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I outfit a lot of my boats with these auto ratchet blocks. They were spec'd on the GIS plans. THat is when I was introduced to them. Now they are to be discontinued by Ronstan. Does anyone know about this and what the replacement will be. God forbid I need to use Harken.
Found out that indeed Ronstan is discontinuing their ratchet blocks :(
Ronstan just wasn't moving these puppies, so they'll be discontinued. NOS stock will be available for a while, so stock up if you like these things. Don't be surprised if this is the case with other manufactures as well.
The market for ratchet blocks is just too small, to sustain the costs of making them. On small boats they're handy 30% of the time, not enough rachet 30% of the time and too much rachet 30% of the time. Nothing worse than having to yank line through one in light air, so the boom can pay out. The same is true in stiffer winds, where there's just not enough friction to make them useful. I don't have much use for them, but I can see why some might like them.
Still buying Ronstan Ratchet blocks :)
The problem is keeping up to date with the part numbers as the designs get updated.
Problem for me too.
This might help
Series 40 Ratchet | Ronstan Sailboat Hardware World
http://www.ronstan.com/RnImage_374x374/346.jpg
But check the Ronstan site whenever you can't find what you are looking for.
Ronstan International – Sailboat Hardware, Architectural Services, Industrial Hardware, Andersen Winches and Rigging Components
So they cannot sell the RF46101 with the soft shackle anymore because of copyright issues.
They can sell the one with the metal shackle...it costs about 3x as much!
:(