AN ELECTRIC SAILBOAT CRUISE TO NEW YORK: PART 1

Well, Labor Day (a national holiday here in the United States) was approaching and I decided perhaps a little cruise might be in order. Especially since I am not currently employed in any work that involves a schedule and a place to be. I was a little apprehensive about traveling too far with BIANKA because the XANTREX XBM Battery meter had failed a little over a month after the one year warranty ran out in June. Several phone calls and two emails to Xantrex produced no results as to what I could do about this issue. On an boat with an electric propulsion system the battery monitor is the equivalent to a fuel gauge on a boat with an internal combustion engine. You don't need it but, it sure helps to know how much fuel or amps you are using. Especially to make sure you don't run out when you need the auxilary propusion most. Below is what the Xantrex display looked like:

There is a happy ending to this story. Even though Xantrex was most unresponsive to my plight with their defective product. NGC Marine the people from whom I bought the Thoosa 9000 propulsion system from stepped up to the plate and are sending a replacement XBM. Unfortunately, I did not have it in time for the start of this cruise.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 5TH

So off I go. I decide that I'll head over to Port Jefferson Harbor on Long Island's north shore for the weekend. It's only about 3 nautical miles away has plenty of space to drop anchor and is scenic enough to enjoy the surroundings. So I head out bucking the ebbing current on a windless day using electric propulsion. Since it's only about 3 nautical miles away I am not concerned about not having the functioning battery monitor for this trip. As I entered the harbor entrance I looked behind me:

Looks like a lot of other people had the same idea of where to spend the holiday weekend. I was actually glad I was under power at this time. Because I was able to get to my anchorage location before most of the power boats coming in made things rock and roll in the entrance.

I dropped anchor and enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon and evening on board. Later, listening to the NOAA weather forecast that called for 10 to 15 knot winds out of the East. I started thinking. Hmmm, sounds like great conditions for sailing West.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6TH

So that's what I did the next morning. I took advantage of a favoring current and winds and headed toward New York. In three and a half hours I was in Cold Spring Harbor where I stopped for the night. I could have continued further but, one does not cruise in a sailboat because you are in a hurry. At least I don't. I have found that pushing things is when you often get into trouble.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7TH

The next morning after consulting the essential Eldridge Tide and Pilot book on board I took the last of the ebbing current down Cold Spring Harbor and arrived at the entrance just as the westward flood was just about to start helping to push BIANKA and me westward on Long Island Sound.

Past the Execution Rocks Lighthouse and onward to my final destination for the day:

A nice anchorage just east of the Throgs Neck Bridge called Little Bay. This bridge marks the western end of Long Island Sound and the beginning of the tidal strait called the East River which I will head down tomorrow. Even though I arrived in plenty of time to take the favoring ebb current down the strait I anchored for the night to rest and enjoy the beautiful afternoon. With the defective battery monitor I decided to fire up the Honda 2000i generator to help bulk charge the battery bank and then let the wind and solar continue the charging. Besides I get a kick of being anchored next to the bridge and listening to the traffic reports during rush hour to see if they are being honest about the traffic conditions and being glad that I am on a sailboat and not in a car in such traffic on such a gorgeous day. It also brings back memories of going on vacation with my parents in the early 1960's and traveling over the same bridge. I remember looking out and seeing a sailboat anchored where BIANKA is now and wondering as a child what it was doing there. Perhaps I am inspiring that same wonder in someone in one of the cars passing over me on that bridge. I'd like to think so and perhaps they will become sailors in the future.

GO TO: AN ELECTRIC SAILBOAT CRUISE TO NEW YORK PART 2

AN ELECTRIC SAILBOAT CRUISE TO NEW YORK: PART TWO

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH 2009

I lived on board BIANKA for six years on the west side of Manhattan Island starting in the mid 1990's. But, It's been three years since I've made the 70 mile trip. So I am looking forward to the trip but, with a little apprehension since this will be the first time using electric propulsion not having a working battery monitor makes it more so.

After after a leisurely morning on the hook I finally weighed anchor in Little Bay at 11:15 am for BIANKA's "historic" return back to New York this time as the world's first electrically propelled Nonsuch 30. Since BIANKA no longer has a diesel engine and alternator I fire up the 47 lb Honda 2000i generator to help the 12 volt house battery bank deal with the heavy current load of the recently repaired electric windlass as I raise the anchor off of the mud bottom of Little Bay. There was still a nice 8 to 10 knot wind out of the northeast so I was able to sail under the Throgs Neck Bridge and the first 11 miles or so of the East River Transit. I keep the generator running charging the 48 volt battery bank just to make sure the batteries are topped off for the trip though Hells Gate and points further south where sailing will not be an option because of the unpredictable swirling wind patterns caused by the buildings on both sides of the East River.

