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Mast stepping and unstepping  Bottom

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  • Mast stepping made easy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO4RxwvjKtM

    but you do need a tilt trailer.... icon_biggrin
  • Quoteif you have crew, why not have BOTH of you on the tramp, and walk the mast up
    when it's up... one of you go pin it (or tie if off to your furler ring)

    That's what I do on the 5.0, 5.7 & the 33' stik on the 6XL.
    I was looking through the Mystere manual, & saw the idea of hiking back while holding trap lines. I just wondered if anyone had used it, & if it worked.
    You guys, with that few feet of steep beach have it the best. Watching Dave drop his mast solo, without much work must make many trailer sailors green with envy.



    Edited by Edchris177 on Jul 07, 2014 - 08:10 PM.

    --
    Hobie 18 Magnum
    Dart 15
    Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
    Nacra 5.7
    Nacra 5.0
    Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
    Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
    --
  • I don't really have a problem physically raising the mast by myself on my P16 with only a mast hinge - except when I get a side stay caught on a transom or a trailer wheel cover, but I am too much of a chicken to walk off the tramp holding the forestay with one hand then catch the bridle and snap it on. I have vivid images of somehow losing my grip on the forestay either while hopping off the tramp and causing one or more unfortunate events within the 30 ft. radius of the boat (or within a 30 ft. radius about 1 rad arc behind the boat, to be more precise), or - if I am VERY lucky - only ruining the mast.

    I almost found a solution - my trailer has a mechanical winch attached from it's jet-ski days, and I can raise the mast using the winch cable going through the mast mount cradle. But the P16 mast hinge is only meant to provide a very basic guidance and positioning to the mast base, not enforce the vertical rotation of the mast. So, I still need a person on the tramp guiding the mast even if they don't really need to provide any effort (winch does the lifting). It's not a problem now since I would not go out solo anyway, what with about 3 hrs total sailing experience. But here is the system that I intend to shamelessly copy once I am brave enough to try going solo and not too cheap to splurge $100ish on an electric winch:
    http://youtu.be/sdFm_9Q09ac

    --
    Mike
    Prindle 16
    Rochester, NY
    --
  • i believe it's only 31' (based on the stock 6.0, and i didn't think/know the xl had a taller stick)

    QuoteThat's what I do on the 5.0, 5.7 & the 33' stik on the 6XL.


    please let me know if i was wrong -
  • Here is how i raise the mast solo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=733z8c7EUJ8



    Edited by kevinbatchelor on Jul 09, 2014 - 01:45 PM.
  • Quotei believe it's only 31' (based on the stock 6.0, and i didn't think/know the xl had a taller stick)

    You might be right.
    I just put the mast back up, (took it down to change furlers), but didn't measure it. Hopefully it won't come down again til end of season.
    I have one basement room at the cottage that is 31', & it won't fit on the ceiling rack with the others.
    There is a Hobie Bob at the top, that might make it longer than 31'.
    I'll measure it next time it comes down.

    --
    Hobie 18 Magnum
    Dart 15
    Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
    Nacra 5.7
    Nacra 5.0
    Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
    Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
    --
  • you can run a 31' line up the halyard and see (maybe add a foot for the knot)

    QuoteI'll measure it next time it comes down.



    QuoteThere is a Hobie Bob at the top, that might make it longer than 31'.

    for sure it adds height



    Edited by MN3 on Jul 11, 2014 - 07:29 AM.
  • I just posted some pics of a few gin poles I've constructed over time.

    Dave



    Edited by davefarmer on Jul 12, 2014 - 06:18 PM.
  • Hi all,

    Here's my solo mast raising video by request.

    https://youtu.be/W4cLtC26aRM

    James
    Bimare F18 HT
    Farrier F25C
  • Just a non tilt trailer will do for this one I made using your boom. Then follow ez hobie mast stepper manual instructions. Be sure to place side guidelines under the trailer that pull trap wires away from boat to guide mast sway. There's a pic of actual gooseneck fitting in my album. I don't see how anyone can pin the bridle without mechanical tension. I use the winch on trailer and pinning is easy.

    --
    Goodsailing

    Laser-Standard Rig (Sold 6/15)
    H18 (Sold 7/15)
    Building 19' Tacking Outrigger
    Balt-Wash Area
    --
  • kevinbatchelorHere is how i raise the mast solo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=733z8c7EUJ8Edited by kevinbatchelor on Jul 09, 2014 - 01:45 PM.

    If you were to tie the jib sheet to the mast at about chest height, would that eliminate that touchy step of reaching down to grab the sheet?

