To make handling the sails easier on Britannia they were all changed to roller furling and all control lines, furling lines, sheets and out-hauls routed to the center cockpit. This resulted in twelve lines passing along the deck(s) into the cockpit in two rows of six.
This was not difficult to plan, and the fairleads, clutches, winches, and pinrails would not be difficult to make and install, but Britannia has three deck levels: the lower fore deck, the forward coach roof deck and the saloon coach roof deck. To reach the cockpit lines had to be brought up from one level to the next and the next.
Bringing lines down from aloft and along a deck is easy, using blocks anchored to the deck and through line organizers. But routing lines upward and over the edge of a coach roof requires what are commonly called “over the top blocks.”
By any standard we had a lot of lines, but I knew how I would handle them once they arrived up to the cockpit. They would come through the front of the Bimini and through two banks of six rope clutches on either side of the companionway where it would be easy to reach and operate the clutches. Ropes would then feed to two Lewmar self-tailing winches then be coiled round a row of belaying pins to prevent tangles on port and starboard “rope decks.”
Over the top blocks are available from a few suppliers like Garhauer and West Marine for about $55 for a single line sheave and $85 for a double. Nobody seems to make more than a double sheave combination and with twelve lines that works out to be a very expensive exercise. All the over the top blocks I could find also used large sheaves with diameters of 2” inches or more. I wanted my lines as close to the deck as possible, to prevent someone tripping ove them.
Ronstan made nylon sheaves only 1 3/32” inches diameter, yet wide enough to handle up to a ½” inch line and I made my own over the top blocks using these sheaves. these running blocks word marvelously and the lines look very neat running close to the deck.
A method to overcome a common rope problem on different deck levels
