Spinnaker blocks

[muzzaman]

I am going to fly a spinnaker from my Sadler 32 for the first time this season and am interested in how forumites attach spinnaker blocks to the toe rail.

Would attaching via a snapshackle directly to the holes in the toe rail cause too much wear?

Other methods I am considering are attachmenty to the toe rail via soft shackles or webbing straps.

Any guidance/ hints would be welcome.

 

[Yacht Yogi]

I would suggest you can shackle directly to the toe rail to begin with so that you can easily move the attachment until you find a sheeting angle you are happy with. Alternatively you could add tweakers further forwards to give some adjustment and then position the block wherever most convenient. I have shackled directly to the toe rail on a Greek charter yacht but we only used it for a fortnight in light winds. There was no apparent marking of the toe rail.

I am sure that in the longer term you will damage the toe rail and then get some local pitting corrosion. It would probably be best to use a lashing between the shackle and toe rail.

Cheers, Chris

 

[prv]

I've been on plenty of charter boats which just shackled straight to the rail, but I reckon a short webbing strop (continuous loop with both ends in the shackle and the middle passing round the rail) would be kinder.

Pete