Townsend Blocks: Made in PT By Robin Dudley For people who love traditional sailboats, Port Townsend is a little slice of heaven. The language of sailboats is spoken here; it’s possible to talk about deadeyes and studdingsail booms, stuffing boxes and horn timbers, carrick bends and sacrificial zincs, and folks will understand. One place in particular talks that salty talk. Hardware, tools, and materials for traditional boats and rigging are available through the Chandlery at the Northwest Maritime Center (NWMC), and now, along with the imported marline and pine tar, are locally made, traditional rigging blocks manufactured on the premises by a recently formed collective: Townsend Blocks. In a traditional sailboat rig, blocks focus the forces pulling on the various ropes (sailors call them “lines” – a line is a rope with a purpose). Blocks of various sizes appear at key points in rigging, providing a smooth
surface and a sense of direction for the ropes that control the sails and spars. At the Chandlery, said NWMC Executive Director Jake Beattie, “We were approached by people looking for traditional rigging blocks and we were having a hard time with our suppliers. So we looked around and wondered, why not?” Five local companies collaborate on the blocks: the wood comes from Edensaw and is shaped by Turn Point Design; the sheaves and pins are made by Ed Louchard at Zephyrwerks; metal straps and beckets are made by Andersen’s Machine Shop; and the blocks are assembled, finished, marketed and sold at NWMC. “It’s pretty amazing how complicated such a simple and basic machine as a block is,” Beattie said. “Parts all have to be just so.” Single, double, and triple blocks, used in tandem, provide mechanical advantage, making it possible to lift and control the great weights and powerful
Max Richter assembles Townsend Blocks at the Northwest Maritime Center. Using modern materials and traditional style, the rigging blocks are a collaborative effort of five Jefferson County marine trades specialists. NWMC photo 16 • 2013 Wooden Boat FestivaL
Jerry Williams of Edensaw Woods displays pieces of teak in the product showroom. Edensaw provides the teak and, when available, black locust for the production of Townsend Blocks. Photo by Robin Dudley
forces aboard a ship using only human power. It is an old, reliable, and effective technology, which is why it’s still in use, despite the availability of electric or gas-powered hydraulic winches. There is also something satisfying about raising a sail that can weigh upwards of 2 tons using nothing but the concerted effort of the human beings aboard. Townsend Blocks also accomplishes great things by people working together. “It was definitely a community effort,” Beattie said of establishing Townsend Blocks, which provides the NWMC a revenue stream. The idea to make traditional rigging blocks right here in Port Townsend started with NWMC’s Chris Dewees, along with Scott Jones of the NWMC boat shop. A few other shipwrights helped come up with ideas for who to involve in manufacturing the parts. “Ulfar Andersen [of Andersen’s Machine Shop] had worked a few times on turning hardware for other projects” at NWMC, Beattie said. And he added that Turn Point Design was in on the prototype Scamp pocket cruiser build with Kees Prins, the former NWMC
boat shop manager; several Scamps are built each year in a workshop at NWMC. Edensaw Woods, a local supplier of wood from all over the world, was a clear choice for a provider of teak and black locust. And Brandon Davis, of Turn Point Design, shapes the wood by a computer-controlled router to create the cheeks of the blocks. “It’s really talented people that in one way or another we had a good relationship with,” Beattie said. “Ed Louchard’s name came up pretty fast.” Louchard ran a boat shop at Point Hudson from 1981-2003, then built another shop just outside Port Townsend, where he operates Zephyrwerks: The Sheave Factory. Louchard has made sheaves, the wheels encased inside blocks, for 15 years, he said, adding “I’m the only guy who does it ... people are happy to find me.” There is no other company that makes custom-made sheaves, he said, displaying a sheave the size of a small pizza that was used in a turning block at the base of the mast on the U.S. Coast Guard training ship Eagle. The sheaves made by Louchard, the cheeks turned at Turn
Point Design, and the metal straps and beckets machined to exact specifications at Andersen’s Machine Shop are then assembled and varnished at NWMC, like an “18th-century Boeing,” Beattie noted. The blocks are also marketed and sold from NWMC to ships and other customers all over the world. Many ships in the San Francisco Bay area have bought large orders of Townsend Blocks; and there are some other customers as well who are interested in the glossy, smooth-running objects. The CEO of a large east Coast company recently bought about a dozen as gifts for his office employees. “It’s the only office decoration with a breaking strain of 24,000 pounds,” Beattie quipped. Collaboration is nothing new for most marine tradespeople, fashioning complex machines of metal, wood, fiberglass, Kevlar, canvas and other materials, so it seems likely that Townsend Blocks, as well as being a window into the past, is a herald of more businesses to come. (Robin Dudley has hauled a fair share of line.)
Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader