Matthew,
I replaced my setup with the Garhauer upgrade. I did not have to replace the bar. Took a bit to get the ends off to remove the old but I finally did. New unit much better than original. I did not think the cost to be that bad so that is why I went that way. No complaints what so ever!

Matthew, older boats, like yours and the early Catalina 30s came with the curved tracks. Garhauer developed the straight bar replacement. The Catalina 34, started in production a few years after the C36s, always had the straight bars (tracks) but did only start off with the poor 3:1 purchase. Many of us with the straight tracks had Garhauer build new sheaves for the end blocks. In my case, the original end sheaves had the cam cleats mounted there, requiring a slit in the dodger front window. When I upgraded to the new 5 or 6:1 sheaves, Guido worked up the sheaves with NO cam cleat and a straight run aft with the control lines so I only needed a grommet for the line through the dodger, with bullet block failreads and cam cleat at the aft end of the cabintop.

I really recommend that you speak to Garhauer rather than buying something from Catalina Direct. As nice as CD is, and they have some great stuff, it sounds like you should get involved in the details of what you need with Guido, Bill or Mark at Garhauer.

Hi
I replaced my old curved ms travel with the new straight one and I'm glad I did it is not cheap and I had to do a bit of custom fitting cuz I wanted to bring all the lines inboard of the mainsheet. Doing that required that I fabracate a piece of aluminum that had fair lead holes for lines to run through but by doing so it allowed we to bring all the lines through my dodger in board. I love the traveler it is much easier to operate. I placed my order directly through garuher rather than Catalina direct as that allowed me to specify the adjustment lines placed on one side. I think the price is the same, not cheap but I'm glad I did it. I meant torte up an article but that always seems to be last thing to do after I finish a project... Then there is the next project and the next.......

Matthew, can CD do what Guido did for me? Can they take off the cam cleats? Our arrangement has worked great, since it makes it sooo easy to adjust the traveler car. What I did was to upgrade the traveler sheaves with Garhauer, then had the dodger rebuilt (it needed it anyway :)).

Also, from CD you're buying a "product", from Garhauer, you're buying support.

When you use the multiple blocks to go under the dodger, you're simply making it HARDER to work the car. I know, I've seen it on both C36s and C34s. I chose not to do that.

Your boat, your choice. :)

Matthew,
Mine was a straight bar, so I did not have to get into changing that. Garhauer has everything to convert to a straight I believe. They have SS replacements for the wooden blocks as well if that is what you have.

Matthew,

Mine include the rollers. You'd have to look very carefully at the picture I posted earlier to see it. They could also be used to turn the line down to the deck as you described. A roller (sheave) is the only way to get a fairlead off the traveler sheaves to angle it back, in my case through the dodger.

I don't know if you have a dodger or not, but if you do, the choice you have to make is whether or not you want to deal with doing the grommet through your forward dodger window or whether you choose to use the slit you have (if you have one) or go down to the deck and introduce even more friction in the system.

If you're comfortable with CD by all means go ahead. I've had nothing but praise for Garhauer. For me, if the prices were identical, I'd still go Garhauer.

Your boat, your pocketbook, your choice.:):):)

Anything else, let me know.

Try this photo -

i dealt directly with garhuer and they had no problem taking the cam cleats out all together and moving the traveler lines to one side (port). the reason i did that is that i noticed the now dead catalina 375(?) had the traveler adjustments on one side and it seemed like a really good idea. i have the adjustment lines led down to a fairlead that then goes into a cam cleat, there are two on one side so that any adjustment that needs to be made to the traveler is done with the simple pull of one line (port or starboard) but on the same side of the boat. easy peze....this is the only picture i could locate but it gives some idea of the layout... it is a bit different than what you might see on a 34... btw the fairleads are something i came up with since i did not want to use what garhauer provided as there answer would have been to high for it to lead into my dodger

[quote=Ciscocat;19009]i dealt directly with garhuer and they had no problem taking the cam cleats out all together and moving the traveler lines to one side (port). the reason i did that is that i noticed the now dead catalina 375(?) had the traveler adjustments on one side and it seemed like a really good idea. i have the adjustment lines led down to a fairlead that then goes into a cam cleat, there are two on one side so that any adjustment that needs to be made to the traveler is done with the simple pull of one line (port or starboard) but on the same side of the boat. easy peze....this is the only picture i could locate but it gives some idea of the layout... it is a bit different than what you might see on a 34... btw the fairleads are something i came up with since i did not want to use what garhauer provided as there answer would have been to high for it to lead into my dodger[/quote]

Mike, any chance you could get some more pictures of how that is implemented? Sounds very interesting, that traveller dance Matthew mentioned is a PITA.

