Re: Mainsheet, was traveller


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Posted by Fred Boynton on December 10, 2005 at 17:44:55 from 63.21.76.155 user Voyager.

In Reply to: Mainsheet, was traveller posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on December 09, 2005 at 18:36:53:

On all my smaller sailboats the fall of the mainsheet came from the boom, sometimes after being led along the boom for a few feet. Generally I held the sheet in puffy winds, ready for quick release. My 25ft Vertue came with a double-ended arangement, with short traveler bar (only 12 inches long, it might as well have been a fixed point) and each end leading from its block on the boom to a quarter block, then to a cleat on the outside of the cockpit coaming. That arrangment has its advantages, and perhaps if camcleats had been used providing the instant release I was accustomed to I might have left it at that.

Instead I changed to a three-part, fiddle block-to-fiddle block w' built-in camcleat, running from the traveler bar to the boom end. The fiddle block with the camcleat is usually located at the deck end, but I put it at the boom end. This way, when hauling in I could instantly drop the mainsheet, which was always engaged in the cam-cleat because the pull was downward, and tend the jib sheet, with my leg working the tiller. To release the mainsheet, even when the boom was well outboard, all I had to do was flip it and the "wave" traveled along until it got to the camcleat and jumped out; then it was able to run freely until I pulled in, re-engaging it. This arrangement provided the instant control I was used to in my smaller boats. Not using the quarter blocks gave up some of the downward component they provided, so if necessary I could have flattened the main with a temporary separate line to the toerail, and the two systems would have allowed me to position the boom more inboard or outboard as required, in addition to flattening the sail.

At the boat yard where I worked we used to make up simple "travelers" from a length of plastic coated stainless wire, placing small eyes at the ends and one in the middle. The mainsheet was attached to the center loop and the "travel" came from the two ends being fastened to the boat closer to each other than the total length of the wire; so the boom stretched whichever wire was to windward until it was taut while the other half went slack. Not very elegant looking, however (perhaps too KISS?), especially for a wood boat; this arrangement was more typical on board boats like the Sunfish. Changes should be kept in character as much as possible, enhancing both pride of ownership and resale value.

Sign over the companionway of an American cruising catboat: "If you want headroom, go on deck." It was fastened to the offending overhead beam.



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