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S&S Swan Maintenance - Worn Lewmar winches
12 June 2019 - 08:38
#1
Join Date: 05 August 2010
Posts: 162

Worn Lewmar winches

Dear all,

after many years of service, the crowns of our (retro-fitted) primary winches were somewhat worn, in part due to a former owner forcing oversized sheets into the self-tailing crowns. The effect was visible wear on the "teeth" of the crown, with the result that sheets with less diameter tended to slip, in particular while new.
Replacement parts for these winches were unobtainable in Germany, but once more I found Winchspares (www.winchspares.com) in England extremely helpful. A while ago I was looking for some rare minor parts and found them there as well. Now I had two crowns for the primaries custom-made, and I can only recommend the fast and very professional service.
As many of us will eventually run into the wear problem of our vintage winches, this company might be worth keeping in mind.

Best regards,
Martin (Vellamo, 48/039)

Old Lewmar Primary

Same winch, new crown fitted

12 June 2019 - 16:43
#2
Join Date: 02 January 2008
Posts: 1547

Dear Martin

Here some self-tailing information.
Your winches have Wavegrip type self-tailing with fixed jaws. The jaws can accommodate a range of line diameters, and it is advisable to stay within this range. 
 
It sounds like the former winch owner used oversize line. Then the line does not go in between the jaws deep enough, and this creates an increased feed diameter for the line. 
The jaws then try to feed the line faster than the drum, and this soon tensions the line to excessive loads over the stripper arm, increasing friction enormously. The crew experiences this as cranking becoming extremely heavy. This may also bend the stripper arm.
 
Newer Lewmar winches have spring loaded jaws which can accomodate a much larger range of line diameters, but at the time of the fixed jaws the spring loaded jaws were protected by a patent held by another winch manufacturer.
Kind regards
Lars

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