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