An excellent article. However, it misses some points worth mentioning. 1) Due to the lack of drip loop in the attached wires, water finds its way into the connectors and will create enough corrosion to increase resistance to the point that excessive heat can be generated. Do fix this. 2) Use a conductive grease on the connectors to inhibit corrosion and insure a good connection. 3) I was able to find a repair shop to replace the motor brushes and connectors. The motor is very heavy duty and well made. It should be very repairable. It will overheat and stop until cool if it has been over stressed.

I suspect maintenance was never done on my 23-year-old windlass, and the drum just would not slide off the keyed shaft. I picked up a set of bearing pullers from Harbor Freight: three different sizes in one box for around $17. It was a good investment. Even with those specialty tools, it took me an hour and a half to remove the chromed drum to get at the four mounting bolts. Had to use both the 4-in. puller and the 6-in. puller--with different reconfigurations of each--to slowly pull the pieces apart. Plus copious amounts of Liquid Wrench and PB Blaster. Once apart, it took sandpaper on the shaft, and a mini sanding drum mounted on a Dremel tool to hone out the bore, in order to get the capstan drum to fit back onto the shaft. On reassembly, you can bet there'll be lots of Tef-Gel.