Lubricant Recommendation

D

DHawke

New Member
I need to relube just about everything on my boat. Especially the jib jam cleats. Can anyone recommend a good lubricant for this. I normally use a spray silicone for this type of lubrication. Is this what I want to use on my boat?

Thanks,

Dave
 
I would think silicone would be the thing to use on most of the stuff, otherwise oil might stain the sails and other stuff. I think Harken sells some lube of some kind too, but its pricey. Harken usually recommends not lubing anything because they use plastic roller bearings in most of their stuff that doesn't need any lube. I use a little(very little) marine type wheel bearing lube(like you would use in your trailer wheel bearings) on the rudder attachment area and the centerboard pivot area because these two areas are stainless steel wearing on stainless steel and both tend to move a lot while sailing. When stainless rubs against stainless it can (an usually does ) gall. This causes premature wear. I noticed a lot of wear were the rudder fitting had started to cut into the pins on the rudder on my boat. I would say this could cause someone to loose a rudder if it were let go long enough. Hope this helps:)
 
Thanks for backing me up! I know that I don't want to overlubricate anything. I know all too well how bad that can be. But, I do want to try and free up the jib sheet cam cleats a little. They're a little sluggish to lock the sheet in. I had thought of taking them apart and cleaning them, but then I had a mental image of the ball bearings rolling all over the floor of my garage!
 
You may have gotten some trash in their some time or other. If you do take them apart(the springs might be coroded or weakened somhow) I would take them off the boat first and then put them in a bucket or something to take them apart so nothing gets lost.
 
I haven't had to lubricate anything on my boat yet but for what it's worth, white lithium grease is waterproof.

It's available at automotive stores in spray cans with a small tube like WD 40 so you can spray it into tight places. (BTW the WD in WD 40 stands for water displacement and yes, they did try 39 other formulas.)
 
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