I've been setting up and breaking down my Hobie 20 a bunch lately, just me and my girlfriend, no one else around and I noticed while i'm shaking in my boots keeping the mast rotated 90* and centered on the boat, the first 15 feet going up and down with a 31' mast is intimidating to say the least. Last weekend we parked the boat in front of a mono hull boat on a trailer, its mast up, so we used their forward mast support to hold the mast up - diamond wires not touching anything, to get her on the winch and me on the tramp, mast stepper jin pole ( 6' ? )strapped in and raised and lowered the mast via winch starting it at about 7' high with me on the tramp only to keep the mast centered and at 90* twist. Wayyyyy Easier!!

Being an audio engineer I built a mast support using one of my spare speaker stands ( designed for 100+ Lb speakers ) and some reinforced PVC covered with jumbo " fun noodle" to not scuff anything and walked it 7 paces aft of the rear crossbar so the mast lands a field goal about half way up the comp tip, I can then jump off the tramp, lift the mast tip end while the GF unpins the mast step and walks the mast to the front support.

Has anyone come up with a better/safer/easier way to quickly setup a large cat?
Tim



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Tim Grover
1996 Hobie Miracle 20
Two Hobie 14's
1983 G-Cat Restored
Memphis TN / North Mississippi
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Has anyone come up with a better/safer/easier way to quickly setup a large cat?

tim,
you know i'm not sure i understood all the motions you were describing or the problem you are trying to solve, but you might look at this system of solo mast raising that i have built for myself and several others and am offering here on thebeachcats. it's very stable and portable, folding up to 5' in length. only weighs 10lbs total.

http://www.thebeachcats.c…ystemfor-beach-cats.html

it may seem expensive at first, but if you figure all your time and materials designing and building and testing and redesigning......it's pretty reasonable.
i can't reveal all the details but would be glad to answer any general questions you may have about how it works.
j



Edited by arch on Mar 31, 2014 - 10:42 PM.

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Aquacat 12 (sold)...'87 Nacra 5.8 (sold)...'03 Nacra Inter18 (sold)
Venture 15 (sold)....'89 Nacra 5.8 (sold)...'91 Nacra 5.8NA (sold)
'99 Nacra Inter20 (sold)
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It's basically the same system you have except it still requires two people. One on tramp just to guide the mast up, one to crank the winch. An electric winch would be nice here.

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Tim Grover
1996 Hobie Miracle 20
Two Hobie 14's
1983 G-Cat Restored
Memphis TN / North Mississippi
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http://www.harborfreight.…emote-control-61297.html

arch

it may seem expensive at first

Dood, thats not expensive that's a good deal. I can gin pole my arc22 no problem solo with a 38.5' mast on my floating dock. Mines a bit longer than 5' but it is the Aquarius rig. Easy peasy. Just use the main sheet. Hook up with arch.

link on how to at Aquarius.

http://www.aquarius-sail.…/arc22/ginpole/index.htm



Edited by flfingermullet on Apr 01, 2014 - 11:57 AM.

my photo doesn't show it but my gin pole is an 'a-frame' which attaches to the crossbeam, so it can't tip to the sides. it doesn't take three hands to set it up.

i have a small winch on my 5.8 trailer that i bought from harbor freight and you guys are right, it makes it 'fun' instead of work. the gear ratio is a little faster than i would like but it works great.
j

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Aquacat 12 (sold)...'87 Nacra 5.8 (sold)...'03 Nacra Inter18 (sold)
Venture 15 (sold)....'89 Nacra 5.8 (sold)...'91 Nacra 5.8NA (sold)
'99 Nacra Inter20 (sold)
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I've built half a dozen gin poles for various boats, including the current SC20 and ARC 22. Some use the winch on the trailer, some had a similar winch mounted to the pole itself, and for the 22 we use a $49 Harbor Freight 12v winch like pictured above, which we also use to pull the boat up the beach on beach wheels. A well designed gin pole requires little physical effort, and is much safer than muscling a big mast up by hand. You could call me if you wish.

