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Kite sheet blocks?


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Want to treat the 830 to some bling kite turning blocks. Going for ratchet, my questions are:

40 or 55mm?

I've seen some yachts with the blocks suspended from the lower lifelines by a little bit of shock cord, is there a reason for this other than stopping them scratching your paint? And if this is best practice, do you need to buy ones with a becket?

Cheers

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I'd go for the 55's. My recollection of 830's is it was quite easy to flog a kite - impact load from which can be very high and wood probably stuff most commodity 40 blocks (especially the ronstAn ones) you can also reeve light sheets through the same block before removing the heavy sheet. The shock cord keeps the block off the deck for two reasons 1 - limiting damage 2- noise! There's nothing worse than trying to get some sleep in an 830 q berth after a Coastal party listening to the damn thing bounce about on deck! It accentuates through the back of the boat like a drum!???? Not good for the head! No need for a becket - go for the blocks with the hollow bearing race - you can just lash through that.

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Was a recent incident with two Stewart 34's where a kite block hanging over the side punched a hole in an "adjacent" boat. Keeping them up with bungee cord would stop this happening - although not insinuating you would be in to playing dodgems Nigel.

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Too much friction for constantly moving block replacements, especially with big turning angles. Also work better with no cover dyneema type lines, which don't make ideal sheets.

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I had R...... 55mm ratchets and they blew up. Switched to H..... 75mm ratchets and they have been great for years now. Prop them up with 1/2 a tennis ball, cheap and cheerful but a bit finicky to install the pins (a few have "plopped") and they only last a couple of years.

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