19 wire traveler conversion

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Jonathan Levine
Hot Shot
Posts: 43
Joined: August 30th, 2019, 12:17 pm
Boat Make/Model: SC19, SC20
Location: Southern Alberta

19 wire traveler conversion

Post by Jonathan Levine »

To say I'm not a fan of the wire traveler (well, more specifically, the car and its cleat) would be an understatement. I'd like to make the switch to a conventional track, so can someone fill me in on how the tramp is modified for attachment to the aft crossbeam? I'm about to pack the boat up for the winter and this would seem like a good thing to do before spring.
gahamby
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Boat Make/Model: SuperCat 15#315
Location: Falls Church VA 22042

Re: 19 wire traveler conversion

Post by gahamby »

My 15 had a 22mm Harken track installed across the rear crossbeam. The tramp was held with a bolt rope track across the rear beam. The track was held down with flat head machine screws that were tapped into the crossbar. There was no bedding compound between the track and crossbar. There was no anti-seize compound applied to the fasteners. The result was fasteners totally galled to the crossbar. If you ever wanted to remove the track it would be extremely difficult. I replaced the stock traveler car and control with a Harken windward sheeting traveler car and control blocks.
Jonathan Levine
Hot Shot
Posts: 43
Joined: August 30th, 2019, 12:17 pm
Boat Make/Model: SC19, SC20
Location: Southern Alberta

Re: 19 wire traveler conversion

Post by Jonathan Levine »

Recommendation for bolt rope track would be welcome. The fasteners seizing is an avoidable problem. I'm thinking that the recutting of the tramp and stitching in the bolt rope involves noncritical dimensions, as it'll still be tensioned up with the forward crossbeam lacing. I'm sure there are some gotchas in here somewhere, though.
Matt Haberman
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Re: 19 wire traveler conversion

Post by Matt Haberman »

The Traveler track should be screw "Through" the beam and threaded into a 1/4" thick backer bar inside the beam. We used 1/4" thick x 1/2" wide 6061 aluminum flat bar for the backer. The other option is to put nuts on every screw, feasible but a little tricky as you get towards the center of the beam. To prevent corrosion & galling of the screw threads we always dipped the screws in 3M 5200 before installation.

We have not used the tramp track in quite some time as the newer beams have the track extruded in them, but you could check with Tom and see if he has any short sections left. If he doesn't have any track he might have some suggestions on what you could do.
Matt Haberman
Aquarius Sail Inc.
http://www.aquarius-sail.com
Jonathan Levine
Hot Shot
Posts: 43
Joined: August 30th, 2019, 12:17 pm
Boat Make/Model: SC19, SC20
Location: Southern Alberta

Re: 19 wire traveler conversion

Post by Jonathan Levine »

Had a few exchanges with Tom. He quoted me a conversion kit, but it's just the traveler/track/hardware (I think - he didn't supply a BOM) and none of the other stuff needed, particularly the tramp extrusion, since he said he hasn't done this in 27 (?) years. So I checked with my local shop, Glenmore Sailboats. They used to build Sea Sprays and still have a whack of parts around for them, including the tramp/hull (bolt rope) extrusions, which appear to be perfect. I also picked up a Servo camcleat and a couple of different guides for it; perhaps a simple change of traveler cleat will make this thing tolerable. And since I now have a suitable extrusion, I may go ahead and install (and modify the tramp for) it, which will get me partway there if I want to go ahead with the switch to the reg'lar track+car.
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