Moving mainsheet traveler

[cla6665]

Hello all, quick technical question. I have a Pearson 30 with the mainsheet traveler located behind my steering wheel. I am thinking of moving it over the main hatch to free up some space. I am a bit concerned about the geometry and stressing the boom and the deck by fitting it there. I dont think I have seen a Pearson 30 with this modification. Any thoughts?
Thank you

[Kiwi Dave]

Hi
I am not familiar with your boat, but you have identified the concerns. No theoretical reason if the boom is strong enough (I suspect most are), the fittings are up to the task & the track is securely fastened. You may also have to increase the number of blocks in the main sheet system.
All my yachts have had center boom attached main sheet systems - can bend a bit, but only breakage ever was where the boom vang attached.

Good luck.

[psk125]

You are right to be concerned about the geometry and stressing the boom and deck. As Kiwi suggests, if the boom and deck are strong enough, the fittings up to the task, and the track is securely fastened, there should be no problem. The problem is that most booms and decks are NOT strong enough without modification and the securely fastened track rips the top off the cabin and/or deck while the poorly calculated point loading on the boom snaps it in two.
Pearson 30’s have the sheet led from the back of the cockpit to the end of the boom because it is the best way to reduce loads on the boom. This enables a lighter boom, which is not only cheaper to produce but less weight also improves sailing performance. The long lever arm of the boom reduces the force you need to pull in the sheet too. Moving the sheet to mid-boom will double the force required to pull in the sheet, and double the force acting upon the boom as well. To prevent it breaking, this load has to be spread out on the boom, either by reinforcing the boom itself with a sleeve or more often by having several blocks at intervals along it for the main sheet. The increased load (doubled, you will recall, if you are moving the sheet to mid-boom) will now also be acting upon the traveler that you will have to move to the cabin top. The cabin top of a Pearson 30 was not designed to handle the upward pull of the mainsheet cranking in (at 6:1? More if you install a winch for it! ) for sailing upwind in a 15 knot breeze. It will need reinforcement, likely tying it in to the cabin trunk, deck and hull/deck joint, to keep the traveler from ripping all these things apart. This is going to take up space in the cabin or mess up the lines of the boat quite a bit.
The changes are also going to be expensive.
An simpler alternative might be to use an easily opened shackle to attach the mainsheet to the existing traveler. Easing the traveler to leeward will get it out of the way when you’re sailing. In port when you want the sheet out of the way you can detach the shackle and move the end of the sheet to the toerail or to a stanchion base. This gets the boom out of the way of the companionway as well.
It may be that the problem you have is less of a problem than you think.

[cla6665]

Thank you so much, very useful information. I think after reading all this I rather leave it the way it is. I dont think it's worth the trouble.
Thank you

[Soteria]

I have a Farr38 and is also contemplating moving the traveller, or to remove it totally. The traveller is currently in front of the wheel and it always hampers quick movement to the front and I also find it dangerous.
My thought is to change it to a central point but hesitates if I think about the upward forces as explained above. Although I do see various larger yachts than mine that do have this same setup - Referring to the Sirius 40DS.

[Soteria]

I am also contemplating building a arch on which I could attach a block on the starboard, and on the port side with the following setup.
I will take my two current blocks, 1 at the boom and 1 down. ( I will just remove it from the current traveller). The one end of the sheet will be attached to the block and the other end will go to the mast and back to one of my winches in the cockpit.
Then the bottom block I will put a shackle as in this photo with two sheets going down, one to the port side and one to the starboard side, to a block on the arch on both sides with clutches on each side. With these I can pull each sheet and it will replace the traveller.
The picture below does not fully give justice to my idea, however it gives some indication of where the sheets will go.

[GordMay]

Greetings and belated welcome aboard the CF, Soteria.

[psk125]

The Sirius 40DS with the mainsheet trimmed to the binnacle guard has a VERY serious binnacle guard. It looks to be made of stainless steel pipe almost 3” in diameter, with cross braces welded in X’s across it in more than one place. How it is secured to the cockpit floor is not obvious, but it would hopefully have been carefully engineered so as not to rip out in the event of a surprise gybe. Setting up a similar arrangement on a Farr 38 would take some doing, starting with perhaps reinforcing the underside of the cockpit to take the increased forces upon it from the binnacle guard, then building and installing a sufficiently strong binnacle guard. Building an arch to take the mainsheet instead might be simpler, because the feet of the arch could be placed near the hull/deck joint which might be strong enough to take the load without further reinforcement. Making an arch low enough for the blocks under the boom, however, would turn it into a real head-knocker in the cockpit, all the time.

The design drawing for the Farr 38 shows the main traveler set on the aft corner of the bridge deck, not in front of the binnacle. Moving the traveler to the bridge deck might be the simplest solution. The area was designed and likely built to deal with the forces involved already. It would ease moving around in the cockpit by removing the traveler from the binnacle/wheel area. Since the traveler car could be set to one side or the other, the mainsheet would not have to impede access up or down the main hatch. A single-point mainsheet setup works for a motorsailer like the 40DS, but a Farr 38’s mainsail is much more important for the balance and drive of the vessel, and needs more delicate control than that.

[Soteria]

Thank you for your honest opinion as I can see that you made an effort to think it through.
I refer to an article https://www.glen-l.com/free-book/rig...ilboats-5.html, where it states the following:
In order to figure a tackle to control a mainsail, for example, you must first know the area of the sail. Once the area of the sail is known, figure the "load" caused by the wind on the sail. In figuring for a mainsail which has the mainsheet lead at the end of the boom, figure wind load by multiplying the sail area by 1.5 lbs. per square foot. If the mainsheet leads to the boom midpoint, multiply the sail area by 3 lbs. per square foot. (For figuring the jib or Genoa, also multiply by 3 lbs.) Actually, these factors are only estimates by rule-of thumb and allow a safety factor in consideration of varying sailing conditions, rig designs, and wind forces up to 20 knots, but the results will usually be close enough.

If, for example, a mainsail has 100 square feet of area, the mainsheet load at the end of the boom would be 100 square feet multiplied by 1.5 lbs. and would equal 150 lbs. Obviously, in order to control this sail it would require 150 lbs. of "pull" at times on the sheet.[/I]

Therefore the pull in a 20 knot wind for my sail area would be in the region of about 580 lbs.
On my Farr 38 the traveller is in front of the binnacle, and pulling on the attachment at the end of the boom. (This is the only photo I have)