My old (probably original) Barient winches were getting pretty smooth. the cabin top spinnaker winches actually had the texturing AND anodizing worn off on the bottom-wrap area. I read a bunch off internet threads about knurling, epoxy with non-skid, shot peening, etc. One thread mentioned a pneumatic needle descaler a welding shop used. Cost him $200 to have two done.

I went to harbor freight and bought their small needle descaler . It was on sale for $20. I also bought a set of replacement pins/needles, thinging i may bee to do some pin mods.

i got it home, hooked it to my compressor and let it rip on a piece of aluminum. it had an effect, but not quite the surface i was after. Tilting the tool so the pin edges made the surface rougher, but too sharp.

Using the pins from the replacement set, i ground conical points on all the pins. Not to a fine point but to a flat spot about 1/32". I tested that on my aluminum scrap and it put a nice peen finish on it. Rough but not a sharp surface.



After removing the drums from the boat, i first put the top and bottom passes on the drums by holding a bit of plastic along where i wanted the edge of the new surface to be. I followed the factory edge. After doing both edges, i worked the middle out to each edge. i let the tool do the work until all the area had been repeatedly impacted.

Edging Method



Edging done



Finished



i really like the new surface. On the winches where the anodizing was worn, it's still obviously a different shade. On the primaries, which did not show the same anodizing wear as the spinnaker winches, it appears the anodizing was not harmed at all with the small, flat points. However, on one winch where the tool tilted a little compared to the face of the winch, it did cut through the anodizing a little.

Thought I'd share. It worked great, took just a couple of hours and only cost $20!

joe