I bought a 20 year old j24. The local yard launched and rigged it,
using wooden wedges to hold the mast at the deck opening. These fall
out regularly and I am looking for a more permanent solution. I've
seen a jcd fitted mast block at several online stores, but it seems
kind of pricey at $155. Does anyone have experience with this mast
block, or have any other suggestions?

danm wrote:
I bought a 20 year old j24. The local yard launched and rigged it,
using wooden wedges to hold the mast at the deck opening. These fall
out regularly and I am looking for a more permanent solution. I've
seen a jcd fitted mast block at several online stores, but it seems
kind of pricey at $155. Does anyone have experience with this mast
block, or have any other suggestions?

Yeah, that seems like an outrageous ripoff.

My partner blocks are wood. I think I got them from TPI about 15
years ago. It took a bit of futzing to get them to fit right because
the deck opening isn't centered on the mast step I-beam (this is true
of most boats). Once I got them done right, I slopped a bunch of
layers of epoxy all over them and they've been fine for all these
years.

Whatever you do, you want something better than a bunch of wooden
wedges. Even if you can keep them from calling out, you'll never get
the rig tuned properly like that.

Thank you Roy. Are your wooden blocks all flat sided, or are they
fitted to the shape (at least at the forward end) of the mast?

Roy Smith wrote:
danm wrote:
I bought a 20 year old j24. The local yard launched and rigged it,
using wooden wedges to hold the mast at the deck opening. These fall
out regularly and I am looking for a more permanent solution. I've
seen a jcd fitted mast block at several online stores, but it seems
kind of pricey at $155. Does anyone have experience with this mast
block, or have any other suggestions?

Yeah, that seems like an outrageous ripoff.

My partner blocks are wood. I think I got them from TPI about 15
years ago. It took a bit of futzing to get them to fit right because
the deck opening isn't centered on the mast step I-beam (this is true
of most boats). Once I got them done right, I slopped a bunch of
layers of epoxy all over them and they've been fine for all these
years.

Whatever you do, you want something better than a bunch of wooden
wedges. Even if you can keep them from calling out, you'll never get
the rig tuned properly like that.

In article .com,
danm wrote:
Thank you Roy. Are your wooden blocks all flat sided, or are they
fitted to the shape (at least at the forward end) of the mast?

There's two blocks -- front and back. The inside of both are shaped
to fit the mast contour.

We put the mast up once in the spring and take it down in the fall.
In the spring, we apply a liberal amount of silicone over all the
joints and gaps to make it (more or less) watertight. In the fall, we
need to slice all that silicone off with a knife. If you're planning
on trailering the boat (i.e. putting the mast up and down a lot),
you'll probably not want to do the silicone thing.

Thanks again Roy. Very helpful


Roy Smith wrote:
In article .com,
danm wrote:
Thank you Roy. Are your wooden blocks all flat sided, or are they
fitted to the shape (at least at the forward end) of the mast?

There's two blocks -- front and back. The inside of both are shaped
to fit the mast contour.

We put the mast up once in the spring and take it down in the fall.
In the spring, we apply a liberal amount of silicone over all the
joints and gaps to make it (more or less) watertight. In the fall, we
need to slice all that silicone off with a knife. If you're planning
on trailering the boat (i.e. putting the mast up and down a lot),
you'll probably not want to do the silicone thing.