Tim wrote:
I need to lower the mast on my space sailer 22 (22ft masthead
keelboat)...

Tim,
I don't know how big or heavy the mast on your boat is, but after much
(often hilarious) trial and error, I finally realized that the easiest
way to step/unstep the mast on a trailerable 25' MacGregor I used to own
was to simply walk up to it, grap it about head high while my wife undid
the forestay and lower it to the deck. Admittidly, it was a pretty
wimpy mast and pinned at the step (I hesitate to call that mechanism a
tabernacle) so it was like it was on a hinge.

If yours is not on some kind of a tabernacle mechanism, make sure you've
got someone controlling the base of the mast so it doesn't fly up.

On larger boats, we would tie them next to another sail boat and create
a crane out of the spinnaker halyard from the other boat. You tie a
line onto the end of the halyard, making it nice and long. Then take
the end over and past the boat you're unstepping the mast from and
secure it far enough away down the docks such that where it crosses over
your boat's centerline, it's more than half as high as your mast. Now,
fix a block to this line and adjust things such this block is right over
your mast step. If you're unstepping the mast, this means that this
block is actually touching your mast and more than half way up. Now,
simply run a line through the block and you've got a crane. We usually
run one end of this line to a sheet winch on the "crane" boat. The
other end should be secured as high as possible on the mast being
unstepped. On single spreader rigs, a simple loop that is allowed to
ride up to the spreaders has always sufficed for us. If this attachment
point is not over half way up, the mast will be top heavy and want to
come tumbling down as soon as the base is released.

It works best if you've got at least 3 people. One at the sheet winch,
one at the mast, keeping it stabilized and the third running around
releasing shrouds and stays. Note that there are probably some
electrical wires running up through the mast, so go gently at first,
lifting the mast only a couple of inches while that third person comes
over and undoes them (person #2's only job is to keep his hands on the
mast, keeping it stable and preventing it from swinging around).

Hope this helps - Dan
--
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
B-2/75 1977-1979
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean"
http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/TriciaJean.JPG