The never-ending project to fill my hole in the ocean while bailing it out

Preparing for Sailing Season '09
Tweaking the Traveler Control Lines

Description

In 2005 I installed a new traveler car and rigged control lines forward outside the coaming and into the cockpit. I was never truly satisfied with the result.  (Apr. 19, 2009)

I decided I wanted the pull to be into the cockpit, not forward. After last year's cruise up to Chebeague Island and back, I planned to rearrange the situation this spring.

I need to have the control lines make a 90 degree curve inboard. Relocating and repositioning the cam cleats, adding a cheek block on each side instead to redirect the lines, should accomplish this.

After removing the traveler control line cam cleats on both sides yesterday, I filled the holes through the coaming with tinted West System epoxy. This morning I had to add a few more drops to "top off" the holes [closeup]. The cheek blocks will be located in this position on both sides. (Apr. 20, 2009)

I got back out today to where I'd left off on this small project. Earlier this week I drilled holes for the cam cleats then bedded and mounted them inboard at 90º angles from their original positions.  I got that step completed just before the rain started. The rain stopped last night, so today I drilled the coaming then bedded and fastened the micro cheek blocks on both sides.  (Apr. 24, 2009)

This set up the turn I wanted to bring the traveler control lines into the cockpit.

With the traveler control lines coming up from the deck and the stand-up blocks, I wanted to create an angle on the coaming so the control lines would clear the the edges before reaching the cheek block and turning to the cam cleat. I happened to have a pair of Harken Cam-Matic cam cleat wedges left over from a previous project and most amazingly -- while looking for some sort of solution I actually discovered them among a box of odds-and-ends remnants from past projects!

Sometimes it pays off to never throw away anything! The wedges are the perfect solution. I just needed to drill two 3/16" holes through the nylon wedges to match the cheek blocks, and through the coamings on each side.  I added a couple globs of 3M 4200, dropped in the pair of 1" 10X24 pan head screws, added washers and nyloc nuts from within each coaming box, and tightened them down.

The first small project completed for Season 2009.

This setup -- adjusting the traveler by pulling inboard -- will work much better singlehanding than my first effort.  (Apr. 24, 2009)