Monthly Archives: November 2014

Yes it's Movember again, that special month when the handsome, hunky, hairless headed (well some of us) hapless hunks of Storrar Marine and Mo-sisters Claire* and Izzy dedicate their faces to a month of utter hairy happiness in the the growing of facial hair, MO, moustach and sideburns (but not a beard), all in support of the Movember charity. Skinflint Rob has, believe it or not, even gone as far as to buy himself a rather nifty electronic device to help tame and cultivate his growth. If avid readers would like to support us in helping raise money for this worthy cause please go to http://moteam.co/storrar-morine-chandlery

*Last year Claire helped us reach our total of just over £1000 by swimming/running/cycling the equivalent of an Iron Man triathlon. This year rumour has it she is going to undertake a similar challenge, keep looking back at our team page for updates and photos. Izzy, as the new kid on the block, is still undecided, no doubt she will be guided by Ms Green. See last years Mo growing efforts bellow.

Talented sail designer Chris Owen started his sail making career working alongside Alan Bax and I in the North East during the late Seventies. In those days there was no chandlery, rigging or cover making arm to the business, we were purely a racing dinghy sailloft. Chris left for pastures new after some three years however we always kept in touch, and when the original 'Storrar & Bax' partnership split Chris designed the sails that were used by myself to win the 1991 Flying 15 championships. These days its mainly bigger boat sails that we manufacture at our Coast Road premises they are, of course, designed by Chris and lovingly put together by our talented machinists. The image shows a radial mainsail that was built from top of the range Contender fabrics for a Beneteau 46, not only was the sail fast out of the bag but easy to trim. The genoa, once again of a radial design was  built from Contender fabrics.  Kevin, owner and skipper's comment after I spent the day helping him get the best out of them was, 'I didn't realise how far one should pull sails in'. Our sailloft 'sideline', which is technical industrial sewing, has seen some interesting projects leave the loft this year, fabric sling shots for a prototype children's game, hundreds of airbag covers for an iconic UK based sports car manufacturer, heavy duty battery straps for handling aircraft batteries and numerous Gazebo covers of various shapes and sizes.

Last month we sent out our Laying Up 2014 email followed by our Engine Winterisation article, both positively received. In case you missed them here are the blog links:

Laying Up 2014 - 

www.marinechandlery.com/blog/2014/laying-up-winter/

Engine Winterisation -

www.marinechandlery.com/blog/2014/winterising-your-engine/

For those of you who are a little green (me included) when it comes to servicing our winches we thought it would make good sense to reproduce the excellent article that Geordie boy Mark Gardner of Harken UK wrote for us some years ago. Its been written for those of you that have Harken Winches, however if your yacht is fitted with say Lewmar, Andersen or Antal the basic principles are the same. Winch servicing can make your job easier and safer, and your boat faster. 

1.  Salt water will find its way into winches where it degrades the grease and can corrode the structure of the winch. A properly lubricated winch will drain freely. A blast of fresh water into the winches whenever you are washing the boat down will minimise any salt build up. 

2.  A complete overhaul of a winch involves a complete strip down to the component parts, a thorough clean and de-grease, inspection, re-lubrication and re-assembly. Cleaning and degreasing is best done in a bucket of commercially available de-greaser. Use a small stiff brush to remove all of the old grease and oil. Be careful of plastic parts degrading in the de-greaser. 

3.  A very important stage of cleaning is to flush the winch parts in hot water to remove any trace of solvent as this will degrade the grease you are about to put on. 

4.  Inspect the winch thoroughly, paying particular attention to the pawls and springs. Replace any pawls or springs that are not working perfectly. These parts stop the winch going backwards and are very important! Lubricate with light oil such as Harken Pawl Oil (BK4521) DO NOT USE GREASE OR TEFLON SPRAY as this will make the pawls stick.

5.  To re-assemble the winch in the correct way, check the pawl gears are fitted correctly. Use the exploded views (available on the Harken Web Site) to make sure you are correct. 

6.  Re-lubricate the winch with Harken Winch Grease (BK4513) on all gear teeth, stainless roller bearings, and any other metal-to-metal wear surfaces. Brush the grease on with a small brush and work it into all of the gear teeth.

NB: Remember the ring gear inside the drum. A winch without sufficient lubrication will wear out much faster and will lose efficiency. The risk of mechanical failure will also be higher. 

7.  Use some anti-seize such as Tef-Gel on the fasteners to prevent any corrosion and allow easy removal for the next service. A well maintained winch is easy to service as it comes apart easily, is easy to clean, and is less likely to have any problems. 

For more information and to download copies of the winch service manuals visit: www.harken.co.uk/article.aspx?id=18795

After all that work perhaps you should consider investing in some protective winch covers. Avalible in a number of sizes off the shelf or we make up here in our sail loft to the colour of your choice. For more information call us on 0191 2661037 or email sailloft@storrarmarine.co.uk

Well not quite a tube but in an aerosol can, Boeshield T9 is a great product that we use ourselves all the time. Developed by the Boeing company for the protection and lubrication of aircraft components, it's a combination of solvents, lubricants and waxes. It dries to a thin waxy film that clings to metals for months. It will loosen rusty and corroded parts and is safe to use on paints, plastics and vinyl. Boeshield is of course perfect for spraying onto and protecting switch panels in hostile environments... like boats! Today, believe it or not, young Claire sold a couple of cans of the stuff to a customer with a beach 'shack' on a Caribbean Island with a large chandelier that needs constant attention to stop it going rusty, so she is going to give it the Boeshield treatment! I did offer to do the spraying myself, alas to no avail.