Do I really need to install a traveller?
 

I have a 1983 Watkins 23XL which I love sailing; the one thing I dislike about her is her Main Sheet arrangement which is a "Crosby Rig"; that is to say the sheets are run from a fiddle block on the boom to two fixed blocks at the stern. This is pretty awkward so I want to lead the sheet forward to the bridge deck just aft of the companionway hatch. I can install a traveller but I'd rather just use a single fixed point such as a padeye, properly backed up on the inside.

Is there a downside to doing this vs. installing a traveller? I won't be racing anytime soon! It seems to me that having a traveller along the bridge deck is just so many more places to bark skin off the people in the cockpit.

Thanks in advance to all and Happy Holidays!

Not an expert here by any means, but a traveler allows the boom to swing with while the main sheet is still under tension thereby keeping the mainsail properly shaped. It also allows you set the boom windward (hope i have the right term) in light air. A boom vang on larger boats takes some of the load off the traveler bu does the same thing for the mainsail. The pluses of having a traveler are more then the minuses (imho)

I installed one on my Venture 21. It made a HUGE difference in control and pointing ability.