Please help! I have a 14' hobie that I want to solo, but I cannot figure out how to get the mast in place by myself. Can this be done? What is the technique?
There are two types of options to step a mast single-handed. Several companies offer single-handed systems, typically using a trailer winch and a gin pole. Murray's (www.murrays.com) is a good source for this sort of stuff. This option is fairly complicated (read: expensive).
The other option is using the jib halyard (if you have one) to hold the mast once you've raised it. If you don't have a jib halyard, it should be possible to devise another method to "sheet in" the forestay as you raise the mast.
You need a mast step link to perform the above procedures. Do you have one? Do you have hiking lines? Do you have a jib sail? Is it a turbo jib? If you resppond to these answers I bet a lot of sailors have procedures that work good.
I have tried to solo step my 14 without any stepping gear. With a lot of strength I could get the mast pegged, with the sidestays connected, but I didn't know how to safely leave the tramp to connect the bridle to the forestay. I let my friend make the connection. I thought for the future that if I parked the trailer so the bow was pointing downhill gravity would hold the mast in place while I went forward to make the bridle connection. It might be dangerous if the wind came up so I never tried it. If you are not strong enough to lift the mast upright then you will need to use a stepping link. If you can peg the mast yourself then the sidestays should be set loose so you will be able to connect the forestay to the bridle. After that you can tighten the sidestays if you have a hiking line to pull the mast toward you as you reconnect the sidestay(you would have to be in your harness connected to the hiking line since you need both hands to reconnect the stay). I don't have a hiking line, so it seems dangerous to disconnect the sidestay to readjust it. I hope someone else responds with some cheap solutions.
There was a thread on this very subject not too long ago, check through the older postings.
If you are using the mast hinge, you can safely hold the mast in place with a spare line. What I used to do while rigging with the boat on the trailer - mounted a block on the trailer (I put it on where the trailer mast support mounted to the trailer), ran a longish line through it - one end I attached to the main halyard, the other end on the tramp, or tied off loosely on the mast, with the mast hinge pinned and the shrouds attached, lift the mast up into place, then pull the line on the tramp to take up the slack to hold the mast in place, and tie it off around the mast, now you can go forward and attach the forestay.
If you are rigging your boat alone on the trailer, make sure the boat is still strapped to the trailer, and make sure the trailer is safely latched on the hitch. If you can have the bow facing downhill it will make things easier.
If the boat is off the trailer, you can do the same kid of a thing with the bridle as the place to put the block for the stabilizer line.
Now, hooking the forestay goes easier if you have loosened one of the shrouds, which of coursre, you need to re-tension. As mentioned above, you can do that with a trap wire, attempting to hold it with your harness or your hand. Honestly, the trap wire method should only be done if you have someone else there to hold the trap wire while the you mess with the shroud. It's too easy to drop the pin or the mast doing this alone. The easy way to this is to go ahead and raise the main sail, then move the traveler car to the side you want to adjust the shroud. Then sheet in hard - the main will support the mast, leaving you free to adjust the shroud as tight as you want, the harder you sheet the main the more slack you'll have to play with on the shroud.
If you don't want to raise the main before you adjust the shrouds, once again you can use the main halyard - although this may take a little creativity on the 14, as the boom is usuallly left with the sail. You can use your mainsheet system - unhook it from the boom, hook it as normal to the traveler car, hook the halyard to the boom end of your mainsheet system, then proceed as above.
Here are a few articles on raising a mast by yourself. Please, if you have questions, ask them here before you try it!
GARY
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