Low friction ring vs block

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by Training Wheels

Um... 38!

I think that you might need a 12-Step program for this.

[Training Wheels]

I've got a few more to add, then I quit. I promise!

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

If you truly want a becket, you're probably best to build larger, longer side plates for the existing blocks, & keep the bolt in the sheave's axle. That, instead of trying to use a shackle through it's axle. Or, add a 2nd set of side plates to the block which start at the sheave's axle, & extend out past the sheave. Where you'd then have a seperate bolt for the becket's head.

I have been running into this problem for a few years now.

The deck equipment I have on the boat appears to have gone out of production and the new stuff appears to have a lot more plastic in it. (I had a genaker halyard jam because the plastic cheek plate failed and had to go up the mast twice in the open sea to get the sail down and have had a fierce aversion to blocks with plastic ever since)

Since I'm one of those folks who likes to keep a set a set without outliers and also a fairly stingy boat owner I find myself repairing the stuff I have fairly often now.

The Ronston stuff on the boat has riveted shafts so I drill the ends off the shafts and replace them with stainless bolts which I machine the thickness of the heads and nuts down and punch the nuts to keep them from unscrewing. They work just as well and it is easy to replace the sheaves from then on.

[Markhunter1097]

At the yacht club today I had the block on display and was asking the crowd. An answer came out from a shipwright who said that ceramic paint will restore the sheave, reverse the cheeks and the block will be good for another 30 years!
Will post the result in a week or so, but it seems like a good solution

[TheThunderbird]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I agree actually.

Harken are great. The Lewmar ball bearing blocks are also very good, as are the Wichard ones.

I have these:

Lewmar 130mm High Load Single Footblock | MAURI PRO SAILING

Bulletproof and excellent. Rated for 6 tons (!) safe working load. 15 years of hard use and still flawless. Cost less than $500 each and worth every penny.

The Harken ones are probably even better.

Good deck hardware is key! Don't compromise! Spend your money on sails and deck hardware and ropes first; then think about what to do with what is left over, if any

*

The roller bearings add much to the cost, say that they double it up, or more (3X).

So, it must be a judicious choice, to go with bearings, unless a racing boat.

I think only the travellers (cars) justify it: heavy load + lengthy movements

[fuentes]

Originally Posted by Markhunter1097

At the yacht club today I had the block on display and was asking the crowd. An answer came out from a shipwright who said that ceramic paint will restore the sheave, reverse the cheeks and the block will be good for another 30 years!
Will post the result in a week or so, but it seems like a good solution

JB weld ? It is strong and can be machined.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by TheThunderbird

*

The roller bearings add much to the cost, say that they double it up, or more (3X).

So, it must be a judicious choice, to go with bearings, unless a racing boat.

I think only the travellers (cars) justify it: heavy load + lengthy movements

I think jib sheet turning blocks really need ball bearings -- very rapid movement of the sheet through the block during tacking.

My boat was originally built with these -- I did not add them. They were specified by Bill Dixon for the original build.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Often enough you can pick up older blocks, even circa 1970's, cheap. Though they'll likely have roller bearings instead. Which in high load applications are sometimes preferable. I've scored plenty of these over the years, & with a spot of TLC they generally are as good as new. And even if you have a few flat spotted bearings, replacement (bearings) generally cost less than a pint does.

BTW, stainless is far from the only material that you can use for side plates. Or anywhere else on blocks.
And if you're going to refurbish these, it truly is worth getting new sheaves. They'll spin more freely, & won't come apart at some inopportune time, severing your expensive sheets like older sheaves are prone to.

[Stumble]

The nly time I don't reach for Harken is when I use Karver. The Karver KB blocks are a nice transition between low friction rings and standard blocks. But they are not cheap either.

[Stu Jackson]

Have you considered Garhauer? Great prices, they'll make anything for you.

[Markhunter1097]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Have you considered Garhauer? Great prices, they'll make anything for you.

Yes Stu, they seem good value, yet they aren't in Australia!

[Markhunter1097]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

Often enough you can pick up older blocks, even circa 1970's, cheap. Though they'll likely have roller bearings instead. Which in high load applications are sometimes preferable. I've scored plenty of these over the years, & with a spot of TLC they generally are as good as new. And even if you have a few flat spotted bearings, replacement (bearings) generally cost less than a pint does.

BTW, stainless is far from the only material that you can use for side plates. Or anywhere else on blocks.
And if you're going to refurbish these, it truly is worth getting new sheaves. They'll spin more freely, & won't come apart at some inopportune time, severing your expensive sheets like older sheaves are prone to.

Agree with you on this, the boat I race on has plastic cheeked blocks, seen and heard two blow up to date
Stainless it will be

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Markhunter1097

Yes Stu, they seem good value, yet they aren't in Australia!

Just sayin'

https://www.garhauer.com.au/

[Markhunter1097]

The tread has gone away from the ring question, which I think has been answered in the negative, to now what to do.
I hear all the comments on ball bearing blocks, yet the expensive of these seems disproportionate to the advantages, remember this is a cruising yacht, after a tack the sheet is rarely touched, and then I just hit the button on some great Antal electric primaries.
I have ordered some industrial sheaves, and I have gone the refurb route on the old ones. Will see what happens.
Most importantly I don't want to compromise safety in the case of a failure, sometimes I use a safety strop around the block, sheet and mount, just in case, and will be doing this on whatever I go with until I'm satisfied the loads can be handled. The load by the way is probably 1.5 ton, and up to 5 on a shock load. Am running 14 mm sheets, which is down from 16 mm the boat came with. Lots of options and fun deciding what to do.
Will keep the forum up to date

[Markhunter1097]

Originally Posted by fuentes

JB weld ? It is strong and can be machined.

No, I think he is going to use ceracoat, will see what happens here. The last time I used this product was on the exhaust manifold on an Etype. I didn't realise it also has good abrasion qualities.