Frozen foot block

[Dean Abramson]

On our CD 31, one of the jib sheet foot blocks (bolted on a wooden block on the side deck, all the way aft) is hopelessly frozen. The sheave will not turn at all. We have tried lots of spray block lube, PB Blaster, and just plain whacking the thing.

Any suggestions?

Also, does anyone know whether the four fasteners holding the block to the wooden pad are thru-bolts with washers or backing plates and nuts, or are they screws? I’d like to just replace the block at this point, but I don’t know what I’d be getting into. It is virtually impossible to access the space under the deck there. A below-deck autopilot push-pull arm is in the way, plus a hot water heater shelf makes the space in the locker very tight to begin with.

I am pretty sure it’s thru-bolted.

Help!!!

[Chrisa006]

On my CD25 the jib car sheaves were shot. The rigger doing the standing rigging just drilled them out and put new ones in. Much cheaper then new ones.

[Sea Hunt Video]

Hello Dean:

I can't help much with the frozen jib sheet block. Perhaps a sledge hammer and a blow torch

I wanted to post to welcome you back I think it's been almost 2 years since you last posted on this board. Your insights, suggestions and comments have been missed. Most importantly, at least to me, have been the absence of your sailing photos. Hopefully, you will again post photos of your sailing adventures.

Please say "hello" to Marvo.

[Frenchy]

Others will probably have better suggestions, but I would try taking a chisel and gently hammering around the circumference of the
sheave to try to induce some slight vertical movement. It's possible the sheave is stuck along the inside surface of the block. But even
If it's stuck on the axle/shaft, the vertical movement, if you can get any, will also help free it.
The PB blaster will help. If you keep working, it may just free up. Good luck in any case - Jean

[Jim Walsh]

Are you certain it is not accessible through the lazerette? The bulkhead separating the lazerette from the cockpit lockers appears to be forward of the turning blocks and the stern cleats. I'm not on my boat but looking at an old photograph.
I stuffed my daughter into my lazerette a few years ago to back some nuts when attaching a couple brackets to my stern. She's about 5'5" tall. You may need to get someone in there unless you have already visually verified the backing plates and bolts are in fact located in the cockpit lockers.
I have found everything bolted through the deck to have aluminum backing plates so I'll bet this is the case with your turning blocks.

[mgphl52]

I stuffed my daughter into my lazerette a few years ago...

Sure hope you'll let her out soon...

[Dean Abramson]

Thanks folks.

Sea Hunt, I appreciate the kind words.

I can’t go in thru the lazarette, as ours is a propane locker sealed off from everything else.

I have been sort of doing Frenchy’s method with a screwdriver and hammer, but tomorrow I will try again with more “persuasion.” I can pass a length of seizing wire between the top and bottom plates and the sheave, so I now know that the issue is where the sheave’s donut hole and the spindle make contact. I think that a little upward movement could break it free. But if so, the question will be how free? It is hard to get lube to that area; one can only spray and hope.

There is a metal bale as part of the block. Would it be safe enough to shackle a regular block to it? What spec block and shackle would I need? Or is it too dangerous? There is a ton of load there, as the jib sheet is making a 180 turn there.

[mgphl52]

Maybe something a bit slimmer than a screw driver (thick, narrow putty knife?) may help. Working both sides of the sheave and, if you get it to rise, also work it from the top. Have you tried getting a line around it and then pinching really tight with vise-grips (sort of like an oil filter wrench) and wiggle back and forth?

[Frenchy]

Michael's idea of using a line and vice grips is a good one. If that doesn't break it free, you could try a judicial application of heat.
Maybe holding the soldering tip of a bernzomatic torch to the center axle would create enough expansion/contraction to loosen
the grip of the sheave. - Jean

[Jim Walsh]

There is a metal bale as part of the block. Would it be safe enough to shackle a regular block to it? What spec block and shackle would I need? Or is it too dangerous?

I wouldn't risk it. That "bale" was not designed to be load bearing. The consequences of a failure could be life threatening. Our boats are very powerful machines.

[Dean Abramson]

Hi guys,

I am hoisting the white flag. I’ve asked the boat yard to take a stab at it. True, it’s a grave personal defeat. Sigh.

I think it’s for the best. They are not emotionally involved. Me, I need to step back before I reach for a sledge hammer or dynamite.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Dean

[Sea Hunt Video]

. . . I need to step back before I reach for a sledge hammer or dynamite. Dean

Dean:

I did not say "dynamite". I said "sledge hammer and blowtorch". Admittedly, I was thinking of an industrial strength size blowtorch but geez, not dynamite. Poor Loda May.

[tartansailor]

It's wood. Wood expands with high humidity. If you can somehow encase it and feed hot air via a hair dryer overnight, it just might work.
Call it a Hail Mary attempt. Then sand the cheeks down a bit.

[RC James]

In the past, I had a Frozen Lower Roller Bearing............. CLP (Walmart-- Cleaning/Lubricant/Preservative GunCleaning Spray) over 3 days, and use of Lockjaw pliers both clockwise/counterclockwise in increasing ranges as movement was detected worked wonderfully. Once I had it moving, I continued application to the bearing and local areas, and have done so every 3 months or so afterwards. It has rolled the jib for 4 years, now.

It's slippier than WD-40, but doesn't have that Spring-time essence of Kerosene.
RC

[mgphl52]

Please try working back and forth with the line pinched really, really tight with vise grips before resorting to marina staff...