Rated 4.9 out of 5 on Trustpilot
Rated 4.9 out of 5 on Trustpilot
5 Star Rated by Sailors
Trusted For 12 Years
Over 50,000+ Orders Shipped
90 Day Risk Free Returns
Price Match Promise
Don't Miss Our Easter Weekend Sale - Site Wide Savings Until Monday
February 03, 2022 2 min read
Allen Brothers thimbles are an evolution from a product that has been used on tall ships for many years, originally made from wood and plastics. Thimbles can be used for lots of different parts of your boat from kicker cascades to a 2:1 halyard system.
These Allen Brothers thimbles have a simple design made from a single piece of high-grade aluminium that is CNC machined into its shape. The high-grade aluminium allows the thimble to have great strength while weighing so little.
The shape allows you to splice a line around the outside of the thimble and the low friction coating inside allows other lines to slide through the middle with ease.
Being low friction and having a smooth inside means your ropes wear less than a they would as a traditional loop or eye splice.
A thimble is a substantial weight saving over a 20mm block. With a higher working and breaking load than a 20mm block, they sound great. But they can't be used on everything. They are low friction but that doesn't mean they have no friction as they have no moving parts. Constant use under load and adjustment through the centre isn't recommended and a standard block would perform better in this application.
Thimbles can be used in lots of different places on your boat. From 2:1 halyard systems to traveller systems they can reduce the weight and the cost of replacing a damaged block. They can be also used on backstays as their low friction characteristics allow the rope to move while under a slight load.
Thimbles can be used from anything from over deck continuous control lines to tweaker lines for your symmetrical spinnakers to take up systems on asymmetric spinnaker halyards. With a great working and breaking load they can also be used in kicker systems and downhaul systems but you would need to check if your boat class allows this.
Thimbles come in a variety of sizes ranging from 15mm to 35mm and a selection of colours too. If you are interested in thimbles or splicing them into your new lines we can also do that for you. Simply get in touch with our team and tell us the length and thickness of the rope you would like them spliced to.
Explore our full range of Rope Thimbles or take a look at all of our Allen Brothers products.
Bought when I changed the wheels - arrived well wrapped with the wheels and on time. Easy to fit quality product. Good service
Easy to fit and seem to be robust as a replacement for my Trolley wheels. Arrived as promised very well wrapped. Worth checking if you need new washers and clips to add to your order.
Though not cheap this control line swivel block is just the job. Well worth the money imho.
Always can rely on sailing chandlery leading up to a busy event season ! Great service, great products all round !
Excellent, fair pricing, fast delivery! Would recommend
Slides easily through the blocks whilst providing firm grip
Item has brilliant bounce back ability, thanks
Simple to fit and makes launching and recovery simple. Well worth the investment
Quality material and design enables my lug sail to be stowed securely on it's spars
Great wide and grippy tyres for a shingle/sharp launching area and compound for an RS400.
Receive fantastic service couldn’t help any more if they tried. Arranged for me to collect my order at a time that suited even when it was outside of working hours. Much appreciated, thank you sailing Chandlery.
Excellent gloves, perhaps the best I have used. The fingers are long enough to provide protection from sheets/halyards and fit nicely so that ropes cannot get between the glove and finger. If the winter gloves are any guide they should also be very durable.
really happy with these! the thick material means that I will be warm whilst sailing, and the 3 finger coverage allows mobility and warmth on the water. the added grip will really help on the heavy wind reaches, can't wait to test them out this weekend. shipping was really quick, with a sweet included in my order thank you.
As always, great stock, quick delivery, perfect, thank you
The footprint of these is much more than standard trolley wheels so they roll on sand much easier.
Save up to 40%on your next order.