The turning blocks redirect the sheets (ropes) from jib, staysail, and spinnaker to the cockpit winches. They endure enormous loads hour after hour when the sheets are tensioned hard using the maximum strength of both arms applied to the winch handles.
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| Cracked coaming gel coat on starboard side |
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| Duralac corrosion protection for backing plate |
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| Ready for reassembly |
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| Refurbished turning block in position |
The sheaves of the starboard block were jammed and it seemed like a simple job to remove both blocks, take them apart, and lubricate them. They both proved to be in bad shape and we refurbished them by having new centers fitted to the pulleys and having the plates re anodized.
The coaming of the starboard turning block showed evidence of strain with cracking on the outboard gel coat and an actual crease in the coaming. We corrected the problem by replacing the 2mm thick interior backing plate with a heftier and larger 5mm plate and adding a 3 mm plate on the outboard side of the coaming. Thus that section of the coaming would be sandwiched between the two stainless steel backing plates. I also sanded the teak mounting blocks with 2-pack varnish.
The machining, anodizing, and unexpected problems in re mounting the blocks cost us a total of about 1 day's work spread over a week but the result was very good and made the effort worthwhile.
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