cowl vent position/rope boom vang

[Jeff Kaplan]

as this will be my 2nd season with #219, i am still getting to know her. i would appreciate input on 2 questions. i have seen boats with both cowl vents facing fore, both aft and 1 each way. currently i have both facing fore. i have in the head and aft cabin, nicro day/night solar vents, both vent out and move the air nicely. is there a correct way to position the cowl vents? also the boat still has the rope boom vang, someday i will upgrade to the rigid type but money going elsewhere now. i have just replaced the mainsheet blocks to the new 6:1 setup, also new line. now have extra blocks and line and was planning to use the old fiddle block and redo the vang to get rid of the cam cleat and run the line thru a sheave in the deck org. and bring back to an empty rope clutch,now  being  able to control the vang from the cockput. has anyone done this, does it work? thanks for any input...jeff

[Ron Hill]

Jeff : The cowl vents in warm weather, I keep them pointed into the prevailing wind.  At anchor or on a mooring they should be open side forward.  In the slip (and the dodger doesn't block it) I keep one aft and one forward.  The whole idea is to get the BEST ventilation from those vents based on the prevailing wind.
If your old blocks are NON ball bearing, I'd save them as a "just in case" spares.  Otherwise I wouldn't use them in any way.
I use my old "line" 4:1 boom vang as a preventer, now that I have a ridged vang.  That fiddle block is a bit large, but will serve a part of a block and tackle for a better advantage. 

[Jeff Kaplan]

ron, thanks for the input on the cowls. i will put the old blocks away for emergency use. what do you think of bringing the vang line aft, though?...  jeff

[Ron Hill]

Jeff : I have a "vang aft line" to a cam cleat that's mounted on the teak block with the main halyard rope stopper. 
I put a double block at the base of the mast (sheet & vang) and changed out the line organizers on the deck and the guides on the main traveler to accept 3 lines.  They are available from Garhauer.   

[Jeff Kaplan]

thanks, thats thats the info i was looking for. i can do that with the blocks i just received from garhauer. i have redone all the deck hardware and now all blocks. i will bring the vang back port to a spare clutch. main halyard, sheet, and clew reef. come starboard to new rope clutches i just got in from garhauer. going to redo the mainsheet setup tomorrow, new rudder going on next week.sailing in a month. can not wait to try out all this new stuff...jeff

[Craig Illman]

Hey  Ron!  You mentioned replacing the fairleads under the traveler track. Is it just bolted through the traveler track, threaded only into the fairlead? Did you replace the double with a triple?  I just replaced my original 3:1 Garhauer traveler car and end caps with the 5:1 upgrade using the same T-track. The fifteen years of stainless bolts into aluminum required drilling the heads off the heads of the bolts holding the end trim piece, then slipping a hack saw blade to saw off the 5/16" bolts that went through the end caps into the non-treaded hole in the t-track. I don't want to attack anything until I understand how it's built.

I guess I'll talk to the Garhauer folks at the Oakland show next week.

Craig

[Jim Price]

Craig, I swapped a double fairlead for a triple from Garhauer.  Very inexpensive.  Since you are on the West Coast, it may be easier and quicker for you.  I would recommend, if you can manage to live without one for a short period of time, removing the double and give it to Garhauer to make sure the mounting holes line up exactly on the new triple.  Mine was almost perfect, but I had to make a very slight adjustment on one of the bolt holes.  Just a suggestion as they do know your dimensions but things could be slightly off.