Traveler Upgrade Question

Jackdaw · May 27, 2014

New sails first. Save your nickels and get new sails first.

A gold plated version of the world best traveler will not make up for 30 year old blown out sails.

Not even close.

Stu Jackson · May 27, 2014

Jack's right in terms of priorities. Most skippers center their travelers and then forget it anyway!

But once you get a new main, you'll wonder how you ever sailed properly without using a new traveler. Keep Garhauer in mind, they do their standard catalog stuff but also one-offs.

Don Guillette · May 27, 2014

WardH: Here's why the traveler is so important when you obtain your new sails. Many of the mainsail sail trim controls adjust a couple of things but the main function of the traveler is to ONLY adjust ANGLE OF ATTACK. Sailors and all humans will do what's easy and not what's hard and that's why, as Stu mentioned, a lot of sailors just set a pin type traveler and pin type fairleads and then forget about them. The setting is correct for one point of sail and wind condition and wrong for all others.

When you use the mainsheet to adjust the angle of attack, you're also messing with TWIST and DRAFT POSITION.

I know you know this because you've studied my stuff but maybe some lister's could use this info.

jimmcgee · May 27, 2014

Ward,
We've had good luck with Moorhouse Sails for repairs and service and friends of ours were very happy with a main Moorhouse built for them. They're located in Hainesport http://www.mandmsailing.com/index.shtml

I'll second the recommendation for Garhauer, they're another company who've given us good service http://garhauermarine.com

Say hi to Hunt and Susan (if they're still at Mariners), and did they ever dredge the channel in front of the town dock?

Jim

Don Guillette · May 27, 2014

Ward: Jimmcgee made me think of something.

I've told this story before. I felt my mainsail was wasted and I brought it to a sailmaker in Torrance, Ca. My wife came with me -- first mistake but not really. Turns out she went to HS with the guy and after they had "old home week" he told me he could do a "nip and tuck and fix this and that" for about $175. I really wanted to buy a new sail but I got some more years out of what he did for me. In fact, I sold the boat with that sail on it.

Just a thought but maybe your mainsail is not as bad as you think it is.

Joe · May 27, 2014

Ward H said:
This is my second season with a keel boat. Last season I just set the sails so they didn't luff and then relaxed. Now I am at the point I want to learn more about sail trim.
I have Don's guides and have been reading this forum.

I am still using the original sails and the main is blown out a bit. The traveler is the old screw pin to hold position type and won't move if there is any pressure on it.

Thinking a traveler upgrade might be cheaper than new sails, would it be worth it to do the upgrade first, then sails or put the money towards sails and then do the traveler upgrade?

It might make sense to take your mainsail to a loft for an opinion... and an estimate to fix or replace.... then allocate 300 to rebuild your traveler.... for a 25 foot boat you don't need a complicated rig... 2 to 1 is enough on purchase, what you need is a ball bearing car.... and probably a new track. If you go Harken.... the low profile track with harken's smallest car would work quite well. Get the one with the sheaves on top.... no cleats... the goal is to get the car as far outboard as possible... so cleats or full sized blocks on the car will take up room...

That said.... your first priority should be to acquire new, fresh sails..... It will literally change your sailing life... plus your boat will look cool and be the envy of your peers on the water.... new sails will also motivate you to get more performance out of your boat... So it is entirely likely you will go ahead with the traveler upgrade rather than wait a year.

Getting the traveler first would be like buying nice rims for your car and re mounting the old tires.....it just ain't cool... If you want to split... get the main and traveler this year, have the jib inspected and recut if necessary.... and start saving for a bad ass headsail replacement next year. RF headsail will cost 30% more than the main. So look at it that way.

Scott T-Bird · May 27, 2014

Ward, I know that you will probably upgrade your mainsail, and then you won't be satisfied until you upgrade your traveler. What kind of track do you have to start with? I upgraded to a standard Schaefer 3:1 system which has served me well, but I actually had to buy a new track to make mine work even though I had a Schaefer track to begin with (long story - it had to do with interference from the seats.)

In retrospect, I regretted that I didn't change over to the Harken windward sheeting model, but it was too late after already purchasing all the Schaefer blocks and car before realizing I had to by a new track anyway.

My point is to scope it out very carefully, and consider what you want and make sure it will work. The complexities of a small cockpit can be difficult.

Joe · May 29, 2014

Ward, regarding Garhauer traveler systems..... I would advise to analyze your track location and any restrictions to the car's side to side range. In my case the coaming restricts this range.. so I did not want end track mounted control blocks and cleats as you might prefer on a mid boom, cabin top system. I modified my system to what you see in the picture... it's only 2:1 but with end boom sheeting, that is quite enough....if I were starting from scratch I would use the type of car pictured here to give me a few more inches.

The current car can be modified to the top mount sheaves... but I'm used to what I have so... no big deal.

Stu Jackson · May 29, 2014

Ward, the longer the better. Why? To give you more wiggle room in adjusting. It's like the difference between the length of travelers on Catalinas compared to Beneteaus. The B travelers might as well not be there, they are so short. Take a look around in your marina if you have any bigger boats there with cabintop travelers. Same deal for you.

Jackdaw · May 29, 2014

Stu Jackson said:
Ward, the longer the better. Why? To give you more wiggle room in adjusting. It's like the difference between the length of travelers on Catalinas compared to Beneteaus. The B travelers might as well not be there, they are so short. Take a look around in your marina if you have any bigger boats there with cabintop travelers. Same deal for you.

Hey, you you calling short??!?!? ;^)

Stu's right of course, longer IS better. But mid-boom sheeting setups can be way shorter than end-boom systems like Joe's or our 36.7 and be equally effective. Think of the geometry, less distance on the legs of the triangle (boom) make the hypotenuse (traveler) shorter for any given boom angle.

Stu Jackson · May 29, 2014

Good one, Jack! That wheel sure looks small...

Traveler Upgrade Question

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