Rebuilding Blocks?

[Feral Cement]

The jib halyard swivel block and cheek block on my Catalina 27 have delrin sheaves and bearings. After 38 years, the salt and sun have baked them to death. The SS parts are fine, just the plastic parts are shot. Has anyone ever rebuilt old blocks? Where did you get the parts? Any tricks? Did you re-rivet or use bolts?

These are Schaefer, but I imagine the info is similar with other brands. Thanks for any advice.

John

[sabray]

Great idea to check these. I have 2 real nice snatch blocks old style with wood dressed checks. One failed at the pin. The 3/8" stainless pin crevice crack corroded. At the point where the retaining Clip passed through.I found a piece of the pin on deck so now know what happened. Not sure about parts sorry

[Jim Cate]

Sure, FEral, an excellent idea... I've been doing such repairs for years. Most smaller blocks use rivets as axle pins, so you have to drill the heads and then drive them out. Replacement sheaves should be available from the OEM, but if not, Ronstan has a pretty good selection. Some blocks use thin sleeves between axle and sheave, some don't. They usually are reusable, and I have mostly used bolts to replace the rivets. EAch block design will require a different approach, but none are too complicated.

Larger blocks often have bolts from the get go, and this makes it easier. Anyhow, you have little to loose, so have a go at it!

Cheers,

JIm