After 5 years my windlass has suddenly developed a nasty problem. It is a
Simpson Lawrence Sprint 1000 that I use with a Delta 35, 50 feet of 5/16 chain
spliced to 9/16 NE 3-strand. While it seems to function in UP mode, when I put
it in DOWN it grinds, squeals, and stalls within a half revolution. I was
hoping it was a washer stuck under the gypsy, but I pulled that apart and the
same symptoms exist with just the shaft sticking up.

This means that the problem must be either in the reduction gears or in the
motor. In either case, the next step appears to be removing the windlass and
disassembling. It seems easy, I just have to convince my 8 year old daughter to
crawl in the chain locker and back off the mounting nuts.

The windlass was used a lot for two years, not so much in the last few years
(maybe twice last year). I always drive the boat over the anchor, and always
break it out gently with the boat motion. The gypsy gets washed out, and the
only annual maintenance is making sure the clutches are free to be used in an
emergency (normally they spend their entire life locked up). As it stands now,
I can use the windlass manually (though it's tedious - you actually have to
convert it between manual deploy and manual recover modes), but I'm guessing
that If I pull it out I'll be without a windlass until its fixed. I assume that
if I try to use the motor in UP mode it will quickly die.

Does anyone have a guess as to the cause? I suppose I should hope its in the
gear train, but it really feels like something is amiss in the motor. I found
one post that these are permanent magnet motors, and the magnets can come
unglued from the cases. I also heard a motor can cost $1000! Are there shops
that rebuild them? Any advice appreciated.

-jeff www.sv-loki.com
"I like sailing because it is the sport which demands the least energy" Albert
Einstein