Traveler Above Companionway?

[Terry Kaufman]

We just acquired a '76 Hunter 30. The traveler is mounted at the bottom of the companionway. Out prior boat, an '84 Islander 28 had the traveler on the cabintop just fwd of the companionway opening. That was so much more convenient. But the fellow I tentatively am thinking of having do the work has concerns. He believes the cabin roof is balsa core, and I'm inclined to think he's right. Therefore he worries that this would not be a sound place to mount the traveler, since the stresses on it would/could rip it out.Has anyone experience with this issue or knowledge of a solution?Thank you. TerryTKRI@aol.com

 

[kirk]

Cabintop

We bought a 29.5 Hunter from Dan Sariol who had his traveler mounted on the cabin top. He had it in gale force winds and no problems. Its backed with wood blocks and through bolts on the inside. You can contact Dan through HOW.

 

[Ed Schenck]

Many have been moved.

Your sailing area probably does not have as many Cherubinis as we do on Lake Erie. I see the modification all the time, on H27s, H30s, and H37Cs. My own H37C traveler is still on the bridgedeck and will stay there. But I did study the possibility. So long as you install adequate backing plates it will not be a problem. Those could be glassed into the deck from the top if you don't want big aluminum plates and bolts showing inside on your headliner. That's the way your cabin roof winch was done. There's one on YachtWorld, a 1978 in Seabright, NJ. But the traveler is hard to see in the picture. Many have used the Garhauer traveler system, link below. How did the newer models do it? Didn't the H30 move it up there in 1980 or '81?Yachtworld: http://www.yachtworld.com/listing/yw_listing_detail.jsp?checked_boats=929141

 

[Bert Kinyon]

I've got stress cracks!

I have a '93 Hunter 30 with the traveller on the cabin top. No problems with the mounting but I do have some stress cracks running along under the slides for the companion way top.There's got to be a way to fix these permanatly but I don't know how....

 

[David Undewood]

Most likely....

it is balsa core, my Hunter 33 is, I have added vents where I cut out 4 inch holes and balsa it was. But, very stronge and sfiff.. you would need to reinforce well to prevent "crushing" the sandwich that makes up your cabin top. The suggestion of placing theh plate inside the core sounds like a good approach to me, but be sure your person doing the work knows what he is doing. Good luck, by the way, mine is still in the companionway and there it will remain. Look in the Cherubini sections for photos of other conversions. Several have done really nice jobs.