Captain’s log
Dateline: 07.02.2023
Reverse-engineering Lewmar winches
One of the goals I have is to restore the boat to be as close as possible to what she was when she left TEK-Composites’ factory in Stoney Creek (Canada) almost quarter of a century ago.
Some of the winches in the cockpit were moved after the soft-top aluminum bimini was installed here in Florida.
Dismounted two Lewmar 50 winches, inspected one 44 and one 40. Took measurements of stainless steel hardware (bolts, screws, nuts, washers) to know what to order when I’m rich again and can afford titanium.
Lewmar 50 self-tailing (I have 2 of those, cockpit)
- 4 × M6 socket head cap bolts (50mm long: 25mm smooth, 25mm thread)
- 6 × 5/6-18 socket cap Philips screws (1" total length, will need much longer to mount to the hull)
- 6 × 5/6-18 locking nylon nuts
Lewmar 44 self-tailing (I have 3 of those, cockpit)
- 3 × M5 pan head Philips screws (40mm: all thread)
- 5 × 1/4-20 socket cap Philips screws (no idea how long, but likely will replace them with 5/6-18)
- 5 × 1/4-20 nuts
- 5 × 1/4-20 washers
Lewmar 40 self-tailing (I have 2 of those, mast)
- 3 × M5 pan head Philips screws (35mm: all thread)
No idea what’s holding my 40s, they’re on my mast, and I’m not going to unscrew that (no idea if they’re mounted to the mast, or through the mast and held by nuts from the inside).
I’ll reach out to Lewmar to find out what kind of mounting screws they used to ship with these winches, and what socket cap screws I should look for, to match the slots perfectly.
On a side note, I might replace all or some of those with something electric, but would love to swap stainless with titanium before I do, to sell something good to somebody else.
