Hello all and hope you enjoyed a nice Fourth of July Holiday!
Has anyone found a place to purchase a traveler for our 26x's? I checked both BWY and Macgregor's website and could not find one. We want to get a boom vang and traveler going so we can have a higher bimini in the cockpit.
Thanks-
Is there a Travelor/Boom Vang Kit for the Mac 26x?
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Rick Westlake
- Captain
- Posts: 778
- Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2007 4:05 pm
- Sailboat: MacGregor 26X
- Location: Casa Rio Marina, Mayo, MD; MacGregor 26X, "Bossa Nova" - Bristol 29.9 "Halcyon"
- Contact:
Re: Is there a Travelor/Boom Vang Kit for the Mac 26x?
Higher bimini? You mean you want the boom up out of the way? I don't think a traveler will do that, and the "boom vang" that came with my 26X certainly wouldn't. It's a simple four-fold tackle that hooks to the mast-base bail and a bail on the boom, close to the mast. It pulls the boom down to flatten the mainsail.
Perhaps you're thinking of the "Yacht Rod" type of rigid vang that uses spring-loading or hydraulics to lift or pull down the boom. The closest thing I've seen to that on a Mac is a "Boomkicker" - it's a fiberglass rod spring that pushes up on the mast, and attaches inside the boom-vang tackle.
Or you could rig a "topping lift" from the masthead to the end of the boom. This can be as simple as a line at the masthead to a cleat on the boom end, or you can add a block at the masthead and cleat it off at the mast base.
The topping lift is simple and cheap, and it will put your boom exactly as high as you want it - but if your main has any roach, it can seem a nuisance. The Boomkicker is OK, but it's springy ... a good rigid vang will cost you $$$$.
(Personally, I don't like to have the bimini up while I'm sailing. It blocks my view of the masthead Windex. And I'm too anxious to go sailing for me to fuss with installing a vinyl skylight just yet ... I'll just dream and stay tan, as Neil Sedaka put it.)
Perhaps you're thinking of the "Yacht Rod" type of rigid vang that uses spring-loading or hydraulics to lift or pull down the boom. The closest thing I've seen to that on a Mac is a "Boomkicker" - it's a fiberglass rod spring that pushes up on the mast, and attaches inside the boom-vang tackle.
Or you could rig a "topping lift" from the masthead to the end of the boom. This can be as simple as a line at the masthead to a cleat on the boom end, or you can add a block at the masthead and cleat it off at the mast base.
The topping lift is simple and cheap, and it will put your boom exactly as high as you want it - but if your main has any roach, it can seem a nuisance. The Boomkicker is OK, but it's springy ... a good rigid vang will cost you $$$$.
(Personally, I don't like to have the bimini up while I'm sailing. It blocks my view of the masthead Windex. And I'm too anxious to go sailing for me to fuss with installing a vinyl skylight just yet ... I'll just dream and stay tan, as Neil Sedaka put it.)
escape wrote:Hello all and hope you enjoyed a nice Fourth of July Holiday!
Has anyone found a place to purchase a traveler for our 26x's? I checked both BWY and Macgregor's website and could not find one. We want to get a boom vang and traveler going so we can have a higher bimini in the cockpit.
Thanks-