Do I really need to install a traveller?

[seafrontiersman]

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!

[deniseO30]

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)

[CharlieCobra]

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