I should rename this blog -The Amazing Mechanical Feats of Rich!! Today Rich completely took apart the windlass (and put it back together with no extra pieces remaining! I half expected it to look like an IKEA project at the end with a few bolts and washers leftover that you just toss aside and hope they threw those in as "extras" -those generous folks at IKEA).
The windlass (for raising and lowering the anchor) is full of cool gears and springs and ours is pretty old-school (most people's have motors that hoist the anchor without the backbreaking labor). Rich had to find and fix a little do-hicky-springy-thing with rubber thingies on the ends. It was impressive. I like using the manual windlass because it's something physical that I can do on the boat and hoisting up the anchor gives me some exercise and makes me feel like a lumberjack (or a sailor, I suppose).