I went sailing on someone else's boat over the weekend and got a feel for cats. I got home from work tonight and decided to step my mast and rig everything. I'm having some issues with the main traveler setup.

On the new boats, the main sheet and traveler end up making a big figure 8. At least that's how I seem to remember it.

On my boat 79/80 still has the old seaway setup that has two blocks on the boom. Should my traveler setup look similar, or should I be using a separate line for the traveler control?

Any one have a nice big picture of the old setup.


OI, so much to do and so little time. Trailer wiring is done, new running rigging is sitting in a box in the garage, new tramp is on, and my rudder cams have been rebuilt.

Leaving me with my small soft spot to patch, trailer bearings need to work, and boat registration.

The traveler setup has been the same since the early 70's, so yours should work just as you remember. You can use the tail of the mainsheet or another line, but knot the ends together so it is continuous. That makes it easier to keep track of the lines.

I know there has been discussion here and at the Hobie forums about the traveler setup, so there should be photos. Try a search.

Check out this forum page and see if it helps:
http://www.catsailor.com/forums/showflat...=true#Post78351

Brilliant, thank you Mary. Printed off and added to my giant binder of boat info.

So on the newer boats, it looks like one end of the sheet line ends up in the traveler and the other end ends up in your hands. Where on the seaway system, one end is tied off and the other end passes through the main cam cleats and then through the traveler. I think.

I'm not totally opposed to the seaway setup, and I'm too cheap to upgrade to the harken, so I suppose I will look into swapping my two singles out for one double.


And then there is a ring on the back of the rear bar that I seem to remember something being tied to......I dunno. I guess I should take my camera the next time I am looking at other boats.

Actually, the basic way of setting it up is the same for both....one end of the sheet is treaded trough the cleat on the blocks, treaded through the blocks per the diagrams, and tied off. The other end is treaded through the traveller cleat and eye, routed through the traveller, and finally through the eye on the rear beam, and finally tied into a figure 8. this way you have one continous loop rather than two loose sheets (the alternative would be what Matt M suggested: if you decide to use seperate sheets for the main and the traveller, you should tie them together).