I experienced a failure in my self-tailing Barlow winch, which others may wish to avoid. While winching in the gneoa, the self tailer top part of the winch suddenly gave way, spinning freely from the drum. Back at the dock, I removed the top cap and found three screw heads that no longer held the rubber self tailer to the lower drum. They had sheared cmpletely, leaving the screw tips in the drum. On checking the port inich, I found a quarter turn slack in the screws,and only about 1/8 inch screw tip actually biting into the lower drum, which I immediately tightened. I replaced them with slightly longer screws. As a part of annual maintenance, I now tighen these screws, when replacing the drum, following cleaning and lubrication. Barlow is no longer in business, and therefore extra care is needed. Bruce
