I got this really

nice little black ring here and that

Sikaflex will keep all the water out

this isn't standard maintenance but I

actually removed this cover to see how

the gears wore it was dry in there if

there was oil how much oil if it was in

good shape well just keep pouring out

and it was clear oil there was no water

in it and it's really good so

I quickly put the cap back on but now I

have to cut a new gasket to put here

which I will do and I'll put more oil

back in there but this gear housing is

fine so I'm going to do that and paint

the whole thing and then reassemble and

then mount it back on to my triangular

mounting piece and then hopefully we'll

have a good winless four years to come

you know it's it's the maintenance that

you do that keeps the thing running

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you later bye