Jib halyard cheek block, sheave up or down?

The sheave on the jib halyard cheek block is broken to sh..., so I just bought a new one.

The old cheek block is installed like in the manual with the sheave on the bottom.


It would seem that it would make more sense to flip it upside down so the sheave is on top and that metal bar on the bottom. That way, when feeding the halyard through the blocks, it could not slide off the sheave before tension is added to it.

Is my logic good or is there a reason it's the way it is?

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Marc...
1978 Hobie 16 Keoke, sail# 36 84

The reason the sheave is oriented towards the bottom is so that you don't have to thread 20+ feet of halyard through the block each time you rig up. You just loop the halyard over the sheave, tension the rig, and cleat it off.

If you flip the block around, you'll have to thread the halyard line through the block on the mast and then through the block on the wire portion of the halyard every time you rig. Not a huge deal, but still a couple extra steps.

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I prefer the sheave down so I can slip the line on or off without having to pull the entire line through the opening. When I lower the jib, I slack off enough to slip the line off the lower sheave then pull the line through the upper sheave without pulling it out of the sheave. When raising the jib, I just need to pull some of the line down from the upper sheave and slip it over the cheek block. In 26 years, I don't remember ever having the line slip off the sheave accidentally.

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Howard

Ok, I'm convinced. I'll install the new one the same way with the sheave down as it is now.

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Marc...
1978 Hobie 16 Keoke, sail# 36 84