It was not long before I was meet by a flotilla of Dutch barges sent over the Atlantic to participate in NY400. A celebration of Henry Hudson's first foray into New York Harbor some 400 years ago. They were heading to Northport (Long Island)and other ports on Long island Sound. I must say BIANKA with it's wishbone boom got some curious looks from the sailors on the barges. (Special note of thanks to the TUGSTER for providing some help in identifying the barges BIANKA passed)

So far I have only been able to identify the barge below. It is the Lemmeraak. Built over 100 years ago in 1902.

I felt sorry for the crews on board these interesting craft because they must have been bucking the current up the East River especially through Hell Gate and that is never fun even if they did have their engines going. I on the other hand was going with the flow which is good advice when making the East River transit.

As the Hell Gate Railroad bridge came into sight it was time to drop sail and start the electric motor to continue the journey down the East River.

I had just passed North Brother Island when I heard something behind me. Holy Ernest Borgnine! It's PT Boat 728 coming up fast on BIANKA's stern. This is an actual restored WWII PT Boat based in Kingston New York. At some point it was used in the filming of the TV show McCales Navy back in the sixties.



And looking pretty menacing I should say.

I was thinking that the U.S. Coast Guard should be using this type of vintage craft for patrols instead of the small semi rigid inflatables they now use for harbor patrols.
A PT boat with it's two twin barrel deck mounted guns, depth chargers and torpedoes would look a little more serious to those who would want to do some harm in the harbor. As you can see here:

BLOG UPDATE: I was in contact with Capt. Tom Whyte who was at the helm of PT. 728 that day. It was returning from a month long tour that included stops in Milford CT, Fall River MA (Battleship Cove) and Bridgeport CT.

That's what I love about sailing around New York City there is always something interesting to see along the journey. For example I've always thought the Hell Gate bridge was a very beautiful piece of structural art work and to me signifies the gateway to bustling part of the city of New York especially Manhattan.

In the above photo you can see the small Honda 2000i up forward which is running keep the 48 volt battery bank charged up since I will be motoring for the rest of the journey down the East River. Also notice the solar panel. This one is for charging the 12 volt house battery bank. The 48 volt panel that is connected to the electric motor's battery bank is on the starboard side and out of of view.
Once past the Hell Gate bridge things will be getting a little nosier as we get close to Manhattan Island.

Speaking of interesting sights. Just after BIANKA passed though Hell Gate she was followed by this tug and barge:

.

Apparently someone in Brooklyn actually did have a bridge for sale:

Or at least part of a bridge.

BLOG UPDATE: After contacting Will at the TUGSTER blog who really knows his tugs. I am 99.5% sure that the Tug in the photo above is the John P. Brown. If you click on the photo above you will get to see a bigger picture and compare it to a photo on TUGSTER taken during the Tugboat Races in September of this tug. Hint: The red and yellow stripes along the side seem to confirm it's id.

A little further on I came across one of the stragglers of the NY400 flotilla. They were most certainly going to know what bucking the currents of Hell Gate is all about. I have not been able to identify this barge yet either but, the sail has a 206 VA on it.

BIANKA continued down the tidal strait doing about 4 knots with only occasionally having to provide a little thrust from the electric motor to maintain that speed in the East River current. As I approached the South Street Seaport at around 3 pm and upper New York Harbor opened up before me. I raised sail and decided to head down the Buttermilk Channel on the east side of Governors Island. I did this to avoid the choppy and busy ferry area down by the Battery. But, also to get a close look at the Queen Mary 2 which was berth on the Brooklyn side of the channel:

A beautiful ship and one I had the experience to travel across the Atlantic on in 2006. It was also a beautiful way to end the first transit down the East River by BIANKA using electric propulsion as the QM2 also uses electric propulsion on it's trips. Everything worked well on board BIANKA and because the electric motor was so quiet it was made all the more enjoyable compared to previous trips which had the noisy diesel engine churning away. I think the next time I make the transit I will keep the generator off too. I hardly used much electric propulsion in making the transit and that was a good thing. So the world's first electrically propelled Nonsuch 30 has passed another test with more to follow.

OTHER ELECTRIC SAILBOAT CRUISE TO NEW YORK POSTS: PART 1 PART 3

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