Mainsheet Traveler position

[Carlos Silva]

On my 30' cruiser I have a mainsheet traveler system installed on the cockpit across the seats and perpendicular at 1.10m from the boom and 95.5 cm from the mainsail clew.There is room to move it back about 30 cm and therefore give more feet space to the crew, but I wonder what effect it could have on the sail trimming and if I would need to also bring it back on the boom.Thanks,

 

[Ed Schenck]

Guessing, but. . .

the angle of the mainsheet from traveller to boom should not be a problem in sail handling. This assumes that moving the traveller back almost 12 inches(30cm) does not cause interference between the mainsheet and something else like winches, stanchions, bimini frames, etc. Also moving the bale rearward on the boom would seem to improve handling as it would provide addtional leverage. But I don't think you would need to do that.

 

[Larry W.]

Traveler position

Carlos; Depends. If the boat is a racer, moving the traveler and the attachment point aft would increase leverage, as long as the mainsheet itself doesn't interfere with anything else, but it the boat is a family cruiser that will have kids or wife in the cockpit, you might want to move everything to the cabin top. Just MHO.

 

[Doug T.]

Aft traveler

Our Sabre 28 has the traveler positioned all the way aft of the cockpit, on the transom, just forward of the backstay. The mainsheet is attached at the very end of the boom and is about, 15-20 degrees from perpendicular. It works just fine! The only "problem" is that there's not a lot of room between the wheel and the mainsheet and you have to be careful to lean forward when tacking/gybing so the mainsheet doesn't hit you on the way around.We've been mulling moving it forward to the front of the cockpit or to the top of the cabin. The front of the cockpit would position it with good control of the boom, but it would get in the way of the companionway. Moving it to the cabintop would get it out of the way completely, but the boom attachment point(s) would definitely not provide very good leverage.