Ep 10 Windlass broken after only 11 months use, is it junk?
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- čas přidán 17. 07. 2022
- Time to take a look at my broken Lofrans windlass (anchor winch) and to work out why and how to fix it.
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For my day-job I run a small business repairing, maintaining and refitting sailing boats (often contessa 32’s due to my long experience with them) I'm mostly in the central Solent area of the UK. Being a cruising and racing sailor with many thousands of inshore and offshore sea miles logged I like to think that I bring a great deal of real world experience to my work and help many new (and not so new) boat owners to improve and maintain their sailing boats. When I'm not fixing boats I also provide some own-boat sail training, help owners with deliveries and provide consultancy services to those that are refitting their own boats for cruising or racing.
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Disclaimer - I hope that viewers both enjoy and learn something from my videos but please remember to take the appropriate precautions for any DIY refit works you undertake with appropriate PPE and the correct tools for the job. If you are in any way unsure as to how to go about a project or are unsure if something on your boat is safe please consult a professional.
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Appreciate this clip is a year old. I have had 3 Lofrans Kobra fail. The last one lasted 3 years. Half of that the boat was just stood in the boatyard.
Every time it's water ingress. The first one the motor casing swelled up due to corrosion. The second and third the casing was ok but water inside the motor. However, it's not just the motor that is the problem. Lofrans don't appear to use any corrosion inhibitor on their bolts so if you don't remove and refit the bolts visible on the outside they become corroded in and you'll have hell of a job dismantling it later on. I've looked at the Lewmar equivalent. Look at the CZcams videos on that where the main seal has to be replaced. Plus it's only 700W. I saw the post below about Muir. Their equivalent is 800W. But both the Lewmar and Muir don't have a Capstan. A feature I really like for assisting is sail hoist. Muir is in the UK but no idea of pricing. I'll enquire.
I had the same problem. The motor body is steel and started to corrode at the bottom where it meets the plastic cap. This meant the rubber seal doesn’t work and the cap, or shall I call it cup, filled with water. I cleaned the motor out and had to rivet the brackets that hold the brushes in place as the fixings had disintegrated. The motor was now running so I sealed the cup back in place with tape after drilling some holes in the underside to prevent it happening again. My windlass was barely a year old. I didn’t contact Lofrans as I was in a remote spot when it failed.
Yes, that sounds very familiar apart form the external body of my motor is not rusty (yet) just the internals so the seal on the cap/cup clearly wasn’t sealing.
Looking at the motor & design over all I would say bad design. Guess where I'm not going to purchase my new windless from. Especially after seeing this video. Thanks mate you just saved me a bundle and a huge headache. Hope the company sees this video & reads the comments.
Thanks for that. I’ll be sure to avoid them.
Man I feel your pain. I have a maxwell vertical capstan windlass on my Roughwater 33 and spent three days trying to get the gearbox seperated from the shaft, heating it copiously, soaking it in penetrating oil, hitting it with soft blow mallets, hammering wooden wedges between it and the deck. Absolutely zero movement. My main stainless shaft was corroded solid into the gearbox. Finally yesterday I made up my mind that it was time to reconcile myself to a new windlass. I had to cut the gearbox in half with my oscillating saw and then smash it off the shaft with a two lb sledge. Real bummer, but it's off now. I think alot of these manufacturers did not adequately seal these so that water from the chain doesnt get into the gearbox or motor.
This is a common problem, any good marine electrician can wash the motor out with kero and blow dry with compressed air, change bearing and brushes as required (Lofrans even sell a rebuild kit with all those parts). If you wrapped it with denso/grease tape properly then it wouldn't have failed.
Your very calm , verticle motor maybe better horizontal,
Add the name of the manufacturer to the title of this video so others can find it. Thanks for sharing
I wonder if their R&D department stood the housing in salt water for six months to test for water ingress? I strongly suspect not, but hey I am just an old crusty engineer.
Loving all of your videos, both the sailing and the refit stuff. May see you out on the water if I head east one day.
Sandy
Maybe drill a drain hole in the bottom of the plastic cap. That way, if water ever gets in, it at least has a way out. Just an idea...
Thank you! Now there is NO WAY I’m buying Lofrens POS.
Hopefully Quick windlass are any better 🤞🏻I’m interested in Quick Prince DP2 1000W. Any thoughts?
