DaySailer.org Forum

Why would someone move the traveler to the middle of the cockpit and is it easy to move it back to it's original location?

How is the mid-cockpit traveler configured? (picture?)

GreenLake wrote:How is the mid-cockpit traveler configured? (picture?)

Here's a weird one (to me) from a CL ad in the Misc. forum:

A mid cockpit traveler track could be moved to the back,

HOWEVER:

• it would have to clear the tiller
• even if it did, it would prevent the tiller from being lifted
• the maximal deflection of the boom would be half, before it's outside the width of the traveler

For me the traveler in the cockpit is the first thing I would remove on that boat, but, like Greenlake says, you wouldn't really be able to just move that same hardware back to the transom.
The Crosby setup that most of our boats have works just fine using a line as the traveler. You would also have to rerig end of boom sheeting.
None of these changes are difficult, especially on a DS1.

Another alternative would be to rig a split mainsheet. I've heard it mention that this concept comes from the Snipe. Some people I know swear by it.

I think we all get stuck in assumptions. Some DS boats (DS II and DS III) come with mid-boom sheeting, so we tend to think that's where the traveller has to go. And we think that travellers have to be rigid tracks with cars, because that's what they look like on most larger boats. There are benefits to mid-boom sheeting, and I know racers who like a setup like the one shown in the picture. But the traveller can be a soft line at the stern that easily clears the tiller and that adjusts with cams, just like the rigid ones. The split sheet is essentially a soft traveller integrated into the control line.

That boat in the picture is actuall the one I was considering buying. Went with a different boat.