Becketed Block - what is this?

[slagoon]

What is a becketed block? In my instructions it says that the Gaff Throat Halliard uses a becketed block. My instructions are below. My google search just showed me normal blocks......

 

 

Thanks in advance

[russ]

A becket is an eye that is seized into the block's strap. In this case, the end of the throat halyard is seized into the becket and then down through the second block, back up through the upper block and down to the deck.

 

Russ

[capnharv2]

A lot of blocks have an attachment on one end. A becket block has an attachment on both ends.

 

The block that I made (shown on my Constitution thread) is a becket block. Our boat's throat halyard is rigged similar to the one you're doing. On the HL, the becket is attached to the mast. On our boat, the becket is attached to the gaff throat.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks,

 

Harvey

Edited April 17, 2013 by capnharv2

[slagoon]

let me see if I understand....

The red part is connected to the eye bolt and then goes all the way around the block then (gradient to orange) goes through the hole in the lower block then through the hole in the upper block then down?

 

Harvey, I've had a few blocks that have 2 attachment points on them, but this is the first time the instructions used this term...I suppose that may be throwing me off.

[capnharv2]

Sarah,

 

See if this makes sense-

 

[slagoon]

ok I think I have it. Thanks guys!

[popeye2sea]

 

Here is a picture of a becketed block.  The becket is the smaller diameter loop that is made fast on the strop of the block.  In construction it is kind of like a large grommet.  The standing part of the tackle fall is then hitched through the becket and seized to itself.

 

 

[druxey]

Thank you, Popeye. That's a definitive visual reference!

[popeye2sea]

It  is a gun train tackle on the USS Constitution.

[Scoot]

On the "New Bedford Whaleboat" After searching the same question. I found this as a explanation.

 

 

 

Scoot

[Fallfan]

In the mid 1980's I did a couple of seasons rigging marquees in Plymouth with a company called Topes on the Barbican. They used to be sailmakers. The lads I worked with used to call a becket a small ten inch long wooden peg used in order to hold the walling of the marquee tight to the ground. Striking was the term used to take the marquee down.

Would be interesting to know if anyone can see a connection between a loop of rope and a wooden peg given the nautical provenance of Topes. Maybe the becket was a loop of rope stitched to the marquee and the peg knotted to it and hammered into the ground, and a later generation of riggers began to refer to the peg as a becket? Curious if anyone has any ideas, thanks.