Boomvang

[Ron]

Simon -

For the traveller system, there's no real discount, unless you buy the stuff from Defender or other discount stores. It's all stock parts which are sold at most marine stores. The parts to modify the car itself can be ordered from the Schaeffer web site, or any dealer who is willing to order parts. I used specific blocks and other things because they seemed to work best in this application, such as the swiveling Ronstan fiddles with cam cleats on the rails, the non swivel Harken block mounted to the Schaeffer car, etc. If both swiveled you'd wind up with the line twisting, and I'd rather have the swivel on the pulling end. I'm pretty sure there is a list of these things in the members section under boat projects. The thread is something like "Adjustable Traveler".

Note that this is one of the best modifications I've done to the boat. I prefer to use the traveler rather than the sheet when trimming the main on just about any boat. The purpose of the sheet is to control the sail's shape, not it's location. Use the traveller to move the boom. The spring pins on the stock setup were almost un-usable, and I wound up using the sheets instead.

A boom vang could help too, but back then I was not confident that you can apply that much force to the vang when it's mounted that far forward on the boom. I'm still not sure about that. Assuming that you've got 500 pounds of force on the sail trying to lift the boom at the back end. What would you need up front to counteract that. If the vang is attached 2 1/2 feet from the mast (your specs above) and the boom is around 11 1/2 feet long, it could be 2500 to 3,000 pounds. Maybe even much higher because you're pulling at a 45 degree angle and the vertical component is only a portion of the force. This is mechanical dis-advantage.