[quote=ragebot][quote=Andinista]If there is a second person you can put him/her on the winch to pull a trap wire, just to ease your task. It can be even a child or somebody passing by. That makes a lot of difference and is much simpler.
I haven’t tried a gin pole, I was considering it until I started using the winch.[/quote]
I did have a second person helping me raise the mast; keep in mind this was my first time doing this. The final process I used was to place the mast base close to the ball and then have the SP (Second Person) place a step ladder close to the top of the mast and then put the top of the mast at the top of the step ladder. Then the SP got on the tramp with me and the mast was high enough we could raise it with little problem. At that point the SP stayed on the tramp and I climbed down and attached the fore stay to the furler. It took about two hours of both of us moving things and talking before we arrived at this process. Next time I am sure it will be a five or ten minute process.
Lowering the mast was also a learning experience. I used a come along instead of a winch since I had one on my big boat. What we finally did was attach the strap of the come along (secured to the back of my van) to the fore stay and then place the step ladder between the trailer and van so it was functioning as a gin pole on the trailer with the strap on top of it (definitely gonna put a roller on top of the ladder, something I saw on a youtube vid). Truth be told the come along was probably not needed since not a lot of effort was required to let the strap out. It was shocking how much less effort was needed with the strap on top of the ladder as opposed to not using the ladder. I will definitely use a winch the next time instead of a come along since the winch is a continuous letting the strap out while the come along does it with a kind jerk.
As to the E-Z Step (III) what concerned me was that it seems Hobie specific. It was not clear to me if it would conform to the curve of a Prindle mast as opposed to the curve of a Hobie mast. West Coast Sailing bills the E-Z Step (II) as a more generic product. The only what I would call Hobie specific parts were the two wires attached to the forward cross arm to stabilize the mast so it does not swing off line. I saw a vid where a guy used a line attached to the mast rotating control to help keep the mast in the proper position when raising the mast.
I have to say while I have spent the better part of two afternoons raising and lowering the mast for the first time it was worth it in terms of what I learned and I am sure the process will be much quicker as I get more experience. Here is a link to a pix of the ladder and the boat. It is a ten foot model.
[url]https://www.thebeachcats.com/pictures?g2_itemId=132158&g2_imageViewsIndex=1[/url][/quote]
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