77 Pearson 10M Grit
The existing traveler was state-of-the art, but 27 years later it almost drove the crew to mutiny.
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A Traveler that travels
If you've been following the saga (OK, so it's a short saga at this point)
of Grit, our project boat — a 77 Pearson 10 Meter, then you know
that our first race ended with a list of demands from the crew. One of the items high on the list
was as they explained it: "A traveler that actually travels."
To be fair, this was not an unreasonable request. It is rather difficult to trim the mainsheet
when your traveler is downwind—particularly when it seems determined to stay there despite your best efforts to move it elsewhere.
It's also tough explaining to the crew why they should be willing to brace against the coaming and push with both feet in order
to move said traveler upwind. Did I mention that I was also concerned about paying for chiropractic treatments after a long race?
Armed with the understanding that we needed to remedy this situation,
I set out to find the perfect traveler for Grit. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, the first place
I went was the Pearson owner's list. This is a collection of 375 Pearson owners who have banded together to
share experiences and ideas on how to get the most from their sailboats.
State-of-the-art is relative
From this group I quickly gleaned two things. First, the existing traveler was "state of the art"
when the boat was built in 1977. Second, the definition of "state of the art" had matured significantly in the
intervening 27 years. The original traveler was no longer manufactured. Some parts were available, but the consensus was that
it simply wasn't worth the effort to rebuild. It ran on four Delrin® wheels and even when new, did not move freely under load.
Also, the control lines were set up with a 3:1 system that didn't provide enough leverage when the wind picked up.
The cam cleats were add-ons, not original equipment, and they weren't adjustable; they were locked-in pointing dead aft,
making adjustments from anywhere but dead aft a major chore. Finally, the mainsheet blocks were tired after all those years
in the sun. While a good cleaning might have made them run a little more freely, and a smaller line certainly would have helped,
the 4:1 ratio they provided was a little too slow for light air and a little too weak for a heavier breeze.
Being something of an "economy-minded" guy, I resisted the advice to heave this system until the crew finally wore me down.
I think the final shot was something along the lines of, "there's only a couple of places where you should really spend the money to buy first class
and the traveler is one of them." I pondered that advice and decided it was worth a whole lot more than I paid for it. The traveler and mainsheet system
are one of the essential controls on the boat. Being able to use them quickly and efficiently is the key to getting the boat to perform at its potential.
Having been a slow sailor all my life, and now having the racing bug, I was all for maximum performance.
Enter Windward Sheeting
Deciding to replace the old system was the easy part; now I was faced with a myriad of choices for the new system. There are literally dozens of different
configurations available from the manufacturers who specialize in these parts. Once again I turned to the list to see what advice
would be forthcoming. The consensus, if you can call it that, was quick and to the point.
While there was a variety of equipment doing the job, the most satisfied owners seemed to be the ones who chose Harken
traveler systems. And the happiest of the lot were those who went for the Harken Windward Sheeting Car. Not being a die-hard racer,
I had no idea what a Windward Sheeting Car was. So I checked in with some of our in-house gurus and learned that the WWS Car is an ingenious device
that automatically releases the leeward control line on the traveler car. What this means is that you can tack without fooling around with the control lines...the windward line
will automatically lock at the same time the leeward line releases. This sounded like heaven to the guy who just finished a race where we had to move aft to
line up and manually uncleat the control lines at every tack
Two-Speed Mainsheet System
Travelers incorporate captive bearings. |
Some quick research on the Harken site indicated that Harken recommended the mid-size traveler system. I also learned that Harken had recently redesigned this system
to incorporate "captive" bearings—meaning that one no longer has to worry about losing the bearings anytime the car is removed from the track.
Having decided on the traveler car system, the only thing left was the mainsheet system itself.
This was a frustrating choice. I could have a fast system, or I could have a powerful system. Or, so I thought. More advice from the list and our in-house gurus followed.
Soon I was looking at the Harken Two-Speed Mainsheet System. This is a combination of blocks that gives you a choice of a 3:1 or 6:1 ratio without the usual collection of additional blocks in a fine-tune system.
I liked the simplicity of the solution as well as the reduced clutter. The 10-Meter doesn't have a lot of space available for elaborate mainsheet systems, so this
looked like the perfect set-up. Once again, the List confirmed
Two-speed mainsheet system. |
my choice. The people who have a Two-Speed System raved about it.
Add some track, control line sheaves and a stand-up toggle and you've got a complete "2004 State-of-the-Art" mainsheet system for Grit. In the next article,
we'll describe how we went about getting the track pre-bent to fit the camber of Grit's bridge deck and the steps involved in installing our new system.
My most important learning discovery: Buying a complex system like a mainsheet traveler and blocks is a lot more complicated than simply picking up a catalog and ordering parts. The range of choices and capabilities has expanded exponentially in the 12 years since I last refit a boat. Unless you're doing this all the time, it really helps to seek advice from other owners and the professionals. And, selecting the base system is just the first step. You're going to face a bunch of minor choices in how to accessorize and fine-tune your selection, so it is the perfect fit for your boat. For now, I'd just like to give a big thank you to the folks on the Pearson List and our in-house staff. They really helped this rusty sailor put together a well thought out and superb mainsheet system.
For those who are interested, here's a breakdown of the parts in the new system.
GRIT'S TRAVELER SYSTEM |
| 1636 |
Windward Sheeting Traveler Car |
| 1618.1.5M |
High Beam Track |
| 1632 |
Double Sheave Control Blocks |
| 332 |
Two-Speed Mainsheet System |
| 1622 |
End Caps for Track |
| 1561 |
Stand-up Toggle for Traveler Car |
Author: Sam Boyle
Links:
Website: http://www.SAILjazz.com
Harken article: Windward Sheeting Simplifies Tacking
Harken article: The Perfect Traveler-Part Two
