A legal case I'll be watching, EBM gets it right, and in the "Interment/concentration camps are not just an American thing" department...
There's a piece of gear that really irritates me. Part of the reason has to do with the fact that I keep coming across gushing reviews of it and partly because the reviewers should know better. I should also add that, in general, I find the use of carbon fiber to no real advantage something of a con.
Which is not to say I think carbon fiber is not a great material for use on boats just that it makes sense where it makes sense and is vomit inducing stupidity where it does not...
This block is a good example.
This one has a carbon fiber bit of extrusion keeping the soft shackle and friction ring in place. A very strong bit of carbon fiber extrusion as it happens.
So, why am I bothered?
The extrusion in question doesn't need to be strong as it does not carry any load. So, just about any material would work fiberglass, a bit of sheet aluminum, a couple of zip-ties, or you could just drill a few holes in the low friction ring and tie it altogether with some Spectra fishing line. Even better you could just use a different type of soft shackle that does the needful. Carbon, in this case, is just tech overkill and results in a block that costs a whole shitload more than it should.
Nuff said.
I expect I'll be continuing this rant sooner rather than later.
Listening to The Ventures
So it goes...
