Sheet Rigging
 

The mainsail sheet blocks and foresail sheet blocks on my schooner are attached to each boom by a shackle to a braided line wrapped around the boom several times and tied off. It looks bad, sloppy and very worn. What are some alternatives either hardware or unique lashings/knots that can replace wrapped braided line to more closely go with a traditionally rigged schooner. She is gaffed rigged, deadeyes and all.

Bob

You have a quick lash-up but there's nothing wrong with stroping the blocks to the spars. Marmalade's mainsheet blocks are stropped with three strand. When I got her, the strops were short spliced, which to my eye looked a little clutzy and was prone to chafe where the block's shackle bore on the strop. I made new strops where each end were back-spliced to a ring from which the tackle hangs.

The disadvantage is that this system does not come off readily. I put a little permanent chafe guard against the boom where the strops pass under the sail's foot track so that at least where things are really tight I won't have to repaint.

The nice thing about the strops is they allow the sheet tackles to take a fair lead tack to tack but spread the stresses more fairly than a bail. And they are dirt cheap.