The poor old anchor winch up the front is conveniently ‘out of sight out of mind’. It spends the summer working its guts out and in most cases has had several lashings of salt water deposited all over it.
Tip One: Wash your anchor winch thoroughly with fresh water after every outing.
Tip Two: Get your winch serviced regularly. Every 12 -18 months is what we recommend. Recreational fishing boats that do a lot of deep anchoring should be serviced at 12 months. Cruising vessels every 24 months.
Servicing your anchor winch will also maintain the bolts attaching the unit to the boat, making removal for maintenance easier. Electrical terminals which appear rusty will not be efficient. Gears and wormwheels like a little bit of lubrication to keep them turning smoothly. Winches left for years with out maintenanace become a major job to fix, not to mention the day they fail will be a shocker guaranteed!
HMB Marine Electrical are Maxwell service agents but will service all types of winches.