Repairing a Maxwell Nilsson VR-700 windlass Part 1

Bianka came with a Maxwell-Nilsson VR-700 electric windlass to help lift and deploy it's 125 feet of chain. Since I do a lot of solo cruising it makes anchoring or weighing anchor easy for a solo sailor without crew. I'd say it is a critical piece of safety equipment if one should find the boat dragging anchor and need to weigh anchor ASAP. I've yet to drag anchor but, it's important not to think that will never happen as you can read here and here. Having the ability to lift anchor rapidly when things get nasty is rather important.

The VR-700 windlass on BIANKA worked very well for years and did not take up a lot of room on deck. It worked flawlessly until one day it failed. Calls to the manufacturers told me that this windlass was no longer made and no parts or parts diagrams were available. Also the companies Maxwell and Nilsson were now separate manufacturers and neither one had any info on my windlass. In fact I had a piece of orphaned equipment on my hands. Not looking good. But, I also was not looking forward to installing a new windlass in the deck for cost reasons but, mostly because that would mean cutting new holes in the deck. So my only option was to try an repair it myself.

The problem was the windlass shaft was still spinning but, the chain gypsy could no longer lift the chain. Not being the most mechanically inclined person I began the investigation into it's failure. The documentation I found on board on the windlass was sparse and had no parts diagram. Basically it was an installation manual that covered several Maxwell-Nilsson models. Because the motor and gearbox is mounted below decks in the chain locker and the Nonsuch mast blocks access to them. I was hoping the failure might be confined to the parts I could work on above deck. It appeared so at first. I could see that the windlass shaft was spinning but the chain gypsy was standing still. So I began by removing the rope capstan and discovered that the key that sits in the shaft was no longer sitting in the key way of the chain gypsy. As shown in the photos below:

This certainly seemed like it was the problem. Pulling off the chain gypsy I soon found why this occurred. It seems the key which appeared to be made of brass had corroded to the point were it would no longer fit securely in the key way of the chain gypsy. Aha! I thought this is surely the problem.

So now all I should have to do is find a replacement key and my chain lifting by hand days should be over. I recalled when I was on a freighter trip several years ago one of the other passengers was an engineer at the Los Alamos laboratories who was also had a hobby of building and repairing small engines known as "hit and miss" engines. He mentioned a supplier of small brass and metal parts by the same name. I looked at their website and yes the could sell me some square brass rod the same size as the key used in the windlass. But, I would have to cut it to the length I wanted. So it looked like the problem with the malfunctioning VR-700 would be quickly solved. Of course this is silly notion when working on mechanical systems on a boat. But, it often gives one the false hope that the repair will simpler than one first thought. But, the lesson learned is that even though equipment on board is working and looks pretty robust it still needs some routine maintenance. If I had looked at the above deck components earlier I could have prevented this failure from occurring in the first place.

WINDLASS REPAIR PART 2

WINDLASS REPAIR PART 3

WINDLASS REPAIR PART 4

Repairing a Maxwell-Nilsson VR-700 windlass Part 2: Removal

So the Maxwell Nilsson VR-700 was repaired rather painlessly including very little pain to my wallet. For about six bucks of square brass key stock I could now lift BIANKA's anchor with the push of a button and also have a lifetime of spare key stock to boot. But, the joy did not last long. I went forward one day to lift the anchor and the Gypsy moved slightly and then stopped. I could still hear the motor below deck turning. This was not good news.
I proceeded to try and find the cause. I pulled off the upper drum and could see that both the chain Gypsy and the shaft were not spinning under load. This could only mean a problem in the gear box below deck. How did this happen? It could have been a clumsy crew member who stepped on one of the deck mounted windlass switches after the chain had been secured to the Sampson Post and because I might have forgotten to switch off the windlass circuit breaker. I know better to NEVER step on these switches but, for the ocassional crew it is an easy thing to forget. Whatever the reason the windlass will have to come out and that can not happen until the end of the season. Until then it's heave away and haul away on the anchor chain. But, it actually got even worse. Sometime that summer BIANKA was hit by lightning directly or by a side strike. The hit did a little damage taking out the heavy duty Pro Mariner battery charger and a few other electrical items. But, it also affected the windlass so that it only operated in one direction. True to Murphy's law of the sea of course that would be in lowering the anchor not raising it. So there are two problems that need to be addressed.


