Traveler Upgrade for 32-200

Rick R.

Contributing Partner
For once, a boat project that went as planned!

Last summer, after all of the other upgrades we made with Garhauer blocks, EZ Track Genoa Cars, Radar tower with engine hoist and davits, I decided I wanted to upgrade the traveler as well.

Garhauer is staffed with friendly and amazing people. I worked with Mark and was then handed off to Guido to talk details like the bend, bolt holes and etc. If you simply send them your traveler bar they will make a new one to match your boat. However, we sail several days every week,year round. I just couldn't stand the thought of surrendering our traveler for2-6 weeks. Guido, had an alternative !

Back to the boat I went with a tape measure in hand and Guido on the phone. He had me measure the distance between the bolt holes, the drop at the end of the track, the track height, width and length. Although I hoped for the best, I wasn't expecting things to go trouble free. Well, that's relative.

Removal of the original
I was not looking forward to this part. I had searched the forums here and asked a lot questions. Some had to remove their spray hood, some made special tools to reach under the main hatch, Tom Metzger manhandled his with an impact wrench. Some had a nuts or a piece of stock glassed under the spray hood so hopefully there would be no need to remove the spray hood or make a special wrench.

The first thing I did was to buy a large Phillips head screw driver that would fit the large 1/2 ss screws. To my astonishment, I was able to loosen all but two in the cabin top. They came out without hearing a nut drop over the hatch. Whoopie!

The other four I had to drill out, done.

Next step butyl
Taking a countersink bit, I followed Mainesail's admonition to create a space for the butyl to seal around the screws.

Lined up the traveler,the holes all matched!

Start to finish, the entire job took less than three hours. I will be selling the old traveler here if anyone needs it.
 

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Shelman

Member III
Blogs Author
Nicely done Rick! All those little upgrades really end up making a much improved sailing experience. My Traveler was absolutely terrible and I ended up totally ditching the traveler system and switching to end boom sheeting. Now I have a single contact point at the aft end of the cockpit, (in reach of the tiller) and with my boom vang I don't miss having a traveler at all, and it is so much simpler for me and my little boat. It does however prevent me from ever having a sun shade cover over the aft portion of the cockpit like you do. But that won't be a problem until I make it down to the sunny florida keys. I guess for now I'm stuck with Christian's umbrella Idea :)
 

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
And speaking of umbrellas....

Nicely done Rick! All those little upgrades really end up making a much improved sailing experience. My Traveler was absolutely terrible and I ended up totally ditching the traveler system and switching to end boom sheeting. Now I have a single contact point at the aft end of the cockpit, (in reach of the tiller) and with my boom vang I don't miss having a traveler at all, and it is so much simpler for me and my little boat. It does however prevent me from ever having a sun shade cover over the aft portion of the cockpit like you do. But that won't be a problem until I make it down to the sunny florida keys. I guess for now I'm stuck with Christian's umbrella Idea :)
Hopefully not to hijack this thread too terribly much...but speaking of the umbrella idea, I need to get you some pics of how I just mounted a Magma umbrella to the aft vertical face of the bridge deck. Here's what I bought: http://www.westmarine.com/buy/magma--cockpit-umbrella-pacific-blue--15038581 Turns out that this umbrella is exactly the correct height to clear the underside of our boom, so it should work under sail (though I haven't yet had a chance to try it.) This location also puts the umbrella right where we would want it for our tiller steering, i.e., seated at the forward end of the cockpit.

Again, my apologies for the digression. If you think more discussion might be beneficial, then go ahead and start a new thread and I can post some pics to it rather than getting this thread too far off the beaten path. :rolleyes:
 

Alan Gomes

Sustaining Partner
For once, a boat project that went as planned!

Last summer, after all of the other upgrades we made with Garhauer blocks, EZ Track Genoa Cars, Radar tower with engine hoist and davits, I decided I wanted to upgrade the traveler as well.

Garhauer is staffed with friendly and amazing people. I worked with Mark and was then handed off to Guido to talk details like the bend, bolt holes and etc. If you simply send them your traveler bar they will make a new one to match your boat. However, we sail several days every week,year round. I just couldn't stand the thought of surrendering our traveler for2-6 weeks. Guido, had an alternative !

Back to the boat I went with a tape measure in hand and Guido on the phone. He had me measure the distance between the bolt holes, the drop at the end of the track, the track height, width and length. Although I hoped for the best, I wasn't expecting things to go trouble free. Well, that's relative.

Removal of the original
I was not looking forward to this part. I had searched the forums here and asked a lot questions. Some had to remove their spray hood, some made special tools to reach under the main hatch, Tom Metzger manhandled his with an impact wrench. Some had a nuts or a piece of stock glassed under the spray hood so hopefully there would be no need to remove the spray hood or make a special wrench.

The first thing I did was to buy a large Phillips head screw driver that would fit the large 1/2 ss screws. To my astonishment, I was able to loosen all but two in the cabin top. They came out without hearing a nut drop over the hatch. Whoopie!

The other four I had to drill out, done.

Next step butyl
Taking a countersink bit, I followed Mainesail's admonition to create a space for the butyl to seal around the screws.

Lined up the traveler,the holes all matched!

Start to finish, the entire job took less than three hours. I will be selling the old traveler here if anyone needs it.
Good job! I took a different tack from Randy (we both own E26s) and also went with a new Garhauer traveler. It made a huge difference. I removed the old track from the seahood, which showed considerable flexing and some cracking, and mounted the new traveler using risers that Garhauer supplied. The new one is not connected to the seahood at all. Anyway, the Garhauer traveler is built like a tank and I'd bet I could lift the boat by it!
 

Shelman

Member III
Blogs Author
Hopefully not to hijack this thread too terribly much...but speaking of the umbrella idea, I need to get you some pics of how I just mounted a Magma umbrella to the aft vertical face of the bridge deck. Here's what I bought: http://www.westmarine.com/buy/magma--cockpit-umbrella-pacific-blue--15038581 Turns out that this umbrella is exactly the correct height to clear the underside of our boom, so it should work under sail (though I haven't yet had a chance to try it.) This location also puts the umbrella right where we would want it for our tiller steering, i.e., seated at the forward end of the cockpit.

Again, my apologies for the digression. If you think more discussion might be beneficial, then go ahead and start a new thread and I can post some pics to it rather than getting this thread too far off the beaten path. :rolleyes:



I would like to see your umbrella Alan. Maybe we should call it the left coast bimini? how about posting some pictures for us on this thread Alan.
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?12841-Bimini-vs-main-sheet
 
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