New Traveler

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lbertran

Member III
I am planning to replace the traveler on my 1985 35-3. The original traveler is pretty shot and extremely hard to use when you need it most, in high winds. I'm considering a Garhauer MT-2CT. The Garhauer folks at the Annapolis Boat Show said I can just send them my track and they will match the curve and bolt hole placements. The price is right at $544.50 for the complete traveler set. But before I pull the trigger on this purchase, I wondered what others had done when they replaced their traveler. Any advice? Thanks.

Laura Bertran
Footloose, 1985 E35-3
Annapolis, MD
 
E

escapade

Inactive Member
traveler trivia

Laura
I replaced the original travelers on both my E27 & E30+ with Harken units. I presently have a Harken on my E34. All of these units allowed my bride to adjust the main in ANY wind condition. I crew on a 42 footer (Catalina) w/Garhaur 6/1 traveler and I have a tough time with that in any breeze over 10kn (I am 6'1" & 230 lbs.) IMHO your farther ahead going with the Harken on the traveler even though I like most Garhaur equipment and have used many of their products. It just seems that the Harken cars continue to move freely regardless of the load. That is assumeing you get the proper sized track & car. They will also bend track to fit your instalation.
If your 35/3 has the traveler bolted to the sea hood like the 34's you may also want to remove that & reinforce the corners. The 34's have a tendency to strain the hood & cause it to crack & the screw heads pull through the glass. I did this to Escapade last winter and it stiffened up the hood/traveler tremendously. I can send pictures/diagrams if your interested.
Have fun & sail fast
Bud E34 "Escapade":cheers:
 
T

ted_reshetiloff

Contributing Partner
Laura dont you have a harken on the boat now? If it is stiff you should look into rebuilding it. Replace the car and bearings, maybe the end blocks on it. Should not be too big of a deal. Its usually the cars and blocks that get tired not the track. Replacing them is a lot easier than removing that track for replacement. Unless the track itself is trashed I would rebuild it. You can get all the replacement parts for it at either Fawcetts or APS here in Annapolis, or online. I can also recommend a local rigging shop to do the work, but I'm pretty sure you could handle this one on your own. Let me know if I can be of any help.
 
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Geoff Johnson

Fellow Ericson Owner
There are a number of threads on this site. Here is one:

http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/showthread.php?t=839&highlight=traveler

You should have a good look at the Garhauer before selecting it. I found it to be too bulky and went with Harken. You probably have a Schaeffer track now, as I did. If you want to keep the track, I believe you can get a new Schaeffer car, but you will find that you cannot mix and match traveler equipment from different manufacturers.

BTW, how is Garhauer going to match the curve (camber)? Do you plan to send in the original track? Harken relies on measurements and I had to do some adjustment when the track arrived. Also, be careful about the bolt hole spacing. I believe it is metric.
 
L

lbertran

Member III
All Excellent Points

I have been looking at the Harken as well as the Garhauer for reasons mentioned by a couple of you. I find the Garhauer bulky too and the traveler line does not run fair from the control blocks to the cam cleats which may make it less smooth to use. Also, I'm afraid it may not work with my dodger.

Ted, I don't currently have a Harken traveler. It's an odd mix of Ronstan and Schaeffer parts. And as Geoff points out, you can't really mix and match traveler parts from different manufacturers. So I haven't been able to find replacement parts. I've tried to rebuild and lube the current parts but it hasn't made much difference. So I'm presently stuck with an antiquated and tired traveler.

Bud, I'd love to see pictures/diagrams of your installation. I'm thinking from these responses that Harken may be the way to go.

Thanks to all of you for the great advice.

Laura
Footloose, 1985 E35-3
 
Tom Metzger

Tom Metzger

Sustaining Partner
Harken traveler

On my E-34 I replaced my Schaefer traveler with a Harken five years ago and have been quite satisfied. I bought a big boat high beam track to span the sea hood without attachments. It was bent by Harken.

At the time Garhauer wouldn't bend track so I would have had to replace the end brackets to allow a flat track. I think it would also have had to be moved forward to clear the sea hood lip and the dodger.
 

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rssailor

Moderator
Harken is really good

Laura,
I have a Harken traveler on my boat and it works very well. My only complaint about the traveler is the car. They have plastic ends, or at least mine does and when one end fails, all the ball bearings fall out and you have to get a new end. Otherwise the Harken traveler is really awesome. Ryan Moonglow Ericson 25+
 
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Geoff Johnson

Fellow Ericson Owner
You must have an older model. My car, which is about three years old, has to be removed from the track for the balls to fall out (you slip it onto a special guide to prevent this). The even newer models have retaining clips, I believe, so that the guide is now unnecessary.
 
E

escapade

Inactive Member
traveler reinforcement

Laura
Attached are 3 photo's of the area I reinforced on the sea hood where the traveler attaches. If your going to do this project this would be a good time to do this also. I added the fiberglass mat & epoxy to the underside of the seahood. There is enough room to add about 5/16 inch of glass w/o interfering with the hull shape & no exterior (cosmetic) work. I also ran the closest 1/4 bolt thru the cabin top & added fender washers top & bottom to spread the load. As you can see in the photo cracks were starting to develope in the hood. After 1 full season racing with this repair the cracks are stable and the hood no longers flexes. I did this on both rear corners of the hood and then rebedded it with polysulfide. It also eliminated a leak I had at the companionway.
Have fun & sail fast
Bud E34 "Escapade":cheers:
 

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