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Barlow Winches

Gmilburn

Member III
Hi all,

I'm looking to replace a couple of my winches on my 1977 E-29--they are all Barlow. Now I know that Barlow is no longer in business, but I know there seems to be alot of "salvaged ones" on EBay. What I'm curious about is the fact that my current ones seem to be chrome on the mast and aluminum in the cockpit (the large ones are #22 (two speed) but all the others are #16 (single speed). A month or so ago, I saw a pair of Bronze ones sold on EBay--unfortunately not to me. So what's the difference in the Aluminum, Chrome and Bronze. Is it purely cosmetic or are there functional differences?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Also has Anyone ever taken the outer winch shell to a "chroming shop" as in a motorcycle shop that will "chrome" any part and had them Re-Chromed?
 

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Gmilburn

Member III
Thanks Joe for the link to spare and replacement parts for my Barlow.

Any comments from anyone about the differences between chrome, bronze and aluminum winches? Are they interchangeable in function and just cosmetically different?
 
Winches...

Hi,
My E-27 (1973) came with bronze Barlows. They have worked perfectly for the 33 years I have owned my boat. I added a main halyard winch a number of years back, chrome, and that's still fine. Personally, I prefer bronze because it is what I know best. I carry spare pawls and pawl springs, always. Never had to replace anything, though.

On another subject, if you need Ericson logo caps, I am your guy.

Morgan Stinemetz
 

Dave Hussey

Member III
My E27 has aluminum Barlow 22's and one of the bodie's ring gear is badly worn. It looks like corrosion, and I would venture a guess it is due to the dissimilar metals (more noble metal pawls, against the aluminum drum body). :esad:
I think bronze would be vastly superior to the aluminum drum. As for interchangeability of parts...I would like to know as well.
 

Gmilburn

Member III
I have purchased several salvaged Barlow 16s off of eBay--and while it appears that the paws, springs and bearings are alike--the internal mechanism sytle is different. Also, I have base screw patterns of 4 screws, 5 screws and 6 screws--all on Barlow 16s.

And when contacting the Australian company that supply repair parts--they want a pic of the internal parts of the winch before selling the parts.

Bottomline--there seems to be many styles within the Barlow family. I would not assume the internal parts are interchangeable--the bearings and paws maybe--but that is as far as I would venture.
 

Glyn Judson

Moderator
Moderator
Barlow winches in general.

Gary and all, I have gotten two bronze Barlow 16 winches that if I recall, I paid $20.00 for the pair. What you say, how can that be? I was hauled in The Boat Yard in Marina del Rey, CA for several weeks and got them for David of E31 Emerald fame by simply paying the yard tractor operator for them. You see, that yard had/has a contract with the County to destroy all derelict boats in our 6,000+ boat marina and they do that on an ongoing basis by hauling the boat, lowering it on the concrete and driving over it with the tractor until 45 minutes to an hour later, the entire boat is in one or two dumpsters. I kept my eyes open until the right boat appeared and when an old Cal 25 fell victim to the wrecker, I noted at least two Barlow 16's on the mast. I had a short conversation with the driver and as I recall, I wrote my request on the back of a $20.00 and discretely handed it to him. He obliged me by snapping off the mast just above the winches and then sidelined that section away from the chaos. Now, many of you probably don't have similar facilities where you can count on that method for your winch supply but for anyone living in the area here or something similar near you, this might be a way to score all sorts of winches and other hard to find goodies just like I did. Mind you, this was not too public and effort on the part of either one of us and there was a lot of nodding and winking that went on between me and the driver but it paid off and David now has the winches he needed at a bargain basement price. Maybe some of you can be similarly creative. As to having my winches chromed, I never have but there's absolutely no reason why it can't be done. Hey, some of them had to be chromed at the factory when they were sold new. It turns out that all the bronze on my boat is bare metal and my local plater always gets a little grin on his face when I walk in the back door with a box of stuff. He tells me that I'm his only customer who brings stuff to him the have the chrome taken OFF! Go for it, Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marine del Rey, CA
 

Gmilburn

Member III
Thanks Glyn for the insight into why so many winches show up on Ebay (besides the obvious).

Does your chroming words imply that chrome winches are actually bronze under the chrome? Just strip the chrome (I'm assuming that some chroming shop maybe does this anyway before rechroming) and walla, you have bronze?
 

Glyn Judson

Moderator
Moderator
Chrome vs. bronze

Gary, You hit the nail right on the head. Go to any winch makers web site, Lewmar as an example,http://www.mauriprosailing.com/Merc...n=CTGY&Store_Code=MPS&Category_Code=LEWSTDWIN and you'll see them listed as aluminum, bronze or chrome. The only difference between the raw bronze and chrome is the plating because they start out as bronze castings in the first place. That's why I say that my plater always gets a kick out of my coming for a visit, I want the chrome to be taken off. I selectively buy quality Wilcox Crittenden, Perko and a few other brands of vintage hardware on eBay mostly and invariably it comes to me chromed. My current pride and joy is a circa 1979 Ideal brand MCW vertical windlass with capstan and gypsy that I have fitted to my foredeck and that came to me with worn chrome. It now proudly displays a lovely green patina that's consistent with the rest of the gear on the boat. Email me back channel at glynjudson@roadrunner.com if you'd like to see what it all looks like. Regards, Glyn Judson, E31 hull #55, Marina del Rey, CA
 
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