Today's lesson - Masts
 

From the pic I saw, your gonna have trouble stepping that mast
yourself.
My boat also has that hook on the backstay.

On Fri, 23 Sep 2005 01:17:37 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:


Interesting little feature that I'd never seen before - the back stay
has an additional little clip swaged onto the stay - I imagine it's an
emergency type of deal.

I'm thinking two possibilities. First, and most common, is a topping
lift to hold the boom up when there's no mainsail up.

Second is some type of gismo for stepping the mast. Could be some
sort of block and tackle attaches to that extra clip for pulling up
the mast.

bb

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
1 - They are heavy.

Once my youngest boy and his friend got the mast off the Halman, they
put it on some blocks and I looked it over. I need new lines for
almost everything, but the stays look ok.

Interesting little feature that I'd never seen before - the back stay
has an additional little clip swaged onto the stay - I imagine it's an
emergency type of deal.

I'm not at all sure I could raise and lower the mast myself - I'm
going to have to invent something if I'm going that route because I
just tried to lift one end with my good arm and it is heavy.

We also laid out the boat cover and it's quite a deal - all custom
made with zippers, mast home, velcro all over the place - very
impressive.

I'm hoping my shoulder feels better tomorrow so I can work some on the
trailer.

I don't think your mast is much longer than mine, but I'm sure the
diameter is bigger. I can handle my mast quite easily and right now
it's on top of two sawhorses in my back yard. I just drilled a hole in
the masthead casing and installed a shackle to help me raise it
singlehanded, in combination with my 'gin pole' and my 'crutch pole'.

From the pic I saw, your gonna have trouble stepping that mast
yourself. My boat also has that hook on the backstay.


Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
I kind of figured that was a standard deal - I had never seen it
before.


It's a replacement for a real topping lift (ie one that goes to the mast
head and allows the boom full swing). Works OK but can be a pain when it
snags things and when the wind shifts as you're hoisting.


As to stepping the mast, I've been thinking about it and tomorrow I'm
going to really look it over and see if I can rig something to do it
safely - like maybe a jack screw deal with a counter balance.


There is a fairly standard configuration with an A-frame, legs braced at
the chainplates and the top just above the balance point of the mast.
Removable stays fore & aft. A clever one can be quite secure yet only
take 15 minutes to set up, don't forget it has to clear the shrouds so
you can put on the standing rigging before taking down the A-frame!

Here's a discussion of one, scroll about 1/3 down to
"2) MAST-RAISING "A-FRAME"
16 Mar 96 --contributed by John Clement:
The mast-raising A-frame I'm making is one I've seen
working on several P-23s,"

http://www.precisionowners.com/faq_textbased.htm

Hope this helps

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

Interesting little feature that I'd never seen before - the back stay
has an additional little clip swaged onto the stay - I imagine it's an
emergency type of deal.

The clip is to hold the boom up when the mainsail is down. One of my
old boats had that arrangement also. Be sure to unclip before raising
the main, otherwise "interesting" things will happen very quickly if
the wind is blowing.

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
On 22 Sep 2005 18:23:10 -0700, wrote:

From the pic I saw, your gonna have trouble stepping that mast
yourself. My boat also has that hook on the backstay.

I kind of figured that was a standard deal - I had never seen it
before.

As to stepping the mast, I've been thinking about it and tomorrow I'm
going to really look it over and see if I can rig something to do it
safely - like maybe a jack screw deal with a counter balance.

My real concern is figuring out a way to keep the mast vertical while
securing it to the boat, then the rest of the stays.

Hey, I'm supposed to be an engineer right? :)

Have a line of the appropriate length attached to the opposite side
from the side you are lifting. When it gets vertical and there is
tension in both directions, it won't move. If there is ample tension,
it won't even move much in the other axis.