What kind of traveller track?

[Jdege]

So my refit has gotten to the point where I'm getting all the running rigging set. In particular the travellers. (She's a ketch, so there are two.)

Travellers on the boats I'm familiar with have control blocks, with which the sliding car can be set in a particular position. If my boat had such, they were removed by a prior owner, and I've not found them in the collection of loose pieces I've found cluttering my boat.

So the question - do I need the control blocks? Is simply letting the car move freely from side to side adequate for normal cruising?

If not, can I find control blocks that fit my current track? Can anyone identify the make of this track?

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by Jdege

So the question - do I need the control blocks? Is simply letting the car move freely from side to side adequate for normal cruising?

It depends upon what you consider to be "normal cruising".
Today many have their boat rigged up for "normal" cruising with gear that not that long ago was the new stuff for racing.
The plain old traveler did yeoman duty for too many years to count and they still work fine for much of the sailing that many do.
What the control blocks do is allow you to sheet in closer, (draw the boom closer to centerline,) without changing the leech tension of the sail.
In effect you get a bit larger range of boom angle with only affecting sail trim a minimal amount
No free lunch though, on boats that aren't particularly close winded being able to pull the boom in another foot or so usually won't do much, (yeah, I know, some measure speed to weather in hundredths of a knot).
Generally speaking, with travelers the longer the better.

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by Bowdrie

It depends upon what you consider to be "normal cruising".
The plain old traveler did yeoman duty for too many years to count and they still work fine for much of the sailing that many do.

That suggests that I should just leave it as-is until I have more experience sailing this boat?

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by Jdege

That suggests that I should just leave it as-is until I have more experience sailing this boat?

From The pic you posted it appears that the traveler is short and is used for the mizzen sail?
Now on divided rigs each sail as you move aft from the bow generally wants to sheet in a little closer.
Sometime while you're out playing around you can take a tackle and hook it to the sliding block and haul it up to weather in stages and see what difference, (if any,) it makes.
If you get positive results that will help your decision.
Each boat has a "sweet spot" where its sails/boom angle like to be, it's the relationship between the hull/sails/wind angle/wind speed, and it's always shifting around depending upon sea state.
Far be it from me to say "no" don't use control blocks, they can be useful, but on a fairly small mizzen sail they can also just be more clutter and strings to fiddle with.
Of course on a racing boat there might be a crewmember whose only job is to play with a traveler.

[wholybee]

That looks like a Nicro-fico traveler. They were available with control lines, but most parts are not available anymore, even though they are still n Rig-Rites website.

https://www.rigrite.com/Travellers/N...lers/NF610.php

The one on my boat doesn't have the control lines, but does have moveable stops. So, I can ease the sheet, move the stop to the new location, then sheet in again. I don't think I would want it moving unsecured. I think I would rather give up the traveler and just have a block on the centerline. Maybe having it move freely on a Mizzen isn't so bad.

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by Bowdrie

From The pic you posted it appears that the traveler is short and is used for the mizzen sail?

That's the mizzen sheet, yes, and it's necessarily short because it's a very narrow boat - 37 feet in length and only eight foot beam. By the time you've moved back to the stern there simply isn't room for a longer track.

[sailingharry]

As mentioned up thread, some of those have movable stops. The boat I grew up on had that same traveler. They were fist sized chunks with a pin stop and you'd pull the pin up and slide it to where you wanted it. An awesome pain to try and push the traveler to weather!

Also as mentioned up thread, a traveler is valuable going up wind. The normal default for boomed sails is to have the boom on centerline. This requires the traveler to be about a foot or so above centerline. But many of the cruising boats sold these days don't have a traveler, and sheet to a fixed point on the center line.

The mizzen is an exceptional challenge. Typically the mizzen boom is several feet (maybe 4-6) above the sheet point. This dramatically exacerbates the problem with the boom falling off to leward -- and does it on the sail that is most back winded and needs the most sheeting!

If you elect to replace either of your travelers, you should be sure to include Garhauer on your list.

