January 17, 2010

I was anxious to find out if the windlass was repairable, so as soon as my morning cup of coffee brought me to consciousness, I was in the basement poking, prodding and dissecting. I connected a twelve volt current directly to the motor supply wires, but it still showed no signs of life. The dissection began in earnest. It quickly revealed a burned solenoid terminal and motor supply wire. Not a good sign. Testing with the ohm meter showed zero resistance through the motor, confirming it was fried (or is it “toast”?) as a result of an internal short. Motors can be rewound, but unless everything else was perfect, it wouldn’t be worth it in this case. Further examination revealed that all four of the cast iron mounting flanges for the motor/gear/gypsy assembly had broken. The patient was definitely terminal.
I spent the rest of the day fabricating and assembling a new teak louver and rabbeted trim piece to repair and replace broken parts on the aft cabin hanging locker door.