B43 Windlass Drainage

[Larry Witty]

Doing some maintenance on my B43 Quick Antares windlass this year. After removing the windlass, I knew instantly that I should have been doing this at least ever other year.  The windlass was preforming weak and slow with a noise which made me think the motor brushes or a bearing was going out, thus the reason for removing it.

What I found upon removal was a tremendous amount of salt and sand on the top part of the gearbox, literally packed in. Upon cleaning everything up, luckily all bearings and motor seem fine. When looking for where this water/sand was getting into the gearbox, I noticed it was coming through the hole where the chain counter sensor is located which will be an easy fix (especially since I bought a new chain counter before I started the project.

Couple quick questions.

1) Has anyone else had a similar problem? Seems the chain counter sensor was compromised on my windlass and should have been caught earlier by me.

2) It seems the quick windlass is designed to be installed level, but Beneteau 43s are installed tilting back towards the transom. This means the groove in the base plate of the windlass (which gypsy sits on top) where water/sand is meant to drain into the anchor locker through the chain hole is an uphill path.  Would it help if I cut a small groove in the base plate at the low point to allow water/sand to drain versus puddle there? Or, just fixed the problem identified in #1 above and let it go as is?

[Mike Brown]

Sounds like you need to give that windlass some TLC. I used to clean and apply a light coating of grease to all the surfaces in and under the gypsy. It remained smooth over a 10 year period. Five of those years were spent cruising full time on the east coast as well as the Bahamas. As for modifying it I wouldn’t do such a thing. Just do the maintenance annually and see if that takes care of your issues. I’m betting it will. 
Mike

[Larry Witty]

Thanks Mike, good advice which I will follow.

[Mike Brown]

Larry good luck. And remember to use the KISS Method when troubleshooting. Keep It Simple Stupid haha. It’s an old and basic concept that dictates you always do the easiest and obvious stuff first. Then if it doesn’t fix it get more detailed in your approach. 
Mike