Main sheet boom slider broken
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Paul Stascavage
Good day fellow sailors.
I didn’t pay too much attention to this topic when I read it as I didn’t think we had the problem. However, a week or so ago, when Chuck and Kim on S/V Joy stopped by, Chuck had me take a close look and sure enough, we had some cracks in our block. Chuck’s was in worse shape than ours. He removed his and found a local fabricator here in Hampton, VA to make a new one. I jumped on board and had one made for myself as well. Chuck instructed the fabricator to make the new one larger in the hopes that it would be stronger. We were both happy with the finished product (see pics). The fabricator made a bunch of extras (I think 6) if anyone is interested in obtaining one. The cost out the door was $205.00. The fabricator can be contacted at: Gilliam Welding 757-727-0773 Metals at GilliamWelding dot com www.GilliamWelding.com All the best, Paul Stascavage SM #466 - s/v Rita Kathryn Cruising US East Coast
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Paul Stascavage
Mike,
Glad to hear my information was helpful. Adriene and his daughter Ashley are awesome. We are currently in Wilmington, NC. We also plan to stop in St Augustine but not sure when. Hopefully we will get a chance to meet. All the best, Paul Stascavage SM 466 Cruising US East Coast www.RitaKathryn.com
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Paul Stascavage
Good day fellow sailors/repairmen.
Just to follow up on this posting, although my block was cracking, it was not in really bad shape. Hence, I did what many of us do and put the task at the bottom of the todo list. Well, time doing what it does best, things changed for the worse. After inspecting the block recently, I had to bite the bullet and get the job done. It was a pain to drill out the screws that I could not remove with an impact driver, but once everything was drilled out, the job wasn’t too bad. In evaluating the cause for the failure, it seemed to me that the weak link in the chain was the size of the original screws and the minimal thickness of the aluminum track that the screws were threaded into. Hence, when re-installing the new block (and the one aft that needed to be removed to slide out the failed one), rather than re-tapping for the same size screws in an offset position, I did something different. I had 1/4 inch aluminum backing plates fabricated (see photos). These were drilled and tapped to accommodate 1/4-20 alan head screws (the blocks also had to be drilled to accommodate the larger screws). We maneuvered these into place using string attached to the ends of the plates, and with some finesse and patience, we were able to line it all up and bolt everything together. This method should be much stronger than the original installation, and enabled me to keep the blocks in their original location. Hope this may be of some use to those who have yet to deal with this issue. BOAT - Broken Or About To. All the best, Paul Stascavage SM #466 - s/v Rita Kathryn Currently Exploring City Island, NY www.RitaKathryn.com
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eric freedman
Hi Paul, Where is the plate that you replaced located? What does it do?
I am at The Huntington Yacht Club. Are you planning to head this way? Fair Winds Eric Kimberlite Amel Super Maramu #376
From: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io [mailto:main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io] On Behalf Of Paul Stascavage via Groups.Io
Good day fellow sailors/repairmen.
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Paul Stascavage
Hello Eric,
My apologies if I was not clear. The blocks in the attached photo are the attachment points for the main sheet on the main boom. The block to the right in the photo was cracked, wiggled, and soon to fail. We had a new one fabricated in VA (see original post). The original block was screwed into the aluminum track (see photo of forward view of missen boom). This piece of aluminum is only about 1/8 inch thick. When i installed the new fabricated block and the one aft of it I slid the fabricated plates on top of the existing track and bolted them together with 1/4-20 Alan screws. Hence there is now 3/8 th’s inches of meat holding the block in place rather than the original 1/8 th inch. We hope to travel to your neck of the woods and Newport sometime mid August. I will reach out to you when we have a better idea of our plans. All the best, Paul Stascavage SM #466 s/v Rita Kathryn Currently Exploring City Island, NY www.RitaKathryn.com
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eric freedman
Hi Paul, I did the same thing on Kimberlite as the fixture on the mast was cracked. I bought a piece of flat aluminum stock And installed it with I think 4 or 6 allen head cap screws. Looking forward to meeting up with you. Fair Winds Eric Kimberlite Amel Super Maramu #376
From: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io [mailto:main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io] On Behalf Of Paul Stascavage via Groups.Io
Hello Eric,
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We had an alloy weldment made up from alloy stock and had it welded to the boom (like the 54) so we never will have this issue again. I don't know why Amel decided to use these blocks and the flimsy mounting system when they had weldments on the Maramu previously and they went back to that on the 54.
There's a picture of what we did on here somewhere. Cheers Alan Elyse SM437
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Paul Stascavage
Good day all,
We were recently in Hampton VA where we had the replacement boom blocks noted in the original post fabricated. As I had a need for an additional block, I contacted Andre from Gilliam Welding to see if he still had any. He did, so I purchased another to use on the mizzen boom. When Andre came to the boat to deliver the block, he gave me all he had and asked if I could find homes for the extras. I currently have 3 to sell on his behalf (see attached photo's). The cost is $205.00 US plus shipping. If you wish to purchase one or more, you can reply to this post or email me paul dot stascavage at icloud dot com. All the best, Paul Stascavage SM #466 - s/v Rita Kathryn Currently Exploring City Island, NY www.RitaKathryn.com
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