Sailboat's traveller block

Hey guys

Last summer while in a patch of rough weather, I accidentally gybe badly. So badly in fact that my mainsheet traveller had it; 32 years of service was enough it seems. While looking for options to replace it, I quickly realize that anything that you can buy stock today needed to be perfectly flat, while mine has a nice curvature to follow to companionway. So instead of paying hundred to get something custom made, here is what I came with. A block of wood that is flat for the traveller and curved on the other side to match the companionway.

Not the most impressive project I know, but I’m pretty pleased with the result. Made from white oak and Ipe. Glued with epoxy and 10 coats of marine varnish on top of it (because I want this to last at least 32 years!).

I’ve also played with the gopro to take a pict every 30 seconds of me working on this. I could have spent hours on an editing software to get a better result but I just wanted to see how it would turn out. For anybody of you who are curious, here’s the link of a funny stop-motion video of me moving tools around all the time :)

https://youtu.be/cHX1XM7zJaY

sam