NOTE: BEFORE ATTEMPTING ANY REMOVAL AND REPAIR ON AN ELECTRIC WINDLASS MAKE SURE THAT ALL POWER TO THE WINDLASS AND IT'S CONTROL CIRCUITRY IS OFF!


The first issue I had was how to drop the motor and gearbox. I first tried to turn the bolts on the deck plate of the windlass.

I soon realized that they were not going to budge. So it was time to squeeze my six foot two frame into the chain locker. I laid down some old water skiers life jackets that were on board on top of the chain and laid down on my back to look at how to remove the windlass. Strangely I found that being in the chain locker to be somewhat womb-like and cozy. Even conducive to closing ones eyes and taking a nap. But, I had work to do and getting the windlass out was job one. Below is a photo of the VR-700 windlass mounted to the deck. In the background are some of the wiring for the windlass and solenoids that control it's operation.

I don't know whose idea it was to install all this wiring inside the chain locker but, I plan on changing it in the future. I understand the windlass needs to be mounted here but, to have all this other wiring and control relays in there is asking for trouble. The chain locker can be a rather wet and damp environment. Just the kind of conditions for corrosion to take hold as you can see by the bluish hue of the bolts holding the deck deck plate for the windlass in the photo above.

Looking up at the bottom of the windlass I saw three bolts and a mysterious grease spot. Which is a very important clue to maintenance of this windlass and others of a similar design. Below is a what the windlass looks like from below:

I thought there might be a bolt missing and that is why grease was leaking from gear box via the hole. But, I would later find out why the grease was there. Back to removing the windlass. The two electrical lugs on top of the motor were disconnected. Then it was rather easy procedure. Loosening and removing the three bolts on the bottom of the gear box and then sliding the motor and gearbox assembly downward (with a little nudging/tapping from above) it slid out as one assembly.

NOTE: WINDLASSES ARE HEAVY AND CAUTION SHOULD BE EXERCISED WHEN REMOVING THEM. DO NOT PLACE ANY PART OF YOUR BODY UNDERNEATH IT WHEN YOU ARE REMOVING IT. IT CAN DROP SUDDENLY AND INJURE YOU IF YOU ARE NOT CAREFUL.

Below is a photo of the windlass removed from the boat with the shaft.

Now it's time to figure out what the problems are and how to repair them.

WINDLASS REPAIR PART 1

WINDLASS REPAIR PART 3

WINDLASS REPAIR PART 4

REPAIRING A MAXWELL NILSSON VR-700 WINDLASS PART 3

So I've removed the VR-700 windlass out of the boat. It has two problems:

1) The shaft does not spin when the windlass is under a load.

2) Following the lightning strike the motor only turns in one direction.

I decide to investigate the motor problem first. The motor has only two electrical terminals on it. At first I assumed one must be ground and the other the positive 12 volt terminal. But, then I wondered how do they get the windlass to reverse direction? Perhaps they reverse the polarity of the terminals. Though that would require some tricky switching to make sure the relay contacts never short out if the did there would be lots of sparks before the breaker tripped. So I hooked up a hefty 12 volt protected power supply to the terminals and then nothing. I reversed them and still no movement. This was puzzling the windlass motor was working in the boat at least in one direction.

I then had a hunch. Suppose the terminals are both 12 volt positive terminals. But, depending on which terminal is energized with the 12 volts determines the direction of the motor. There were no other terminals on the motor so that would mean that the motor case would have to be ground. I touched the ground wire to the case while the positive lead was connected to one of the terminals and motor sprang to life. I moved the positive wire to the other terminal and the motor turned in the opposite direction. My hunch was correct. So now I have confirmed the the motor is working in both directions so the lightning strike had not damaged it. But, the strike might have just damaged one of the solenoids in the windlass circuit. That was something could be easily replaced.

