Deck organizers

[Neeves]

Unless you are going to make your own then an extreme focus on buying Australian (very laudable) is very restrictive (and expensive).

Ronstan's LFRs come from China. I had one of my bridle plate designs made in the same factory and bought 2 sets of Ronstan's LFRs at the same time. I used this specific factory as they make LFRs and my bridle plate incorporated threaded 2 part LFRs. It was all very cheap - the big problem is that Chinese manufacturers are geared up (once you have gone through the prototype stage) to make 10s of thousands - not 20! But ask an Oz company to make one offs - it costs a fortune and thus development is stymied.

But you know all this.

But if you can do, yourself, what Rotrax has achieved, which is similar to ours (except we have 2 sheaves on the bottom and only one on top) and his is very neat- then stick with Australian made. I particularly like the attention to detail of the wedged base plate - I'd have made it square or flat and then made a glass moulding for the 2 dimensional angle - Rotrax' is much neater and better (all credit to his work).

Jonathan

 

[Wing Mark]

I bought Acetal sheaves from ebay, bored the centres on my lathe to the same dimension as the Ronstan ones I was duplicating, made S/S plain bearings by turning and boring a bit of scrounged heavy A2 bar, dimension again copied from the Ronstan OE unit.

Picture of the finished item sat on the bit of old kitchen worktop I used as an assembly jig.

I extended the sandwich plate each end so as to install extra support bolts - two of the four OE bolts were bent!

Simple spacers were made from S/S Tube for the sandwich block, taller ones with angled ends were hand filed for the extra ones - the block is angled in two directions so this was needed.View attachment 126140

I like that.
I need to add some more sheaves, but don't want to make any more holes in the deck if I don't have to..
I'm thinking about leading back kicker, outhaul, possibly extra reefing lines.
I once made a couple of special blocks for a dinghy, pressing stainless 'skateboard' bearings into delrin sheaves.
Sometimes sheave wheels are very cheap in chandlers, sometimes they seem to cost as much as a whole block.

 

[rotrax]

I particularly like the attention to detail of the wedged base plate - I'd have made it square or flat and then made a glass moulding for the 2 dimensional angle - Rotrax' is much neater and better (all credit to his work).


Jonathan

The wedged base plate was OE - made and supplied by Island Packet. All I had to do was 'piggy back' the two extra sheaves to the OE double block, increasing the length to allow for the two reinforcing 10mm studs and dome nuts.

I had to raise the two new clutches that side by the same amount of rise with a teak block. For the Port side I fell onto a single brand new Lewmar 45 Evo winch for £545 quid - result!

Only two of the eight lines used by the power winch and clutches are used at any one time, one on the winch the other around a cleat so as to offer a little resistance so the outhaul/furling lines wind nicely.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

1000 beer tokens for a bit of angle iron with some pulleys shackled to it? Harken must really hate their customers.

Sometimes sheave wheels are very cheap in chandlers, sometimes they seem to cost as much as a whole block.

And sometimes the block is actually cheaper, which is how I came to have two Harken ball race sheaves for my spinnaker halyard. A ridiculous price either way, but at least the spi absolutely flies up and down now.

 

[Neeves]

Note

I recall that Allen Bros have a distributor in Oz, don't recall the location ..... Sydney? and this may have changed anyway. This implies there might be stock here but the downside is that prices on the website may not be reflected by the price in Oz. If you wanted to go the Allen route and there is no stock and prices are stupidly high - I'd be pressing for you to buy direct (using normal air parcel, not courier)..

Jonathan

 

[coopec]

Note

I recall that Allen Bros have a distributor in Oz, don't recall the location ..... Sydney? and this may have changed anyway. This implies there might be stock here but the downside is that prices on the website may not be reflected by the price in Oz. If you wanted to go the Allen route and there is no stock and prices are stupidly high - I'd be pressing for you to buy direct (using normal air parcel, not courier)..

Jonathan

Jon
I did contact Allen Bros and started a chat. They said they were busy at the time but if I let them know what I wanted they would get back to me. They did email me wanting further details, and then I had a phone call (which I missed but I tracked it to be from the UK) But I've move on.

What do you think of these for a deck organizer? At $17 for two sounds good but they only take a 10mm rope. That is something I'll check out tomorrow.

9.43￡ 5% OFF|2pcs 8*40*12mm U grooved bearing pulley/roller/guide wheel, 1cm diameter wire rope/10mm track|Pulleys| - AliExpress

 

[Neeves]

I think you said you had 14mm rope - in which case these are too narrow - by too much. It might be worth investing a bit more investigative time and finding out if they offer a larger sheave, or others offer a larger sheave. It says the bearings are steel - I'd check out what the means.

Jon

 

[coopec]

I think you said you had 14mm rope - in which case these are too narrow - by too much. It might be worth investing a bit more investigative time and finding out if they offer a larger sheave, or others offer a larger sheave. It says the bearings are steel - I'd check out what the means.

Jon

I don't understand what the ropes are for. That's what I am going to try and sort out tomorrow.

I did measure the thickest one with a vernier and it appeared to be 13mm. But that could be the jib sheet? (It is blue. Does that mean anything?)

You are right: I should investigate further.......

NOTE: It says they are SS (Have a look at the second clip just above PRODUCT DESCRIPTION)

Thanks

 

[Neeves]

I think you said you had 14mm rope - in which case these are too narrow - by too much. It might be worth investing a bit more investigative time and finding out if they offer a larger sheave, or others offer a larger sheave. It says the bearings are steel - I'd check out what the means.

Jon

Allen Bros distribute through Deck Hardware in Sydney - who also distribute sheaves from other 'western' suppliers and are more expensive (surprise, surprise) than AliExpress

Sheaves - Sailing and Industrial use made from a range of materials

Rope colour has no relevance - except that you want to use colours where the colour indicates what it does. This is for people who are not used to your yacht and you can tell them to 'pull' the blue one. If the ropes are not dyneema they have probably been chosen for their tactility, comfort in handling, and may be much bigger than you actually need. A Sydney 36 was launched here for someone whose surname was Black. The hull and deck were black - as well all the control lines - it was a nightmare

Jon

 

[ridgy]

The advice from Barton is to use plain bearing blocks for high static loads e.g. halyards and ball bearing blocks for loads that do move e.g. sheets

Suggests that plain bearings are totally fine for deck organisers.

 

[Daverw]

I don't understand what the ropes are for. That's what I am going to try and sort out tomorrow.

I did measure the thickest one with a vernier and it appeared to be 13mm. But that could be the jib sheet? (It is blue. Does that mean anything?)

You are right: I should investigate further.......

NOTE: It says they are SS (Have a look at the second clip just above PRODUCT DESCRIPTION)

Thanks

not sure what material the bearing is actually, and SS may not be 316 and the reference may be for the actual pulley, this has caught me out before

 

[coopec]

not sure what material the bearing is actually, and SS may not be 316 and the reference may be for the actual pulley, this has caught me out before

I'd be happy if it was only 304.

But after reading ridgy's comment (above) maybe I'm going down the wrong track?