The only production catamaran I'd consider owning these days (because a reader asked), a pretty cool LED tie kit which might be of interest to very confused boat folk that actually still wear ties, and maybe it's just me, but does this send a message or what?
Being a lazy guy, I decided that it would be no bad thing to add another purchase to my mainsail halyard but finding just the right block to do it has been somewhat problematic, as most blocks were just a little too long for the small space between the head of the sail and the existing halyard sheave.
Lucky for me, serendipity is my friend and as I was looking for something else at an online chandler and scanned past a small soft snatch block that would do the job just fine...
Maybe I should rephrase that opening statement...
Being a lazy and cheap guy.
Yeah, ain't no way this boy is spending $300 on a bit of rope and a sheave when I can buy the makings for a whole lot less...
How much less you ask?
Well, a soft shackle of the right size for this enterprise uses a kiss less than 38 inches of Amsteel or Dynex. If I bought the line at Defender today it would cost me a little over $9 for Dynex or a bit over $6 for the Amsteel. The sheave I could pick up from someone like Petzl or Camp (climbing gear folks) who make rescue pulleys whose sheaves are just the right size for a project like this for maybe $10, throw in half hour of sweat equity to do the soft shackle splice and hey presto a reasonable facsimile of the Equiplite soft snatch block for less that $25... Seems to me we could all come up with a use for that $275 of savings...
Kind of makes you think.
As it happens, I'm not going to make my own snatch block because as I was perusing various rescue pulleys it made me realize that the Camp rescue pulley would work just as well as the soft snatch block for my purpose, if not better, and I could buy one for even less ($14!) than making my own. What do you think this melon farmer is going to do? Didn't I mention I'm a lazy guy?
Is not serendipity a wonderful thing?
Listening to Lee Rude
So it goes...
