Ok, the winches on our boat have a bit of a design fault.
There is a rod on the winch handle hole on the top of the winch. This rod disconnects the electric gearbox from the winch so you can use a winch handle. The huge issue is this is a hole in the top of the winch, with a hole and a rod through the hole that goes straight to the top of the gearbox. This means any water, salt or fresh that hits the top of the winch will drip down onto the top of the gearbox. The gearbox is, believe it or not, a standard worm drive gearbox. So, if like me, the seals of the gearbox have rusted out, and there’s water in your winch gearbox, you can replace it with a “special marine” gearbox for thousands, or an exact fit standard gearbox for about a hundred dollars…
It is a must to keep covers over your winches when not in use to minimise water getting into the winch handle hole!!
Guess which option I chose, considering the marine gearbox seals are standard pressed steel!!!
The new gearbox