    --
    '82 Super Cat 15
    Hull #315
    Virginia
    Previously owned: '70 H14, '79 H16, '68 Sailmaster 26, '85 H14T
    --
  • goodsailing I don't see how anyone can pin the bridle without mechanical tension.


    You need to loosen the rig before you step the mast (actually before you lower the mast from the previous outing) so there is negligible tension on the forestay. Once the mast is up, tighten the shroud(s). You can either have someone hang off the trap wires while you adjust the shroud or you can hoist the boom up with the main halyard, pull it over to one side, and then hold the mast up using the mainsheet blocks while you adjust the shroud solo.

    sm
  • Quoteor you can hoist the boom up with the main halyard, pull it over to one side, and then hold the mast up using the mainsheet blocks while you adjust the shroud solo.

    you can also do this with the main sail fully hoisted and attached to the mast and boom - just make sure you are pointed into the wind and be ready to pop the main/travler incase of a strong wind shift (i bet having crew is sounding better and better icon_cool )



    Edited by MN3 on May 18, 2015 - 05:48 PM.
  • [quote=MN3]
    Quote
    you can also do this with the main sail fully hoisted and attached to the mast and boom - just make sure you are pointed into the wind and be ready to pop the main/travler incase of a strong wind shift


    Yes, I have seen people adjust their rig like this. No, it is not a good idea.

    If you pop the main/traveler because of a gust, you're mast will fall down since you're depending on the sail to hold the rig up. If you don't pop the sheet, the boat capsizes on the beach. Either way, there is potential for gear to get broken or people to get injured.

    If you want to adjust your rig with the sail hoisted, you're better off loosening all sheets and having someone hang off the trap wires, but even doing it that way is not a great idea. We had someone try to adjust his rig like this during a very windy day at a regatta a couple years ago and damn near laid his rig down on the boats that were parked right next to him (I actually ended up jumping up on his tramp and pushing the mast back up while he was hanging off the trap line on the verge of being pulled over by his rig).

    Best to use some common sense and discretion. The rig can easily pull you or the boat over. It's much safer to just drop the mainsail, adjust, and then re-hoist. It really isn't that much extra work.

    sm
  • I never did a thing with the shrouds. Stepped the mast with the boom / winch method I've described. The one thing that made it easier was that I put webbing through the bottom hole of the chain adjuster that's hanging below the furler. I attached this webbing to the boom/ gin pole and when winched down it was more in line so that the side bridles could be pinned. I never had to tighten shrouds. Set for sailing and left there. Longer pins for the side bridles really worked...

    --
    Goodsailing

    Laser-Standard Rig (Sold 6/15)
    H18 (Sold 7/15)
    Building 19' Tacking Outrigger
    Balt-Wash Area
    --
  • Quote We had someone try to adjust his rig like this during a very windy day at a regatta a couple years ago and damn near laid his rig down on the boats that were parked right next to him

    I used this method for years on my h18. - i agree it definatly should not be done in heavy air - but on a light air morning, it's no big deal - I also used to do this while my cat was in the water, so if there was a shift the boat would simply turn

    we also do this with the bucket... really not a big deal in light air
  • As I said at the end of my post - use common sense and discretion.

    Common sense dictates that pulling pins on your rigging when your have sails up presents serious SNAFU potential. When weighed against the 30 seconds required to drop the main and 30 seconds to re-hoist, adjusting with the sails hoisted doesn't really make a lot of sense.

    By the way, if you have thimbles on the ends of your shrouds (not aircraft swage fittings), you can actually install two pins through the thimble and "walk" the rig up or down to safely adjust your shrouds without risk of dumping the rig.

    sm
  • QuoteBy the way, if you have thimbles on the ends of your shrouds (not aircraft swage fittings), you can actually install two pins through the thimble and "walk" the rig up or down to safely adjust your shrouds without risk of dumping the rig.

    Nice - never thought of that. Would have come in handy on Saturday's mast stepping with my friend's Mystere we struggled with in a rainstorm.

    --
    Supercat 15
    Windrider 17
    Several Sunfish and Sunfish clones
    Ratboat built from Zuma and Sunfish parts
    Shallow water sailor in the Delaware Bay
    --
  • YMMV - i never dropped my h18 rig, and did this a few 100 times
  • If I understand correctly... if you adjust the shrouds for sailing prior to stepping your mast, you can't get your mast up? I'm not experiencing this... so why the need to adjust after mast is up and when sail is up? Why not just set them and leave them there.. pending of course your average wind day. (I realize wind is a factor in setting shrouds.)

    --
    Goodsailing

    Laser-Standard Rig (Sold 6/15)
    H18 (Sold 7/15)
    Building 19' Tacking Outrigger
    Balt-Wash Area
    --

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