We're replacing a lot of the running rigging this year. I'm not sure if the blocks I'm replacing are original, but they look old enough to be a possibility. Either way, they are old. All of them have small cracks in the sheaves, there's corrosion on the aluminum cheeks where the steel pins are attached, and most have significant friction under load. The two biggest problems we've seen is grinding on the metal sheave halyard turning blocks and difficulty easing the mainsheet in light winds. We've also had a Schaefer block fail on our 25+ and that's not an experience we want to relive.
The original mast base turning blocks appear to be Schaefer Series 5 or equivalent which have a safe working load of 1,750 lbs, so I used that as my target for replacement. All of the blocks I've replaced are static loads (halyards, reefing, vang etc.) so I chose Harken Element 60mm. They look good, are affordable, and use regular bushing bearings so they should be relatively maintenance free while meeting the need they are being used for.
Things got a little more complicated when I started looking at the mainsheet system. I used Harken's mainsheet calculator and estimated the worst case scenario would be 25 knots on a full main. I'd like to think I would reef or at the very least ease the sheet in anything above 25. That provided a max load of 2,410 lbs. I also wanted blocks with ball or roller bearings to make easing in light wind easier. When you start looking for blocks with ball bearings and a SWL above 2410, the selection gets slim and the prices are all over the board:
The surprising one to me is Harken. I really like the carbo line. They are well priced and work great, but their SWL is much lower than other comparable blocks. If you want to go high load and roller bearing in Harken, you have to step up to the $202 magic block. I'm sure they are great, but that's a huge jump. Schaefer is a brand that seems to work, but I'm not a fan of their look and I still have a negative bias against them from when I looked at their shackle pricing:
I know that isn't fair and they make great furlers, but I have a hard time using a company that prices anything like that, especially when there's better products on the market.
I've been to fisheries many times and asked for advise on blocks. I always get the same response, Harken is the best, Schaefer gets the job done, lasts forever, but is a bit heavy and Garhauer is the price point option. That seems to be the general opinion of most sailors and I've accepted it until I started looking at my mainsheet blocks. I've had great luck with Harken, there furlers have been flawless for me, every block I've had significantly reduced friction, and the traveler I installed on Luffalee was butter smooth, but they do seem to weather more than Schaefer and Garhauer. To my eyes, Garhauer is well made and very well priced. I don't see any quality issues with it. The only knock I can see is the weight, but that's not a concern to me at all. They are a little less refined than the Harken stuff, but they're even starting to address that with their newer unibody blocks. I ultimately decided on Garhauer series 40 for the mainsheet system and so far they look great:
So, I'm interested in other folks' opinions and experience with replacing blocks and other running gear.
The original mast base turning blocks appear to be Schaefer Series 5 or equivalent which have a safe working load of 1,750 lbs, so I used that as my target for replacement. All of the blocks I've replaced are static loads (halyards, reefing, vang etc.) so I chose Harken Element 60mm. They look good, are affordable, and use regular bushing bearings so they should be relatively maintenance free while meeting the need they are being used for.
Things got a little more complicated when I started looking at the mainsheet system. I used Harken's mainsheet calculator and estimated the worst case scenario would be 25 knots on a full main. I'd like to think I would reef or at the very least ease the sheet in anything above 25. That provided a max load of 2,410 lbs. I also wanted blocks with ball or roller bearings to make easing in light wind easier. When you start looking for blocks with ball bearings and a SWL above 2410, the selection gets slim and the prices are all over the board:
The surprising one to me is Harken. I really like the carbo line. They are well priced and work great, but their SWL is much lower than other comparable blocks. If you want to go high load and roller bearing in Harken, you have to step up to the $202 magic block. I'm sure they are great, but that's a huge jump. Schaefer is a brand that seems to work, but I'm not a fan of their look and I still have a negative bias against them from when I looked at their shackle pricing:
I know that isn't fair and they make great furlers, but I have a hard time using a company that prices anything like that, especially when there's better products on the market.
I've been to fisheries many times and asked for advise on blocks. I always get the same response, Harken is the best, Schaefer gets the job done, lasts forever, but is a bit heavy and Garhauer is the price point option. That seems to be the general opinion of most sailors and I've accepted it until I started looking at my mainsheet blocks. I've had great luck with Harken, there furlers have been flawless for me, every block I've had significantly reduced friction, and the traveler I installed on Luffalee was butter smooth, but they do seem to weather more than Schaefer and Garhauer. To my eyes, Garhauer is well made and very well priced. I don't see any quality issues with it. The only knock I can see is the weight, but that's not a concern to me at all. They are a little less refined than the Harken stuff, but they're even starting to address that with their newer unibody blocks. I ultimately decided on Garhauer series 40 for the mainsheet system and so far they look great:
So, I'm interested in other folks' opinions and experience with replacing blocks and other running gear.
