Shocking Education, Part One

My wenches work. I say that because it never would occur to me to touch them (six total) if I hadn't come across a short article on servicing them. Every year? More? Of course now I couldn't stand it, I just had to take a peek and see what shape they were in. All the winches are Barlows from Australia (out of business) and all seem to work fine, albeit a little stiff. The first two to tackle were the largest, the only two speed wenches on the boat, ones which I use for the genoa sheets. The first was pretty much dry other then debris flaked at the bottom. The other had grease, but it was hard and packed in areas I doubt did the gears any good. To their credit they came apart easily and the function was obvious. This made reassembly very easy. At one point I pondered if these 45 year old items should be retired. I almost crapped my pants when I looked at the replacement cost of new equivalent wenches! With loving, caring, careful hands I cleaned and lubricated each piece as if it were gold. Reassembly was strait forward but I did get to thinking that the only thing that could break on these well built chrome bronze beauties were those little bitty springs for the paws. At that moment I knew I had to find replacements. With broken springs the wench was disabled and useless. It's amazing that I have (at this moment) less money invested in the whole boat then what it would cost to replace just the two main wenches! My hunt for the elusive spare parts has begun.