[Anonymous]

Has anybody ever fitted a main sheet traveller to a Bavaria 30? My particular model was built in 2006 and is not fitted with a traveller which I find a bit of a nuisance when sheeted in hard on the wind. Can anybody possibly help by recommending a traveller that can be fitted without too much hassle.
Or am I just trying too hard? would it make much difference if one was fitted?
Any help appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I have seen them fitted to Bavaria 30s and I don’t believe it’s too difficult to do if you buy the correct type of traveller which I believe is ‘high beam’, these are designed to span gaps and be supported at either end. It was originally my plan to do this on our 30 which was built in the same year as yours as I liked having one on our previous boat however after having sailed her last year I no longer believed it is needed. I have found I can get the right windward sail shape by playing with the cunningham, outhaul, kicker and mainsheet. What you can also do once the mainsheet is tight in, is to reach up and centre the boom a little more by hand and it will stay there.

My main reason for intending to doing this was to be able to release the mainsheet via the traveller in gusty weather, however I have learned a couple of things that no longer make this necessary (in my opinion). Firstly, she is called a 30 Cruiser for a reason, she is not a racing boat and the fraction of a knot difference or few extra degrees closer to the wind sailing you might achieve is not really what the boat is designed for. Secondly, my wife likes to sail with a suitable amount of reef in for the gusts anyway and as soon as you have a reef in then the traveller has less value (again in my opinion 🙂 ). So, given the amount of work to install and the cost for those couple of weekends where it is just the ‘boys’ on board, I didn’t think it was worth it. Also you can obviously still release the mainsheet in the gusts and it only takes a second or 2 longer to reposition it anyway.

I’m not sure if links to other sites are allowed, but this forum has a couple of photos of someone who has done this.

http://www.bavariayacht.info/forum/index.php?topic=300.0

Hope this helps although of course it’s only one persons view…….

[Author]

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