Replacing Traveler Car

[notz]

Has anyone found a good way to replace a traveler car on a non-branded system?

I have a US Yachts 295 sailboat, and an older traveler car with the cams on the car, and the cams themselves have completely worn out. I'd prefer not to replace the actual track, and just replace the entire car with new cams. I've tried to find spare parts for the cams without any luck.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[Talbot]

I measured the track for width and for thickness of the T section (assuming yours is a T section track, and asked other manufacturers if theirs would fit. Found one that had a plastic insert in the guide and who was willing to mill that insert to make it fit. - Job done

traveller was by Barton, the old track by main.

If it is not T section, you are probably going to need to replace.

[James S]

What’s the chance of rebuilding/fabricating the various bits that are worn out?

[svHyLyte]

Have a look at Rig-Rite Inc. - Masts, Booms, Spars, Rigging, and Hardware for Sailboats. . They seem to carry a lot of equipmnet that is not longer available elsewhere. The only down side is the company is horribly overpriced, but, if they're the only game in town...

Alternately, a rebuild may be the ticket.

FWIW...

s/v HyLyte

[notz]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

Have a look at Rig-Rite Inc. - Masts, Booms, Spars, Rigging, and Hardware for Sailboats. .

Ahh I forgot about them. I've used them before to replace another older part.

I've been searching for a long while and haven't found anything like what I have - it's pretty odd. I can't find any manufacturer names anywhere on the gear. I really would prefer not to remove the existing track, which is curved, but I am leaning more towards that as the only solution.

I'm also interested in a windward tacking car, which has a lot of appeal to me since I sail my 30' mostly single-handed.

I'm going to try one last time with measuring the track, and trying to find any names anywhere on it, and see if I can do something without taking that out. It's bolted through in so many places I would not relish filling those holes - I'm sure a new track wouldn't match!

[Ex-Calif]

Notz - We also had a completely "generic" traveler system. The car itself was badly worn and we did a repair. The repair lasted about 1 year and gave problems again.

Our traveler was a manual system - pull the pin, jerk the traveler, insert the pin. The issue was the rollers on the car. We couldn't find replacements so we made teflon "sliders" - they wore out fast and it almost looked like we were gonna lose the car off the track at the end. When we eventually took a good look we also noticed that after 20+ years the track was pretty worn on the underside as well.

We did some research and eventually decided to replace the whole shebang with harken gear. We went with a 2:1 purchase, with the clam system at the ends and we love it.

Our traveler was actually nested in front of the canpanionway between the port and starboard cocpkpit seats. So we had to measure and cut the length perfectly. Harken has all the specs available so I knew ahead of time the hole patterns would not line up. The trick was to actually get the traveler "centered" and not have any holes overlap. I could have done a proper job of filling the holes and such with fibreglass and epoxy but I lucked out and only had to fill the old holes, drill new ones and bed the whole thing down.

Overall I am very happy we have modern gear, standard Harken track sizes and hardware and a great operating system. A well invested $350 bucks.

Good lucj on your decision.

[Charlie]

I would look at garhauer. their prices are so low it is sometimes cheaper to buy a whole new system then to find an odd ball part. Garhauer Marine Hardware -8794241

Ok not that cheap but as Dan mentioned if you fix one thing something else might break then you are at thsi point again.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Charlie

I would look at garhauer. their prices are so low it is sometimes cheaper to buy a whole new system then to find an odd ball part. Garhauer Marine Hardware -8794241
.

FWIW:

A word of caution about these folks -- I was enticed by the good specs and low price of a pair of big genoa fairlead blocks. However, I noticed that there is no way to take them apart and replace the ball bearings (some sort of plastic... maybe Torlon) when they inevitably fail. Queried Garhauer about it, and they said " it's not a worry, mate, just send them back and we'll do it" or words to that effect.

Maybe an ok system for weekenders, but for folks cruising in far-off waters this is a deal breaker! How sad...

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II now lying Mooloolaba Qld Oz

[cabo_sailor]

Believe it or not my Cabo Rico did not come with a main traveler car that I could adjust from the cockpit. I had to literally man handle it to the position I wanted. Naturally I couldn't find a traveler car that would fit the existing track.

