Ahh, self-tailing. Got it.

Yes, it's on a FRP deck and the caulking is just around the edge to seal it
against water instrusion. Clearly added after installation.

I'll give it a try with something bleachy but if it either doesn't work or
affects the caulking at all I'll just cut it back and do a fresh, clean job.

I'm not sure I'll get to it this weekend anyway ... not sure if I can even
get to the boat.

"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
I didn't think it was a proper windlass because I still have to manually
store the rode in the thingy in the deck. I feed it through that hole
that
has the funny name. Hawse pipe? I think that's it.

A proper windlass indeed. But not "self-tailing" if you have to stuff the
rode
through the hawse pipe.

(If you follow these bleach suggestions, I wish you better luck than I had
when
I learned the hard way not to use bleach on deck caulk. OTOH, may be OK if
the
windlass is sitting on a FRP deck and the
caulk is just sealing against water getting underneath.)