The New Beneteau First 34.7
Photo: Sam Bourne
Upgrading the Deck Gear and Systems on a Standard Beneteau First 34.7
By Sam Bourne, Technical Manager, HARKEN UK Ltd
Making the systems on your boat more efficient will make a large difference to your boathandling
and will make you faster around the race course. This series of articles is aimed at
illustrating some areas for attention on a standard production cruiser/racer, using the example
of a new Beneteau 34.7.
Part 1: Mainsheet and Traveller
The New Beneteau First 34.7 is an IRC-focused Cruiser-Racer from the drawing board of Farr
Yacht Design. This new offering is a departure from the normal Beneteau formula in that she
is aggressively positioned in IRC and features a deep T-shaped bulb keel with a high ballast
ratio. The standard boat is entirely Harken-equipped but there are some tweaks you can do to
make boat handling easier and get an edge on the competition.
Mainsheet
The standard 5:1 mainsheet will get you round the course but for that added edge you can't beat
a powerful coarse tune / fine tune system. This gives you more power for fine trimming without
adding miles of line to the system.
We looked at a number of options and finally worked out we could add a very neat 6:1 / 24:1
system by simply adding a few blocks to the system. We fitted a double #2602 57mm Carbo block
to the car, with another 57C double and a #2600 57C single on the boom (see photo B). We then
fitted three #349 29mm Carbo Standups between the swivel base and the track, with #150 Cam-matic cleats mounted on the stainless foot bar. (see photo A) The floating fine tune
block was a #342 29mm Double. This gives plenty of coarse tune power to set the sail with a
powerful fine tune to allow easy trimming. The fine tune is easily to hand and requires
minimal work to install.
Photo A: Fine tune blocks mounted on pod Photo: Sam Bourne |
Photo B: Boom end detail Photo: Sam Bourne |
Tidy installation of complete system Photo: Sam Bourne |
6:1 coarse tune in brown, 4:1 fine tune in blue Photo: Sam Bourne |
Traveller
The standard boat comes with a standard Harken Mid Range Captive Ball Traveller system set up
to give a 3:1 purchase with the cleats on the car. The owner of this particular boat had
sailed with a Harken Windward Sheeting car previously and was keen to fit one to his new boat.
The unique feature of the windward sheeting car is that it automatically releases the leeward
control line cleat, allowing you to pull the car up to windward without having to remember to
release the leeward line. One less thing to think about when you have enough to do as a
trimmer! This also allows you to increase the traveller purchase to 4:1. To add this system
to the existing car is easy. Simply unscrew the existing fittings from the car and fit the
Windward sheeting adaptor kit, part # 1637, to the top of the car. You keep the existing
single end controls fitted to the track. I would also recommend the addition of a stand up
toggle to support the block properly — part #1561.
Windward Sheeting Car mounted on High Beam track |
The Windward Sheeting Car is particularly well suited to boats with a traveller tracks that spans the cockpit across the seats on boats such as the 34.7, Sigma 33, Elan 37, J/109, etc, etc.
Links:
Part 2: Backstay and Vang
Part 3: Headsail Car Control and Inhauler
Part 4: Spinnaker Systems and Cockpit Layout
Copyright© 2008 Harken, Inc. All rights reserved
