J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Districts Chesapeake District Winch Drum Knurling

Hi all,

Has anyone had a local shop in the Annapolis knurl your old winch drums? Mine are getting very smooth requiring too many wraps of the sheet. Also, Do they need to be re-anodized after?

Thanks.

Jay Herman at Annapolis Rigging in Bert Jabin's on back creek redid our primaries and secondaries a few years ago. I don't think there was any anodizing involved. Excellent result, but best to schedule for the off season as it may entail a wait. While our winch barrels were out, I soaked all the mechanical parts in diesel or kerosene and used brake cleaner before lubing for reassembly.

In the meantime use fatter sheets. Before knurling we resorted to very fuzzy 1/2" gold dock lines. After use 7/16" Samson Trophy braid.

On one of the boats I used to race on the owner would take a piece of coarse sand paper and hammer it in around the base of the drum to dimple it. He had a stainless drum however.