Harken Traveler - Installing the Harken traveler track - 2010

OK we got the traveler track on.

 We first had to go back under the traveler to get the left over washers and silicone that was reaming there from the old screws. Not all the washers would come out. When we drilled the new holes (pilot holes) we then put a small screw driver in the hole and knocked out the old washer.
 We did the filling with two part epoxy and let sit for 24 hours. Then we did the drilling.
May 2010 - Marina Cortez San Diego, CA

The drilling was time consuming as we needed to measure for the traveler so it would sit straight and even. We noticed that it was originally installed crooked. We never noticed so that meant we could probably get away with a it being off a little.

Debbie measuring for traveler:

It came out straight though. Even with careful measurement I had to drill through the existing traveler holes to get some of the holes correct. It did not affect the traveler. Some of the holes were off a little so I re-drilled with the traveler held in place with two screws.
We made up a tool contraption to get the last washer, lock washer and nut on the 5\16 screw. It took about three hours to get that screw in. It was a long day and we were tired.

We also put some stuff around the screw heads for dissimilar metals.
We used silicone to hold the washes in place. We would slide them up on the screw and then they would stay there. We then would try putting on the nut. We finally tried vice grips. It worked fine but as you can see in the picture I wired tied them shut. We could not get them off. So we had to remove the screw and start over. Could not get them to work again. We thought we were cross threading the nut, that would have been the worst nightmare!. We later realized that the silicone had hardened a bit on the screw and was preventing the nut to screw on. We replaced the screw and the washers stayed siliconed to the top. So we did not have to worry about the washers. We then got the nut on with the double wrench. Debbie and I work well together as no voices were raised. Debbie’s hands got the worst of it with the fiberglass rubbing on them. She wore gloves most of the time but there are times when they just needed to be off.

The new screw are larger 5/16 and We used a ratchet with a socket and a screw driver bit form an impact driver. The impact driver may have worked also as a screw driver to help tighten the screws. Debbier used another ratchet on the nuts to tight them up.
We had to borrow and ½ drill because we could not find a 27/64 drill bit with a 3/8 chuck.
Next we will drill the two 27/64 holes in the track so we can mount the traveler end blocks with the screws provided.
We placed the car and end blocks on to se how they will look. There are still blocks to add to the car and end blocks. All simple stuff let’s hope.