Halfway back and making progress on the windlass repairs

Immediately after cleaning up from Irene, I traveled to Asheville to drop off the NCOBS mini bus and attend a 3 day Wilderness First Responder Re-certification class at Landmark Learning based in Sylva, NC.  My WFR certification will be current for another two years.

Anne drove up to Asheville on Labor Day to shuttle me back to the OBX.  We are spending a couple nights at my parents house on our return trip. I brought the windlass along so that I could recruit Bud in assisting me with tearing down the workings of the windlass.

We were able to deconstruct the windlass.  The gears and shafts had mild pitting and corrosion so Bud cleaned these up with the wire wheel on the bench grinder and we used a degreaser to clean up the other components.

 The windlass is missing a spring that likely broke sometime in the past and was tossed out among gobs of old, foul grease.  Thank to the forums on SailNet I found a source for Seatiger 555 windlass parts in the UK - SL-Spares.  I also ordered new seals and a stripping pin.

My plan is to use zinc chromate as a primer on the cast aluminum windlass body.  Other than some taping to protect bushings, the body is ready from primer.  The spray zinc chromate I purchased at West Marine requires humidity less than 65% when applying.  With tropical depression Lee passing through the area, I doubt the humidity dropped below 90% today.  Tomorrow will hopefully provide the conditions necessary to apply the primer.