Hi Y'all!

I'm having trouble getting the Schaefer traveler car on my '83 Nacra 5.0 to travel smoothly on the track. It seems to bind up unless I pull up or push down on the car to get the wheels to contact the track.

I saw a picture on ebay of a similar car that has a small bag of maybe 20 ball bearings and it made me wonder if mine should have those and if so where they would go. There doesn't really seem to be a place on my car where they would seat.

My traveler car.



My traveler car sitting on the track. Notice how it appears to lean forward when there is no pressure applied.



Picture of the ebay car and bag of bearings.





Next, one of my rudder castings has a threaded hole near the bottom and the other doesn't. I'm thinking one is a replacement but which one and should there be something in the hole. Again, I'm thinking it's a place for some sort of limiter for when the rudder is fully down.

Casting with the hole.



Casting without the hole.





Finally, my rudder blades used to be a nice white color, although not shiny. Now, after just a few hours in my stained lake they look like this!!! Ideas for making them white and shiny again?



Thanks,
Jimmy

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1983 Nacra 5.0 Sail #10
Dallas, Texas area
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I don't know about the Schaefer traveler, I use Harkens, they have a bunch of small delrin balls. The Nacra 5.0 & 5.7 are boomless boats. The assembly manual shows that on these boats the track will point towards the sail. You set the beam so that the base of the traveler is level.
Here is the assembly manuals link,(It is posted here at the BeachCats under Albums Technical
http://www.thebeachcats.c…ictures/?g2_itemId=35212l.

The hole in the casting is for a delrin screw. You can turn the screw in or out to fine tune the rudder rake, & thereby adjust your tiller tug.
I had a bunch made, PM me, I'll send you some spares for a couple of bucks.
http://www.thebeachcats.c…r-adjustment-screws.html

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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
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as above on the casting thread, maybe you have 1 old and new casting/

on the traveller it sounds like you've lost some balls

or got small balls

not sure if replacement harken balls would fit but murrays sell 2 types

a cheaper, softer, wear faster set

and a more expensive, harder, longer wearing set

for pure white rudders they really need to be resprayed with gelcoat

apparently not that tricky if you have a sprayer and thin the gelcoat with acetone

no dont respray with gelcoat use a product you can buy in the grocery store in the toilet cleaner isle its called snow-bowl it will make ur hulls white again from the nasty water i use it on all my boats just remeber it will take the wax off the boat so youll have to rewax the boat when ur done! if you need to go the route of re gelcoating for anything dont thin it with acetone the more you thin it it will become weak and brittle and potentially flake off i recomend a product called duratec its an additive that will make the gelcoat stronger and it thins out the gel to make it go through a vertical feed sprayer easily! you can get it online or at most local fiberglass suppliers aka NOT HOME DEPOT OR LOWES~! a fiberglass supplier is where you should always get your resins as the ones at hardware stores sit a long time and will not cure right! from a supplier it will be right and you will be able to work with it much better!

Ok, i had read about the snow bowl and will give it a try!

Now, the traveler, i'm still puzzled. I agree that it seems to be missing something but where do the missing bearings go? Do they rest between the car and the top of the track? Below the track? What keeps them from falling out as there is a big hole in each side of the car?

Thanks again,
Jimmy



Edited by flyingfishguy on Nov 07, 2011 - 06:49 AM.

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1983 Nacra 5.0 Sail #10
Dallas, Texas area
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I got a 83 Nacra 5.0 as well and the traveler is very similar to yours. From the picture it appears almost as if someone bend and now the wheels are squeezed (sideways) against the rail not allowing it to easily pull up and roll on the rail itself? I don't have any pictures for you and my boat is in winter storage but I know it looks just like yours and I do not see any of the issues as you describe.

Marc

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Marc C.
Cleveland, Ohio.
Current love: Nacra 5.0
Old loves: Int Laser, Int Europe, Int 470, Int 420, Vaurien
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by all means use as fresh as possible, expensive products if you can get and afford them...

but if you all you can get easily is hardware store products for an old cat they'll work

"Gel coat can be thinned for spraying by adding 10 to 15 percent acetone. Do not increase the
acetone amount beyond 15%, as it can retard proper cure and damage surface quality."

the above quote comes from a makers pdf guide on it's product

http://www.evercoat.com/imgs/pis/GELCOAT.pdf

it's hard to comment on the schaefer car without seeing, feeling it. have you looked for a schaefer site?

the only place for balls looks to be inside the 4 stainless wheels of the car itself

does there appear to be a lot of slop between those 4 wheels and their center pins-axles?

if there is a lot of slop that is causing the car to lean forward loosely on the track then the car can probably be taken off the track and the 4 wheels taken off the car. the balls will be between the wheels and the 4 pins of the car. look for something like cir-clips on the pins

it's possible that there are no clips so if you take the car off the track have newspapers or a tarp underneath in case the wheels and balls simply fall out of the car

the bad word blanked above by the family friendly forum software is r-e-t-a-r-d

erice

the bad word blanked above by the family friendly forum software is r-e-t-a-r-d

Insensitive jerk!

You should have said
"acetone amount beyond 15%, as it can developmentally challenge proper cure and damage surface"

Computers are so stupid.

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

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Quote

The hole in the casting is for a delrin screw. You can turn the screw in or out to fine tune the rudder rake, & thereby adjust your tiller tug.

OK here's the cheapskate in me showing up. When I took my ebay 5.0 special out for it's first shakedown sail it had some lee helm, probably because I shortened the forestay to accommodate a roller furler. So I brought the shrouds down one hole which put the forestay in the top hole on the chainplate. Still a little lee helm. So I needed bring the rudders aft. There were no screws in the rudder casting so I drove a couple miles to the nearest box hardware store and got a couple plastic 3/8" x 2" screws used for bolting down toilet seats. They usually have a thin head withe a large slot ,of course they have to be cut to length. It's been 4 years and they're still good. On these daggerless NACRAS I would rather adjust helm with rudders rather than raking the mast back.

Quote

plastic 3/8" x 2" screws

Are yours that small? I got some for my 5.7, they are 1/2" NC thread.

--
Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
--