Blocks

[Killick Greenie]

Just taken off the old blocks and some of them have seriously worn the cheeks of the block. I'm assuming that the blocks have been fitted athwart ship at the hounds in order to accommodate the fall and transition on to the double blocks fastened to the deck. This results in the halyard leaving the block at an angle which has probably caused the wear. It looks like this will happen which ever way you fit them due to the position of the blocks on the deck.

Has anyone rigged the blocks at the hounds in a fore and aft position? Would this change anything material or would I be just changing the direction of the rubbing?

Thanks
Dave

[Dennis]

My yankee and staysail halyard blocks are mounted fore and aft and my mainsail (peak and throat) blocks are mounted athwartship.

They all run cleanly without any excessive rubbing of the cheeks. They all have sufficient play at the mounting to enable them to self align correctly.

[Killick Greenie]

My yankee and staysail halyard blocks are mounted fore and aft and my mainsail (peak and throat) blocks are mounted athwartship.

They all run cleanly without any excessive rubbing of the cheeks. They all have sufficient play at the mounting to enable them to self align correctly.

Thanks Dennis, would swivel blocks make any difference?

Dave

[SimonW]

I have just changed the shackles to twisted shackles so all my halyards are now fore and aft as I believe they should be.