Bud and Matthew,
Having both traveler controls on one side of the cabintop can be very convenient, but.....
I race each week on a boat with a Garhauer traveler and both traveler controls on the port side. It works real well when we are on a port tack. When on a stbd tack, it stinks. As mainsail trimmer, one of my jobs is to dump the main when we get overpowered. Not easy to do from the opposite side of the cockpit. Let me suggest that if you race, or plan to race your boat, you stick with the traveler controls on separate sides of the cabintop. Your main trimmer will thank you. Just a thought.

Yes, never thought of the heeling issue. But still nice to take a look at it. Last week I got one of the tails of the traveller line snagged up in my foul weather jacket which was in the companionway on a hook and did a nasty job on it. I throw those lines down the companionway to get them out of the way, so having them in one spot sounds very appealing. Lesson learned though, keep hanging stuff out of the companionway. Besides that though, the only racing I do is to the fridge at 5 pm for a cold beer!

I don't have any pics that I can locate and I am in the midde of stripping everything off of the deck f the boat. So yes I can get some more pictures but it won't be any time soon. One of my dock mates accused me of enjoying mess'n with my boat I'm beginning to think he is right!

Tom Is right about getting to the windward Side, is he ever wrong? Whatever side u place the mainsheet lines it is a SLIGHT pia to get to windward even if cruising but I liked the idea of both line on one side fwiw

Mike,
I too would be interested in seeing your set up also when you get a chance. I am ashamed to admit that I use the traveler much less than I would if it were easier to use. I'd like to remove the cam cleats and bring them into the cockpit as Stu illustrates. I like your idea of bringing both lines to one side, I don't race and am typically handling all of the controls by myself.

I agree with Tom Soko. There will always be one low side and one high side, and I can't for the life of me understand the "logic" that says having the traveler control lines on "one side" can be an improvement.

Even as racers (back in "the day":)) we usually dropped the traveler and set it before we tacked.

Can someone please explain what the perceived advantage could be? Thanks.

My logic was hoping it could help dealing with having yards of line either hanging down in the companionway or laying around on the cabin top, a single endless line would be ideal but probably not possible? Trying to think through the mechanics of that.

All these ropes hanging around that area make my 5 PM race to the cooler for a beer a bit hazardous, a guy could trip and spill his beer and that's a crisis for sure.

Hey Stu. Thanks for the picture of your traveler set up. I have one of the older Garhauer travelers with the cam cleat on the outside. As we have the slit in our dodger window for the line. You just solved my issue as I will be doing a hard dodger out of plascore this winter and you solved my concern with the traveler line.

Randy,
All you need to do is talk with Guido and he will send what you need. I made this change several years ago. Hardest part was getting the originals off. I ran the line through the sunbrella vs the window and to a deck mouunted block and a jam cleat. Pics should be reasonably clear.

That is very similar to what I did although I did move the mainsheet in board to have it go over where the cowl vents were (solar vents now). Work very godd now

Here's another post that I just stumbled across about this subject with some good pictures:

[url]http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,6495.0.html[/url]

Regarding the back and forth between Stu and Matthew on CD versus Garhauer, please excuse me for pointing out the obvious if it's already been said, but Garhauer makes all of this stuff and CD resells it. So you're basically choosing to deal with CD or Guido. Guido can be tough to communicate with at times, and I had a tough time getting the correct mast head sheaves years ago, and a when I go the wrong ones, a tougher time getting a refund. That said, he wants to please, and will go to great lengths to do so. One thing I will be ordering that he offered is a one-piece angle-bracket affair that turns the traveler control lines down and leads then through lower dodger holes, so no need to mount turning blocks on deck. They apparently bolt on where the clam cleats are, and are custom made based on my measurements.

What was the cost for those brackets?

Do you have the part number? Pleas send a photo of your install.

Please excuse, while I have previously discussed this with Guido, I haven't gone ahead yet and don't have a price. It's in the plan for this winter. When I know more I will post it. What held me back so far was remembering to take good measurements and some pics at the boat.

That is because they are the same CD gets the hardware from Garhauer and Garhauer agrees not to under price CD the attached is the set up I have

Garhauer makes a variety of travelers. The one your pic is one of the unibody travelers.

[URL="http://garhauermarine.com/catalog_process.cfm?cid=34"]http://garhauermarine.com/catalog_process.cfm?cid=34[/URL]

That's is the one I have mounted on my boat