Now it was time to move onto the problem in the gear box. As I have mentioned I'm not well versed in mechanical things. But, perhaps maybe the gearbox problem could be a simple fix. So I opened the top cover:

Yuck! What a mess of grease and gears. So now I start to delve into the gear box myself. I put on some Nitrle disposable gloves and with some heavy duty shop paper towels get most of the dark grimy grease out of the gear box.

I notice the stainless steel shaft is loose in side the gear and see there is what is called a roll pin that goes through the gear then the shaft and to the other side of the gear. This pin is meant to break when the windlass gets under to much strain. Such as when a crew member steps on the deck switch when the chain is wrapped around the Sampson Post. It did it's job and gave me hope that this should be an easy repair. But, when it comes to boats that is sometimes just wishful thinking. As I soon found out.

The problem now became how to get the roll pin out. I first used a punch to try and knock the broken roll pin out. This was only partially successful. I was able to get a piece out but, not the whole pin. The problem is the case of the gear box made me have to use the punch at an angle and was not able to knock the whole pin out. I also noticed that there was actually two pins involved. One smaller pin inside the other. It appears someone previously had repaired the windlass and instead of replacing the defective pin they had simply inserted another smaller roll pin inside the damaged larger pin. It appeared to me that the stainless steel shaft should just lift out once the roll pin was removed but, something was keeping me from removing it completely.



I soon realized that I would have to remove the gear that the shaft stainless steel slid into to make this repair. A fellow Nonsuch owner provided a gearbox diagram of a windlass that he had which is for Nilsson model s400, s600 and s800 windlasses. But, the layout was very similar to my Maxwell-Nilsson VR-700. You can see it here . It help me to see a little more clearly what was involved. The only thing I could see doing was to remove the motor by unscrewing it from the gear case which would also remove the worm gear away from the gear and allow me to remove the shaft and gear from the gear box. So I tried using these:

A number of years ago I bought the largest Sears Arc Pliers I could buy. Mine are about two feet long and the jaws can open up to about 8 inches. I forgot why I bought them but they come in very handy for repair issues like this. I put windlass gearbox in a vice and gripped the motor with these pliers and tried to turn it. I was able to turn the motor slightly and then it stopped. I tried several times with no success. From the diagram it looked like the motor should just unscrew. I was stumped. But, I know enough about mechanics that trying to force things usually ends up being a bad move.

So I go on the Internet and find a little nugget of information that was crucial in a discussion on a cruisers board. It was mentioned almost in passing that a person recalled vaguely that there was a pin that had to be removed to remove the motor. Hmmm, pin holding the motor? There is no such pin on the parts diagram I had. Then I remembered the grease spot on the bottom of the gearbox when I was removing the windlass from the boat. Could it be? I removed the cover of the gear case and put a roll pin punch  into the hole where the grease stain was and with a few taps a roll pin emerged from the bottom of the gears housing.

NOTE: It seems this roll pin secures the motor threads to the gear case to prevent the motor from unscrewing when under load. That is why when I tried to unscrew the motor I could only move it a little. This is a crucial piece of information to remove the motor. With the pin removed I could unscrew the motor and the worm gear and finally remove the gear and shaft from the housing. Now that I can finally remove the gear and shaft from the gear box and I can completly remove the broken roll pin and hopefully get this windlass working again.

WINDLASS REPAIR PART 1

WINDLASS REPAIR PART 2

WINDLASS REPAIR PART 4

WINDLASS REPAIR MAXWELL-NILSSON VR-700 PART 4

So I've found the secret of how to remove the motor from the Maxwell Nilsson VR-700 gearbox housing. It seems these circa 1986 Maxwell-Nilsson windlasses ( and I guess other models) had a roll pin inserted into one of the gear box cover screw hole to lock the threads on the motor so it would not turn and unscrew during operation. Yep, that could ruin your day to have the motor drop into the chain locker! Once this locking roll pin was moved out of the way the motor simply unscrews from the gear box housing (with only a little grunting).