Dave
509 276 6355

The gin pole I have works great BUT don't you have to get the shrouds or trap wires involved to have side to side leverage at the top of the mast? Kinda tough on the 20 because the mast tang on the front of the mast is rotated 90* when stepping so pulling on any of the rigging tries to pull the mast to center. I've been manually forcing to keep the 90* twist the whole way up and down, not very hard to do if it saves me 30 minutes of rigging various contraptions. FWIW I wouldn't even think about setting it all up solo and going sailing alone. Those diamond wires, under that much tension, leverage and vertical would surely slice anything that got in its way if something failed
Arch, your system is great and worth every penny! Put up more pics and info, guys on 18-21' cats would feel better buying your system. I just happened to have 80% of ideal materials floating around my house I just plugged ya on the HC forum for a guy that looking to solo step his Hobie Tiger. Sailors helping sailors.

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a-frame' which attaches to the crossbeam

do you have additional hardware bolted to the front crossbar to make that work?

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I can gin pole my arc22 no problem solo with a 38.5' mast on my floating dock

I'd love to see a video of that!!!!!



Edited by fxloop on Apr 02, 2014 - 07:44 AM.

--
Tim Grover
1996 Hobie Miracle 20
Two Hobie 14's
1983 G-Cat Restored
Memphis TN / North Mississippi
--

Quote

do you have additional hardware bolted to the front crossbar to make that work?

yes, if you read the description in my ad, there are a couple of 'strap/loops' that have to be permanently and securely mounted to the front of the crossbar. they're small and come in handy for other attachments when not raising the mast, and most people don't even notice them.

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don't you have to get the shrouds or trap wires involved to have side to side leverage at the top of the mast?

and yes, even tho the gin pole does not tip from side to side, the mast will still swing to the side without some restraint. i use the trap lines tied to the end of the crossbeams for that. they have a little slack in them so they don't bind, but the mast is not pulled up with the trap lines.

my system pulls on the forestay when the mast is rotated 90 degrees and works fine. i tie the mast rotator to the end of the crossbeam to keep it rotated, but on a nacra this only needs to be done when dropping the mast, not going up. it may be the same on other cats too.

i hope to put up a video or more photos when i raise my mast this spring. but you can understand my reluctance in showing exactly how it's made since so many sailors on this site are 'do-it-yourselfers'. believe me, i'm makin' less than $5/hr on these so i'm not going to retire doing this!

thanks for the plug!
j

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Aquacat 12 (sold)...'87 Nacra 5.8 (sold)...'03 Nacra Inter18 (sold)
Venture 15 (sold)....'89 Nacra 5.8 (sold)...'91 Nacra 5.8NA (sold)
'99 Nacra Inter20 (sold)
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Winches, both crank and electric are very slow... we find that a 2:1 or 3:1 block system works much better and speed can be controlled. I'll get a photo of my system in action in the next few weekends. It is basically a boom vang off a big boat with a lot more line added to it. It can be cleated off in any position and no one has to worry about a winch handle getting out of control.
Ernie

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Ernie Kamp
http://www.youtube.com/user/TopSpin80#g/u
Richmond / Livingston / Galveston / Kemah / Texas City, Texas
Supercat 19 and Blade F16 "Nauti Habit", 2 Sunfish
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Nice lookin' 19 Ernie!

Dave

I leave my cat strapped to the trailer. Move mast foreward on the mast rest, and position the base on the ball. Move the stays to the fore crossbar. I use both trap lines and the boom. I have pigtailed rope with carabiners to clip the center of the rope and then run both ends to the same point on fore crossbar as the side stays for triangulating the boom. I use a spare main block with a single block to raise the mast. Once at 45 degrees or so I connect the forestay and finish raising the mast. Once it is up just move the stays to correct places and change your main block and your rigged up. I have been raising mine this way with no help easily. The boom helps keep the mast turned 90 degrees until it clears the crossbar no problem. I lower it the same way, just rig everything up and give your forestay a tug and here she comes.