Mast Step Assist Rigged

Prior to going out on the water we took the boat and the mast step assist thingie to the yard in front of the place where I work. This shows it rigged.

A pair of straps pulls it down onto the trailer (these are the yellow things with the black fuzzy sleeves). A pair of ropes are tied between the bows of the boat and the eye bolts in the step assist bar. This keeps it from sliding aft while raising or lowering the mast.

The mast is attached by hooking the forward pair of trapeze wires around the eyebolts and cinching them down. Not the most elegant solution, but it's quick, it's easy, and it WORKS!

We raised and lowered the mast this way a couple of times before bringing the boat home. We used the same setup when we first sailed it on June 9th, 2012. It worked perfectly. I'm really pleased with how this turned out.

I'd like to come up with something a little easier to tension on the bows, and I'd like to add a gin pole that will have its own pair of side-stays, also connected to the eye-bolts. But other than that, it works and we're sailing.