So this is more or less a funny, at my own expense.
Started when I realized that as my anchor chain was coming up and running through the gypsy, it was not being stripped off the wheel fast enough. That allowed it to try and bunch down between the gypsy, the collar of the chain locker cover and the deck. I had to watch it very closely to make sure I didn't end up with a boogered up mess. The problem stems from the hole to the locker being placed slightly aft of where it should be. Even with a stainless stripper in place, it left just enough room for bad things to happen.
The problem pre dated my owning the boat, as I noticed the previous owner had made a little plastic piece designed to try and take up the gap and prevent the chain from double wrapping itself on the gypsy. On my particular boat, the stainless stripper was bolted to the base of the windless with two 5/16 bolts, that ran through the stripper, a couple spacers, and into the windless.
AS luck would have it, the history of the chain getting bound up gradually weakened those bolts and a week or so ago, one snapped off. that allowed the chain to really cludge things up; bent the stainless stripper and the other bolt and locked up tight.
I ended up pulling the gypsy off and banging things around and got the chain off. So that left me with a snapped off bolt.
Now a smart boy would have pulled the whole windless, taken it to the shop and done the job right. But since I ain't that smart boy, I figured I'd do it in place. So drill drill drill...have a nice hole in the middle of the broken bolt and start with an easy out. Man that thing is in there. So, not wanting to break off the easy out, I start drilling out the hole bigger, to help relax the threads and to be able to use a bigger easy out. AS I finish drilling and start pulling the bit out of the hole, I shift my weight and snap... Oh man, now I've broken a bit off down in the hole. I can see the damn thing and actually wiggle it with a small pick, but can't get it out.
So back to being the smart boy who would have taken it to the shop. I'm still not him and as luck would have it, I managed to grab the little hunk of bit with a set of very fine tweezers and out it came. Hot dog I'm in business.
So now its back to using a bigger easy out. Try as I might, I can't break that bolt loose. So, instead of being a smart boy, I reef on it just one more time, and snap...broken easy out.
So now I'm really screwed.
But the good news is that I'm changing plans. I really don't like how that little stainless stripper works. It really doesn't do a very good job (obviously) so even if I get it all put back together, I still don't have what I want.
So I went by a plastics supply place and picked up a big hunk of tough, uv resistent plastic.
Stopped at the boat again and since I'm STILL not smart enough to pull the windless, made a bunch of measurements and tomorrow I'll spend the day on the milling machine, making a stripper that works the way I want it to.
I've got about a zillion hours in this thing so far... a quarter the number I'd have if I did it right the first time. But damn it...I have principles... Once I make a mistake, I'll keep compounding it until the law of averages swings back in my favor. Which could happen any day now.
That's how it looks with the stripper in place to do its job.
and here's mine after the bolt broke and bent the stripper and shoved it down to the deck.
Started when I realized that as my anchor chain was coming up and running through the gypsy, it was not being stripped off the wheel fast enough. That allowed it to try and bunch down between the gypsy, the collar of the chain locker cover and the deck. I had to watch it very closely to make sure I didn't end up with a boogered up mess. The problem stems from the hole to the locker being placed slightly aft of where it should be. Even with a stainless stripper in place, it left just enough room for bad things to happen.
The problem pre dated my owning the boat, as I noticed the previous owner had made a little plastic piece designed to try and take up the gap and prevent the chain from double wrapping itself on the gypsy. On my particular boat, the stainless stripper was bolted to the base of the windless with two 5/16 bolts, that ran through the stripper, a couple spacers, and into the windless.
AS luck would have it, the history of the chain getting bound up gradually weakened those bolts and a week or so ago, one snapped off. that allowed the chain to really cludge things up; bent the stainless stripper and the other bolt and locked up tight.
I ended up pulling the gypsy off and banging things around and got the chain off. So that left me with a snapped off bolt.
Now a smart boy would have pulled the whole windless, taken it to the shop and done the job right. But since I ain't that smart boy, I figured I'd do it in place. So drill drill drill...have a nice hole in the middle of the broken bolt and start with an easy out. Man that thing is in there. So, not wanting to break off the easy out, I start drilling out the hole bigger, to help relax the threads and to be able to use a bigger easy out. AS I finish drilling and start pulling the bit out of the hole, I shift my weight and snap... Oh man, now I've broken a bit off down in the hole. I can see the damn thing and actually wiggle it with a small pick, but can't get it out.
So back to being the smart boy who would have taken it to the shop. I'm still not him and as luck would have it, I managed to grab the little hunk of bit with a set of very fine tweezers and out it came. Hot dog I'm in business.
So now its back to using a bigger easy out. Try as I might, I can't break that bolt loose. So, instead of being a smart boy, I reef on it just one more time, and snap...broken easy out.
So now I'm really screwed.
But the good news is that I'm changing plans. I really don't like how that little stainless stripper works. It really doesn't do a very good job (obviously) so even if I get it all put back together, I still don't have what I want.
So I went by a plastics supply place and picked up a big hunk of tough, uv resistent plastic.
Stopped at the boat again and since I'm STILL not smart enough to pull the windless, made a bunch of measurements and tomorrow I'll spend the day on the milling machine, making a stripper that works the way I want it to.
I've got about a zillion hours in this thing so far... a quarter the number I'd have if I did it right the first time. But damn it...I have principles... Once I make a mistake, I'll keep compounding it until the law of averages swings back in my favor. Which could happen any day now.
That's how it looks with the stripper in place to do its job.
and here's mine after the bolt broke and bent the stripper and shoved it down to the deck.
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