Hunter 340's why the arch angle was changed?

[Alan Townsend]

I was looking at two Hunter 340's with the arch over the cockpit. I noticed that in the plastic arches, they were angled aft and the traveler was then connected to the end of the boom. While the stainless arch is angled forward on the newer models and hence the traveler is connected to the boom more forward. What was the design reason for the change? I understand why the stainless replaced the plastic, I am interested in the angles and the traveler locations. Are there differences in the sailing characteristics?

 

[John C]

Save the sheet?

By placing the mainsheet block further forward on the boom you would expect to need less sheet length. This would mean a cost saving and probably increase speed of response given the same gearing. Guessing really.