Having just seen this video and looking at 11.58 minutes would a length of possibly flexible tube somehow fixed to the underside of the deck coming down past the motor help prevent the likelihood of the chain fouling the plastic cap as it is dropping into the lockerr, its damn close ?
Hi, yes the chain is close to the motor but it’s a straight drop down into the chain locker so unless anchoring when the boat is heeled over I don’t think it’s an issue. There was no obvious external physical damage to the old motor.
Very interesting. I was circling around the Lofrans Tigres windlass... any recommendations?
Hard to recommend any of Tue many alternatives as I have only done a long-term real world test of this windlass. Maybe I was unlucky and the rest of them are fine but I found their customer support very poor.
You need to invest in a Five Oceans Horizontal Windlass
The water came down from above, around the motor shaft, through the motor, and into the brush plate cover. That's why the motor won't slip out like it is supposed to. It's corroded into the pinion shaft. I believe water is getting in through the axle seals or side plates that the wildcat/gypsy are connected to. I'm pretty sure you sealed the base of the windlass to the deck properly. Any way the water got in, it was due to poor manufacturing. The brush plate cover is there to seal and protect from water below deck level, such as a wet chain shedding water as it is piling into the chain locker. Their rep that was responding to you probably has no clue how a windlass operates internally and has no idea the points that water can enter the windlass body to get down into the motor. I would pull the windlass off and have a good clean out. I would check for bad seals on the axle, side plates, and where the pinion shaft comes out of the windlass body and mates to the motor. I have a feeling you'll find water in the windlass housing. In your case, I would look at other windlasses from other manufacturers unless you're up for overhauling a practically new windlass. I'm sorry you've had this issue and Lofrans isn't willing to do more to help you remedy this situation.
Hi Ben, you may well be correct, I will pull it off and take apart once I am back in the UK so it can be done on the bench in my workshop rather than on a pontoon or moving deck.
The joke is, I removed an old and fully working (albeit very rusty/corroded) Lofrans windlass to fit this one so I would be problem-free on our Atlantic circuit. Maybe the new ones are not as well built as the old ones and a very disappointing response from a support guy who (as you say) probably has no idea. Their first message was a joke as they covered their ass with reasons the problem is not theirs.
What Type of Lofran Windlessis it? Kobra???
Yes, kobra. See my follow up vid for the outcome
@@RefitandSail Did you take your windlass apart? Because we probably have a broken gearwheel and I would love to See a Video about it.
@@Freiheitssegler no I just pulled out and replaced the motor, windlass itself stayed in one piece.
We had a similar Problem. The Motor of our windlass got wet, even though we covered it up with the cup. Since we only replaced the Motor 8 month ago, we tried to get lofrans to replace it. They said that there is no waranty on parts and we are at fault anyway. We suspekt, that the motor is not sealed properly.
By the way, it is not about how you operate the windlass. It is only about the failure of the electric motor.
If we had to replace the windlass we would get another Brand, but since the motor only is the Problem, it seams crazy to change the whole thing.
I have a very old Lofrans, I was going to replace with a new one. Not now, when my old one packs in, I won’t be buying Lofrans..
Very bad attitude from them. I will not buy anything from them, if I have other option. I will pass this coment to sailboat owners here in Brazil.
Yep, all businesses make mistakes or have issues, the good businesses that stand by their products are happy to resolve them and learn from it. Lofrans don't it seems.
You are right, it is a poorly designed product
It looks to me like they sold you a used windlass, at least a rebuilt one with questionable parts and rebuild.
looking at the design its simple the water is coming in through the nuts holding the motor on top of the windlass and dripping down into the motor body theres no seals to prevent water ingress its a shit design and if you replace the motor you will be doing it again in no time better design would be blind holes on underside of the casting and long threaded rod bolts securing motor i would say throw it in the ocean but as an environmentalist better to take it to the manufacturers head office and throw it through a window ....then purchase a Muir and be done with the problem ,,,,great channel love what your doing keep it up
The actual working load of that windlass is far too low for anything but light use.
I feel lofrans responsible for a product that is quite obviously LOW GRADE .I believe that they will lose a few customers including me as I am outfitting a boat at the moment . No class .
sigh, one more product you should not buy as a sailor. And no, your opinion on CZcams is not unfair, how else should everyone else find out how a - actually renowned - company feels about its products and does handle problems?
martin