MIKE'S NOTE: When backing out the motor and worm gear there were two spacers on the end of the worm gear shaft make sure you don't lose them and put them back n the shaft when reinstalling the motor.



I did go out and buy an extra tool for this repair and I highly recommend you do too if you don't it already. That is a Roll Pin punch kit. I bought mine at SEARS. But, I expect they are available elsewhere and online.
As you can see in the above photo the Roll Punch has a little nib that helps center the punch in the roll pin. You might be able to use a flat punch. But, the right tool for the right job eh? I figured I may be repairing this windlass again in the future so might as well have the right tool.



You can see in the above photo how the roll pin that locks the motor does it. It simply squeezes up against the threads. This also explains the mysterious grease spot I found on the outside of the gear case in Part 2 when I was removing the windlass from the boat. Some of the grease inside the gear box was able to migrate down though this hole. Grease mystery solved!

When I unscrewed the motor I found some damage to some of the threads. I'm not sure how or when this happened. Maybe someones previous repair attempt or during the lightning strike or because these and similar windlasses made in the eighties used the case as an electrical ground and high currents and the associated heat may have started to melt the threads. I plan to address the last issue when I reassemble the windlass.

With the motor and worm gear removed I was finally able to remove the shaft from the gear that turns it:

You can see in the above photo the jury rigged repair that some had attempted to do by inserting a smaller roll pin inside the original damaged one. It worked ... for awhile.

I then turned my attention to inspecting the gear. On one side things looked pretty good:

But on the other side... It was not a pretty picture:

This side of the gear was pretty torn up by the broken roll pins grinding away when they broke inside. The photo below shows what the gear housing damage looked like when looking at the inside of the gear:


Since I've been told by both Maxwell and Nilsson that there are no spare parts available for this orphaned windlass it limited my options. I figured I've come this far I have nothing to lose. I might as well attempt a repair. Looking at the damaged gear I will have to fill the gap in the damaged side of the gear. Hmmmmm. looks like a job for MARINE TEX GREY. I always carry a box of this stuff on board. It is an epoxy mixture that goes smoothly and is very strong when it sets. It has a compressive strength of 13,000 PSI. Which I think should be good enough for this job. It is good stuff to have around for repairs like this. A few years ago I used it to temporarily repair an exhaust elbow that develop some holes. The repair lasted almost a year. So now I have decided on what to use for the repair. The problem was how am I going to make sure that the new roll pin will line up straight after I use the Marine Tex to fill the damaged gear. Here is what I did:

First I insert a new Roll Pin through the good hole about halfway into the gear as shown above. I coated this Roll Pin with Tef Gel which I have on board for corrosion protection on screws and other hardware. It is also good stuff to have around. In this case I am using it prevent the Marine Tex epoxy from sticking to the Roll Pin. It's a "just in case" precaution.

Below is a shot of how it looks from the the other side of the gear. It looks nicely centered for the repair.

In the next step I take a common nail that will just fit inside the Roll Pin and coat it with Tef Gel too. This will help insure that I will have a straight run though the gear to the other side after I use the Marine Tex for the repair as shown below:
The next step is mix the Marine Tex and work it into the damaged side of the gear carefully without making to much of a mess. Then I will let it cure and slid the Tef Gel coated nail out easily. Then I will drill the Marine Tex side of the gear slightly so the new Roll Pin can be punched through securing the shaft to the gear once again. Like this:
Well that worked out pretty good. Now all that's needed is to insert the shaft into the gear align the gear and shaft holes and punch in a new Roll Pin.
SUCCESS! Well, I might have used a slightly larger drill bit when I drilled the the hole for the new Roll Pin as some of the Marine Tex was snapped off of the surface of the gear when I inserted the Roll Pin but, most of it stayed in place and filled the gap nicely.
So the only thing I need to do now it to reassemble the windlass fill the gearbox with new grease and install it back on the boat.

