Can anybody help please?

My boat is fitted with a single full width cross thwart traveller. At some stage a couple of ss eye straps have been fitted to the track to limit the car travel and provide an attachment for the toe straps. What it didn't have was any form of control for the car.

Can anybody describe a typical set up or send me any pictures of what it should look like?

Many thanks for any help

Steve

Steve, I suspect the eye straps weren't fitted to limit car travel ,but to act as anchorage points for two strops to replace the traveller's function completely. Someone then used them as a convenient tie-off for the toestraps, but that probably wasn't their original use! The lack of any control lines on the car points to it having been made redundant when the strops were installed. As to reinstating the set up, there are two good photo's of a full width traveller on this site. One's on one of the classified ads, and the others on (I think) Kevin Driver's site (follow link) which shows one of his restored boats from above.

This is the one for sale.

And this is the other (big image)

Steve thats my boat on Kevins web site and it has a typical full width traveller as built by laurie smart,I tend to cleat the main and use the car control lines to angle the boom.excellent!the controllines are fixed to the outboard end of the track, run to the car and back to your hand.

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful.

Ben, Do I take it that the control lines should be 8 or 10mm and there should be a cleat at each end for the control lines?

Steve

they're 8mm lines and there's a cleat on each side of the self tacking car now but originally there was a turning block which took the line up to a cleat on the side deck all this has been removed.once you get used to travellers they're great!

Ben,
I've understood everything so far, but how does 'self-tacking' work?

For the rest of you readers, jokes about flowerpots will not be appreciated.

Wee`d never be so shallow

Flob...

Have a look at the Harken website . The only time you have to touch a self tacking traveller is to trim it .

Please stop these awful jokes - the gardener's coming back!!

...alob...

...alob.

In theory it works by uncleating the old control line as you come onto the new tack,as on Harkens website,I tend to uncleat it b4 a tack however..

I stand corrected apparently the the track was fitted by the previous owner and the cleats i removed were for the spinnaker sheets.they got in the way anyway.originally  there was a short track on the boat.the current one works really well tho...