O'Day Javelin?

[Al Francis]

All,

I have owned an O'Day Javelin since 1967. It has only been sailed in fresh water until now, and not much of that. We have retired to Florida, and will be sailing the boat on the brackish waters of the St. Lucie River. I have restored the boat generally to its original condition (not much required, just soap, polish, wax, and sweat). I also stripped the original high gloss from the floorboards and used teak oil on same. Since it is a long way from my mast up storage/launching site to the main sailing area, I purchased a 3hp outboard to use in getting to and from same. Currently, it is transom mounted, which is a pain since the main sheet keeps hanging up on the motor housing when I come about or jibe. I'd like to buy a small motor mount which I could mount on the stern below the transom, hense keeping the main sheet from fouling the motor. Does anyone have any input on this? Thanks in advance.

PcAl (The "PC" stands for Palm City, not Politically Correct!)

 

[Joe11688]

PcAl,
Have you thought about changing your main sheet to a new location? You could mount a traveler with a block and tackle type of arrangement that can come off the boom about mid way instead of end of boom attachment that you have now. The block setup can have a cam cleat built into it. This is what I would do.
Joe

 

[Al Francis]

PcAl,
Have you thought about changing your main sheet to a new location? You could mount a traveler with a block and tackle type of arrangement that can come off the boom about mid way instead of end of boom attachment that you have now. The block setup can have a cam cleat built into it. This is what I would do.
Joe

Joe,

Thanks for the response. I'm not quite sure how the traveler is mounted from the photos. The Javelin is quite small (only 14ft overall) but beamy (about 5'4'') it has bench seats on both sides and the traveler might inhibit movement in the cockpit. Anyhow, thanks again for the suggestion. I'll look into the concept.

PcAl

 

[Joe11688]

Joe,

Thanks for the response. I'm not quite sure how the traveler is mounted from the photos. The Javelin is quite small (only 14ft overall) but beamy (about 5'4'') it has bench seats on both sides and the traveler might inhibit movement in the cockpit. Anyhow, thanks again for the suggestion. I'll look into the concept.

PcAl

PcAl,
That's the one drawback with travelers. It does prohibit seating room. So what you could do is install a pad eye somewhere in the center of the boat and come off that with your main sheet block&tackle to a mid boom eye strap. For ideas, check out a book called "Sail Power" by Wallace Ross for various sheeting arrangements. It might be in your public library. My boat came through with the main sheet block and tackle coming off a stainless steel triangular plate attached to the back stay and the end of the boom. I hated it and got rid of it by mounting the traveler on a piece of Teak across my seats just in front of the companionway. I have to step over it to get in and out of the cabin, but the sailing performance that I gained from having a traveler was worth it.