Finding the grease looked like it might also be a problem at first. In Nilsson windlasses the "Standard lubricant is Castrol “TC” which is a flowing grade 00 grease". I spent the better part of two days making calls trying to find this grease. Nobody in the states seemed to have this Castrol TC 00 grease in anything smaller than five gallon buckets. I then did some Googling for "00" grease and found that Snapper lawnmowers use "00" grease too. So I was able to by a liter bottle of Stens "00" grease for about $11.00 from a nearby lawnmower repair shop. So all in all other than my time the total repair cost (for new Roll Pins, Grease and Marine Tex) to get my Maxwell Nilsson VR-700 windlass working again was about $14.00. Which was not a bad return on my efforts since a new windlass would be a thousand bucks or more. Armed with my new knowledge of how this windlass works and the ability to maintain it it should last another 20 years.

MIKE'S END NOTES: After I had finished making the repair to my VR-700 windlass. The James Nilsson Company began offering some limited parts for their earlier windlasses. It looks like some of these parts will fit the VR-700 and other similar windlasses. You might want to contact them and see if you will be able to fit some the parts they have to your windlass. So far my repaired windlass has worked flawlessly and hope to keep it that way.

Links to previous windlass repair posts:

WINDLASS REPAIR PART 1

WINDLASS REPAIR PART 2

WINDLASS REPAIR PART 3

Walter Cronkite: Sailor

Most people are remembering Walter Cronkite as a beloved news anchor. But, he was an avid sailor too. He had several sailboats named Wyntje named after an early ancestor of his. He donated one to an organization that helps troubled youths. He has written several books about sailing along the coast of the United States and I even have a Waterways guide from a number of years ago which contains an introduction written by him. He may have worked in the news business but like many of us loved sailing and his sailboat as this quote shows:

"I get out on her every chance I can get. I think I even have her name tattooed on my underwear."

Sail on Walter!

Transiting the East River at 200 knots

I lived on board BIANKA in New York City from April to December from 1996 until 2002. Every December they closed down the marina and I had to leave. During the time at I was never bored watching the river traffic on the Hudson from the big ships heading up river to the workings of the tugs. I started to get to know some of their routine schedules. Like there would always be one or two hanging out in front of Chelsea Piers early on Saturday mornings waiting for the cruise ships to arrive. I sit up on the bow of BIANKA with my coffee and watch the captains gam as the tugs slowly drifted until the cruise ships came into view. The tugs also had other jobs too moving barges and other craft around the area. These were mysterious trips to me as I heard snatches of conversation on the VHF of the tugs and where they were bound etc... Happily Captain Brucato at NYTugmaster takes us on some of those trips with these two videos of recent passages he has made through the East River. It reminds me that I need to bring BIANKA back into New York and see how she does through Hell Gate now that she is powered by electric propulsion. Though I have transited the East River many times on BIANKA and always found it a very interesting trip (as long as everything on board was working) I have never done it on a Tug or barge. Capt. Brucato's videos make it a beautiful and interesting trip if you never want to put on your sailing shoes. You can make the trip going down the East River from College Point:


or you can head up the East River (below) all the way to Execution Rocks. Either way it is an enjoyable and visually pretty trip. As long as you are not the one at the helm with the responsibility of making it a safe passage.

In hot water?

Bianka had an on demand Paloma hot water heater installed when I bought her. This came in very handy when I was living on board while I was working in New York City. I was working an overnight shift at the time and taking a shower at 11:30 at night in April with unlimited hot water was a luxury found on few sailboats. Today I usually rely on a solar heated shower or a fresh water rinse off from a five gallon bucket I keep on the stern for after a swim. I have not had to use the Paloma hot water heater for several years. Like many things on the boat it will have to be replaced at some point whether I use it or not. But, when that point comes I might consider something like this:

It's a Coleman Hot Water on Demand Water Heater
I can see this having several advantages as a replacement for an installed hot water heating system on a boat. For example it's portability. It could be used in the cockpit on long voyages by the helmsman to make a hot beverage while underway without leaving the helm or disturbing sleeping crew members. It has an optional shower hose and can be turned into a portable on demand hot shower. It can also be connected to the on board propane system or use Coleman portable canisters. The water intake can be plumbed into the on board water system. It could also be taken off the boat and be used at home should some natural disaster knock out power and the ability to take hot showers at the house. Other than making sure that the unit is used with proper ventilation. I see a lot of things to recommend this unit on sailboats of all sizes. Watch the demo video and see if you don't agree. The retail price tag of $250.00 is another real good reason it would make a good replacement.

