Removing the car from traveler rail on really old Beneteau

[BrandonB]

Hi guys.

I searched for this but couldn't find anything.

I have a 1989 Beneteau First 32.5 with the original traveler and it is in rough shape. 2 of the 4 sheaves have completely disintegrated and the "axels" are butted up against the rail.

How do you get the car off of one of these? I plan to have new sheaves made with brass bushings or bearings.

At the end of the rail there is a "cap" made of aluminum that looks to be secured to the rail right over the mounts that secure the entire system to the top of the cabin. There is a slotted screwhead that looks like the top pf a 6mm bolt that screws into the aluminum "cap".

I have tried to use a hand impact tool to break the screw loose but I ended up breaking the slotted bit.

I know dissimilar metals will corrode and weld together. I was going to try an air hammer and a sharpened punch. This method has worked for me on cars with seized bolts although that is not a galvanic corrosion problem.

Today another boat owner suggested the bolt is a through bolt with a nylock fastener underneath and I should drop the cabin headliner and remove the mounting bolts so I can get a socket on it.

Is there any truth to this?

Thanks

[Gary Mc]

Almost certainly this is a machine bolt with a washer and nut underneath and you will have to access that to get the traveller free.


Good luck

[BrandonB]

Hey! Thanks so much. That makes sense. Lucky I asked before I made a mess of things!



b

[Quebramar]

On my 2000 boat, a bit younger but quite classical build, it is indeed washer and bolt under deck. Not easy to access all parts but the only way I think

[CHM]

I have a 1988 Beneteau with an Amiot traveler system. To remove the car, you have to remove a control end which is held to the I beam by a bolt. It’s likely this is frozen and will have to be drilled out. Parts seem to be unavailable but Garhauer seems to have solutions to repair these systems. The actual I beam or rail is through bolted to the cabin top in my boat.

[kfgarvey]

I'm attempting to replace or rebuild the Amiot Traveler car on a Beneteau 35S5 and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me the best to remove it from the track.

Thanks

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by kfgarvey

I'm attempting to replace or rebuild the Amiot Traveler car on a Beneteau 35S5 and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me the best to remove it from the track.

Thanks

Does the post above yours help? Same manufacturer usually means same technique

[kfgarvey]

Spell check

[BrandonB]

Originally Posted by CHM

I have a 1988 Beneteau with an Amiot traveler system. To remove the car, you have to remove a control end which is held to the I beam by a bolt. It’s likely this is frozen and will have to be drilled out. Parts seem to be unavailable but Garhauer seems to have solutions to repair these systems. The actual I beam or rail is through bolted to the cabin top in my boat.

Hi, sorry for the late reply.

Here is what we did to replace the car on the traveler rail on our 1989 Beneteau First 32S5. The boat has received almost no service over it's lifetime so unsurprisingly the bolts at both end control blocks were frozen. These are slotted head stainless steel bolts that hold the end control blocks on the track and also double are axels for the end control pulleys.

Note to self, never buy a boat that has never had any preventative maintenance done!!

We soaked the bolts with PB blaster over a couple of weeks. Then tried to use a manual impact screwdriver with a hardened slotted screwdriver bit and a hammer. We ended up breaking the bit. The screw didn't move at all.

Next try was to drill out the screw using a cordless drill. I did my best to keep the driver straight. Flooded the bit and screw with tapping oil and changed the bit when halfway through. I ended up going off center and only got down just bellow the control end block. I was about to start cutting into the aluminum block so I stopped. I used some plyers and screwdrivers to remove some of the screw that had been drilled through but it still stood up around 3/4" above the track. The end block would not come off as the remaining screw stud caught it.

Next step was to go and get my Dremel, oscillating tool and Sawzall. The Dremel wouldn't fit. The oscillating tool did but my blades were too soft to cut the stainless. I ended up using the Sawzall with a small metal cutting blade, like a hack saw blade. That worked, the remaining bolt cut through within a minute.

The end came off and I was able to remove the car.

There was still some of the screw sticking above the track so I used PB blaster and vice grips but it just sheared off leaving the broken bolt in the hole. I used the Dremel to clean it up.

We bought a Ronston car from the local rigging shop based on the track dimensions we gave them. I was a discontinued model and in stock so we got it for $100 cash. They had to stretch the C channel a bit to make it fit.

This works great now. Sailing in low and high winds without a traveler sucks.

It was a lot of work over a few days as I went slow and took anger management breaks. I will take a picture of the new car and post it later.

We were talking about replacing the entire traveler assembly but the boat has a molded head liner that is glued in. It looks really nice but there is no way to access the bolts through the top of the cabin. We would have to cut the headliner to do that.

[CHM]

I am in the process of rebuilding my traveler on a 1988 Beneteau 430. Cam cleats were shot on the ends. All the fasteners were frozen and had to be drilled out including the bolts holding the cam cleats from under the control arm. I found the replacement cam cleats Are now designed with plastic base plates whereas the originals were metal. So, they don’t fit in the slot I’m the control arm. I fabricated an aluminum plate to bolt to the control end where the old cam cleats was mounted to offset the new cam cleats aft on this plate. I thought about replacing the whole thing but the car is fine so I decided to keep it.

[BrandonB]

Originally Posted by kfgarvey

I'm attempting to replace or rebuild the Amiot Traveler car on a Beneteau 35S5 and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me the best to remove it from the track.

Thanks

What does your cabin headliner look like?

On our Bene 32S5 it's a molded headliner and it's gorgeous for today, never mind the boat is 33 years old. There's no way I'm cutting the headliner to access the traveler mount bolts. I did everything I could to repurpose the existing amiot traveler rail.