What I did was purchase a new, thin (approx .5 in) track from Harken. Drilled and tapped new holes into the old track (pretty easy with aluminum) and bolted it down. I was then able to purchase a new Harken traveler, with the end blocks, etc. to come up with an adjustable main traveler.

Now this worked pretty well for me on a main traveler but since you don't specify what traveler your working on, I don't know if this will help or not.

Rich

[notz]

Thanks for the note on Garhauer. I've used them before and been somewhat disappointed for similar reasons of flexibility. If I have to replace things, I'm going all Harken because of the compatibility and options.

I'm working on my main traveler. The biggest issue I see left is if I do a full replacement, getting the exact size. My traveler track is in between the cockpit seats and the step down into the cabin, and has a slight bend to it. The bend radius is not the typical bend that I see with Harken's compu-spec tool - down into the cockpit. It's bent up in the center of the track slightly from the ends.

I don't necessarily care about the car traveling all the way to the ends of the track, so I could get a shorter Harken track, but I am going to have to figure out what to do about the bend. I know Harken can bend things, just not sure how to go about it.

[notz]

Found more information about my current traveler setup. The car and track are made by Kenyon. The only place I've found details on replacement parts is Rig-Rite Inc. - Masts, Booms, Spars, Rigging, and Hardware for Sailboats., which others recommended.

It's a 4 wheel car, and a 1 1/4" track.

Anyone know if it would be easy to find another manufacturer's car to fit the track?

RigRite doesn't have pictures for most of the Kenyon stuff, so I'll have to call them tomorrow and see what they have and how much it will cost.

[hglad]

[QUOTE=svHyLyte;260264]Have a look at Rig-Rite Inc. - Masts, Booms, Spars, Rigging, and Hardware for Sailboats. . They seem to carry a lot of equipment that is not longer available elsewhere. The only down side is the company is horribly overpriced, but, if they're the only game in town...

I found Rig-Rite searching the web fore replacement control ends for the two, 30 year old Kenyon travelers on my Freedom 39PH. I found them at Rig-Rite for $199.00 a pop. Expensive, but in hours of searching, it was the only game I could find in any town. I checked with the controller who replied, " If you want to sail or sell the boat you are going to have to dip into the sailing kitty".

Having secured financing I placed a call to Rig-Rite to place my order for the endstops and while I was at it may as well replace the the car bearings which would bring the total to just shy of a grand. I know, from from considerable experience, a grand is only one boat buck, and consequently people are not going to bend over backward for your business particularly if they know they are the "only game" in town.

They had the bearings in stock, they would have to order the endstops from their supplier. I asked when I could expect delivery and was told from 4 to 6 weeks. Five weeks went by and I phoned to get a status and was told again that it usually takes 4-6 weeks. I asked the girl who took the order if she would "please" check for me if they were on the way since the ice was starting to break up on the river. I was asked to call back after the 6th week was up. I had agreed to the 4-6 week wait so, being the nice guy, I did. Midweek week 7 and no endstops I called again. I asked if she would check with their supplier for a status and was told that was not possible. I asked who the supplier was and I would check. I was told this was also not possible, but if I would like to cancel the order that would be OK. I asked if I could talk with the owner. This, again, was not an option, but I could email the manager at Rig-Rite.com. I asked for a name. I was told it depended on which day it was. My fuse was at its end, and I quickly hung up.

I phoned Garhauer Marine, explained my situation, and was transfered to Guido. After short conversation Guido allowed he could fabricate the endstops for me and would have them done in a week to ten days. Ten days later they were on my doorstep, and I saved a bunch.

Rig-Rite may be the only game in town for Kenyon and some other defunct manufactures, but, based on my recent experience, I wouldn't subject myself to the abuse and frustration of dealing with them even if the parts were free.

[FloridaWriter]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

FWIW:

A word of caution about these folks -- I was enticed by the good specs and low price of a pair of big genoa fairlead blocks. However, I noticed that there is no way to take them apart and replace the ball bearings (some sort of plastic... maybe Torlon) when they inevitably fail. Queried Garhauer about it, and they said " it's not a worry, mate, just send them back and we'll do it" or words to that effect.

Maybe an ok system for weekenders, but for folks cruising in far-off waters this is a deal breaker! How sad...

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II now lying Mooloolaba Qld Oz

Garhauer has a 10 year waranty on everything they make. I wouldn't worry about the bearing failing if you select the correctly sized block..their blocks are very well built.