Hi All,

I recently came across an issue with a set of Lewmar Ocean Series self tailing winches that leads me to post this. The winches in question had the pawl pockets so worn, stretched or sloppy that the springs apparently jammed in-between the bronze gear and pawl and finally both pawls failed to spring back / operate. In my 40+ years on the water I have seen worn and sloppy drums, failed pawl springs etc. but have never seen pawl pockets this badly worn out.

This failure caused a dangerous situation which meant the winch would no longer stop the drum from spinning backwards. A winch handle on a loaded drum with no pawls can easily break and arm or worse, especially if it were to hit a child.

Also, when it spun backwards, and failed to lock, it broke the line stripper off causing the line to jam under the feeder arm when the sheet was cranked back in.:cussing:

These winches are not very old, a current series, though the EVO series seems to just replaced it. These are/were Lewmar's top of the line winch and had been cleaned and lubed religiously using Lewmar brand grease and Lewmar Speed Lube for the pawls & springs..

[B]Please check on & inspect your Lewmar Ocean Series winches![/B]

A Lewmar Ocean Series ST Winch
[IMG]http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/image/151940071.jpg[/IMG]

How loose the pawls were fitting. New pawls in this gear fit exactly the same:
[IMG]http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/image/151940067.jpg[/IMG]

Not good!!
[IMG]http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/image/151940063.jpg[/IMG]

This is what the new pawl gear looks like. There is little to zero slop in the fit. This is how it SHOULD fit.
[IMG]http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/image/151940066.jpg[/IMG]

Please, for the safety of you and your crew at least inspect your pawl gears!!!

If yours are worn the replacement parts are not inexpensive. At 40% off list I have about $400.00 into the parts to repair these not very old & very well cared for winches. I replaced both pawl gears, 4 total, (there are two in each winch). I also replaced the line jaw kits, because a line stripper was broken due to this failure. The line jaw kit was not much more than a line stripper kit so why not do it right....

Just an FYI because this could become a dangerous situation if yours are worn. I know many C-36's shipped with Ocean Series winches....