Bending the jib traveler

After a long pause it is time to update my blog a bit. Unfortunately I lost some photos of last years, but luckily there are enough left to show most of the progress & projects.

I put a self-tacking jib on my boat (very nice for easy cruising, although not so efficient for going downwind as top of the jib twists too much because of the way the jib is sheeted) and originally I made a straight traveler. I thought this would work because with a straight traveler the jibsheet has maximum slack when going from one side to the other. I was wrong: with a bit wind the cars of the traveler would stop about 15 cm before the end of the traveler. So.... I had to put some radius in the traveler.

Bending

On internet there are some very nice examples of people making bending jigs for travelers, this one is my favourite. But sometimes it's better to do it the easy way.... I just guesstimated the required radius (taking into account some springback) and used a band-saw and a piece of timber to make a 'mold'.
Some heavy clamps and......

even more bending

.... it turned out my guess of the springback was too conservative, so I just used some extra pieces of wood at the end of the traveler to increase the radius of the bend some more.

End result:

And on the boat:

Succes! This slight bend of the traveler made a big difference: jibsheet travels without any problems from one end to the other, every time.

Next post will be about a new tiller (+ ideas about remote control outboard)