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by wholybee

I don't think I would want it moving unsecured. I think I would rather give up the traveler and just have a block on the centerline.

The way I see it I have four choices:

1. let the car slide freely, or
2. lash the car to the center line, or
3. find control blocks for the existing track, or
4. replace the track,

I'm leaning towards one of the first two until I've gained some experience and seen how it handles.

If parts for this track are no longer available even from used part dealers like Rig-Rite, option #3 may be off the table.

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

If you elect to replace either of your travelers, you should be sure to include Garhauer on your list.

Googling around about NF 1169 travellers I've seen posts claiming that the Ronstan Series 32 I-beam tracks are dimensionally identical, and their cars and controls will fit.

So that might be another option.

[psk125]

It is probably not worth spending a lot of money on fancy equipment for adjusting your traveler position or getting new cars and controls if the one you have still slides around well enough. The photo looks like there's a padeye at the end of the traveler. Is there another padeye at the other end? In that case it would be very simple to attach a line or small tackles to the padeyes and connect or shackle the other end to the bottom of the sheet block on the traveler. You'd then be able to adjust the traveler. K.I.S.S.
As has been noted, your travelers are not very long, so will likely not have much impact. You will want them midships or close to it going upwind, and eased off all the way when going downwind to let the sail out all the way. The Meadowlark is not a high-strung racing boat where easing the traveler two inches will mean passing three boats on the fourth leg of a competition.

[Jdege]

There are padeyes at both ends of the mizzen track, there aren't on the main. They'd be easy enough to add, the main track is on the coach roof, and Curlew doesn't have a headliner.

All Meadowlarks seem to have KISS as their primary design principle.

I'm leaning towards just fixing the cars on the centerline until I gain more experience with sailing this boat.

[DEAN2140]

"I'm leaning towards just fixing the cars on the centerline until I gain more experience with sailing this boat."

Good choice. I would not want the traveler block sliding around every time I tacked or Jibed.

[Jammer]

Well, I don't think they'll matter much where you are, given your goals for the boat and its current condition.


Let's look at what you can get out of a full-featured traveler:
- Better pointing angles, by centering the boom.
- Ability to depower upwind in gusts by releasing the traveler, without affecting sail shape
- Easier sail trimming hard on the wind, than with a sheet and vang alone.


All of this depends on having sails in good condition, and it only matters upwind. If you're on a reach or a run, you use the vang.


Tweaking the traveler after a tack is extra fuss. On a ketch, twice as much extra fuss. When I am short-tacking, as a rule, I center the traveler and accept the slight reduction in performance. Another fact to consider is that you end up with four control lines (on a ketch; two for each traveler) that you have to cleat off and stow.


So in cruising the traveler matters most when you're going to be on a certain tack for quite a while An hour? Half an hour? Depends. Less if you have good crew or are racing.



Now, if your sails are in fantastic shape (or you plan to replace them soon) then maybe you can get an extra 5 degrees of pointing and an option for dealing with gusts so you don't have to reef as early. I doubt if you'll get any more VMG from the pointing improvement on a Meadow Lark but sometimes that isn't what matters with river sailing. Sometimes the 5 degrees makes the difference between having to make an awkward tack at a narrow spot in the river vs. just being able to hold your course around a turn.

[DEAN2140]

"Well, I don't think they'll matter much where you are, given your goals for the boat and its current condition."


Securing the traveler can be important for safety. Years ago I was sailing on a 42' boat in SF Bay when the windward cam cleat securing the mainsheet system (4:1) failed. My girlfriend was near the traveler as the sheets came hurtling toward her and was knocked out when she landed on the aluminum toe rail. We docked in Richmond and took an ambulance to the hospital. Fortunately she recovered.

[DougR]

If the rollers on your Nicro traveler car and the track are in decent shape a little work can make it very serviceable.
Mount a plate across the top of the car with the two screws that are there and attach pulleys to it. These pulleys are from Harken.