July 4th: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Today is July 4th and I have yet to go on a sail with BIANKA this season. Between the horrible weather of this extremely rainy spring and the repair of the windlass and replacement on the Edson steering system and some unexpected work commitments there has been no time to head out and raise some sail. Today July 4th will be another day when I won't be raising sail either. It has become somewhat of a tradition with me not to leave the mooring on this holiday. The waterways will be filled with other boaters some of them very drunk and inexperienced. I find it safer, more enjoyable and somewhat more amusing to stay safely tied to the mooring and listen to the VHF calls. Though I do dress ship in my own way for the day and also contemplate the meaning of the holiday and the sacrifices made that allow me to even be on the boat. Including perhaps a re-read the Declaration of Independence. Toward the evening I will enjoy a glass of wine or spot of rum and toast to the patriots long ago who allowed this country to be created. Then I will cap off the evening with a 360 degree show of fireworks put on by the various municipalities and individuals around the harbor. That's what the Fourth of July is like on board BIANKA. In the end it really does come down to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Dolphins in Long Island Sound

I once had a magical experience swimming with some wild Dolphins off the coast of the Big Island in Hawaii. But, in over twenty years of sailing in Long Island Sound I have never see a Dolphin in my local waters but it seems they are here....


It looks like it could turn out to be a magical summer of sailing this year on the Sound if they stick around.

Going electric: Part 1: The why and how

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NOTE FROM CAPT. MIKE: IN THE SPRING OF 2008 I BEGAN THE CONVERSION OF MY 30 FOOT SAILBOAT TO ELECTRIC PROPULSION THE 20 "GOING ELECTRIC" POSTS ARE THE CHRONICLE OF THAT PROJECT:



Well the diesel engine that bought both joy and misery to my sailing seasons is finally out of the boat.

I had at first planed to re power with another diesel. But, Westerbeke had no drop in replacement. So I began looking around for other diesels engines too. Finally, I was pretty sure I would go with a Beta Marine diesel. I had heard some good recommendations and I like location of the major items to service were located It would make changing oil filters, and impellers very easy. Unlike the Westerbeke 27 where I had to change the raw water impeller pretty much by feel and hoping I did not drop any screws in the process.
Then one day I was on my boat and heard the whistle of the Port Jefferson to Bridgeport ferry as it left the dock. I recalled a conversation I had with one of the crew a few years ago about what powered the ferry. He said it was diesel electric. It was an "Aha!" moment. So I began to look at the idea of repowering BIANKA with an electric motor.

After much research and mulling it over in my mind and going back and forth on what the implications of going over to electric propulsion. It would require some rethinking and precautions when planning for trips. But, always in the end I reminded myself that BIANKA is a sailboat. So I decided to do it. It may be the best decision or an expensive mistake. So come along with me as I turn BIANKA into an electric powered Nonsuch.
Because I missed out on sailing all last season I did not want to spend to much time tinkering with components. So I decided to go with a Thoosa 9000 system from ASMO Marine. I looked like the best route for me to go and pretty cost competitive with a replacement diesel and much better for the environment and those who will be sailing on board. So after contacting the ASMO Marine rep here in the U.S. I started down the road to spec the correct ASMO system for my Nonsuch and my needs. It took a few months to convince myself that this was the route to go down. There were not any comparable boats to mine that had done this. But, as the fuel prices continued to rise and my less than pleasant experiences with repairing the former diesel I decided to take the plunge and order a Thoosa 9000 electric propulsion system.

OH JOY!

When it's a damp drizzly April in my soul there is nothing like the feeling of pulling into your driveway and finding two 45 lb packages that represent the entire new propulsion system for your boat. Well not exactly entire system. As the TV ads say "batteries not included" still I was happy to see those boxes rather than a four hundred pound diesel sitting there.
NEXT GOING ELECTRIC POST
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