The block we blew up was wimpy, really.
OK, apparently these things have in fact been exploding…in the United States. In Europe, the original blocks from Hallberg-Rassy have been up to the task. Apparently in the States we get a bunch of ex-race boat owners like me that go and buy them, then trim the hell out of the sails. And things start breaking. If I was a well behaved sedate cruiser type, this would not happen.
It may not be helped by the fact that I have now upgraded the sail from old floppy Dacron thing to an Aramid weave (very strong), and also now upgraded the outhaul line to an aramid line with a breaking strength in excess of 17,000 lbs. This thing does get loaded up after all.
Frankly I find it shocking that anything on this boat isn’t up to severe abuse; Hallberg-Rassy generally overbuilds everything. There are, in general, no wimpy parts to this boat.
As it turns out, there are no replacements for the block we broke to be had anywhere in the world for love or money. My rigger procured the last two sheaves in the world (according to Lewmar, the manufacturer) made specifically for these blocks. A little time on a press machine, and we can get them back on.
In the meantime, Lewmar and Hallberg-Rassy have developer a better, stronger block for this application…available in September. So we wait, and jury rig the outhaul until then.
