Sunday, February 20, 2011

Maxwell Windlass Part II

We got an e-mail from Tom at Kadey Krogen, seems there was some confusion (likely on my part).  Even though Maxwell doesn't cover the R & R of the windlass Krogen says on a new boat they would have taken care of this. Maybe we just needed to be more proactive. These guys continue to impress us, the support from Krogen is real and ongoing. Kudos.  Once again we are happy we bought a boat from these people (we owned another boat previously that had all kinds of issues and neither the dealer nor manufacturer wanted to hear from us).

On to the windlass, OK, suffice it to say getting it apart was not too difficult except for the circlip inside the housing that must be removed so that you can pull the shaft to get the same housing off.  Confused??  Maxwell gives very specific instructions on maintenance but does not make routine maintenance an easy task. You have to go through this routine even if you just want to check the gear oil level!  I did talk to Maxwell and found out that my negligence may have contributed to the oil leak.  The clutches were starting to "stick" due to the grease drying up (my fault) and this causes a torque on the bolts that came loose.  Solution, clean and grease the clutches at least every 2-3 months and maybe every month.  Tear down the complete windlass once a year (requires the removal of the very awkward circlip), clean, grease and apply corrosion protection as per the Maxwell manual.  We used Lanacote, T-9 and CRC.  Lots of it. 

Good luck!

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