Replace Traveler Track on 30+: Question

[John Davey]

I want to upgrade my traveler on an 1983 Ericson 30+ to a Lewmar. To do this I must remove the original traveler. But most of the bolt nuts underneath the cockpit holding the original Ronstan I-beam track seem inaccessible.

Has anyone tried this or have suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[CaptnNero]

been there

I want to upgrade my traveler on an 1983 Ericson 30+ to a Lewmar. To do this I must remove the original traveler. But most of the bolt nuts underneath the cockpit holding the original Ronstan I-beam track seem inaccessible.

Has anyone tried this or have suggestions?

Thanks!

I did this a couple of years ago on Kokomo. I had the same concern. It turned out the traveler screws were tapped into the fiberglass. I can't remember now if there was a metal plate inside the glass but I don't think there was a backing plate. With a properly sized large screwdriver I was able to get all but one screw loose without stripping the head. For that last one (there's always at least one nasty one, eh ?) I used a special screw extractor from Sears and it came right out.

I was switching from Shaeffer to Harken. I used a thin (1/2"-3/4"?) piece of aluminum stock to space under the low profile Harken track. Once I did that I used the old Shaeffer high track as a drill guide for the stock. It turned out that once the thickness of the stock was added under the Harken track, the Harken holes fit the Shaeffer ones exactly so I didn't have to drill the cabintop. Also I was able to do some slight bending of the new track to fit the curve of the cabin top myself.

Since this was an E34, your mileage may vary.

Good luck !

 

[windjunkee]

We recently replaced the traveller and traveller track on Voice of Reason. The old track ran along a curved arc on the bulkhead separating the two cockpits. We replaced what we had with Garhauer parts, which still ultimately cost $900.00.

However, access to the nuts was difficult but not impossible. There were a couple that sunk into a bulkhead, and for those there was no backing nut. When putting the new one in, we accessed what we could and for the three that went into the bulkhead, we cut out an area in the fiberglass to reach the bolt, screwed the nut on and then glassed the whole thing in. Better to have a difficult to access backing nut than to have a traveller track that is not completely secure

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32-2 Hull #134