Raising & lowering the mast

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Raising & lowering the mast

Postby Graham Cross » Fri Sep 07, 2018 7:02 pm

I and my wife are no longer in the full flush of youth. (I am 77yrs old) We, therefore, do not have the strength we once had. Has anyone a special method for lowering and hoisting the mast which would cut out the need for us to pay the boatyard.

There is a ramp out of the river and if we float the boat onto our trailer we would like to be able to lower the mast for transportation to our home.

I look forward to any suggestions.

Graham Cross,
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Re: Raising & lowering the mast

Postby Dennis » Sat Sep 08, 2018 10:31 am

Hello Graham

The solid version of the CC19 mast is certainly a hefty beast.
I generally launch/retrieve single handed and I also am the wrong side of 70 and physically small. Consequently, I have had to devise a way of raising the mast which requires little effort.
I use the trailer winch and my jib pole, see the photo, it is fairly self explanatory:
P3250916.jpg


Lowering the mast is much simpler. I use the bowsprit in the raised position and a simple double block system to gently lower the mast.
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Cheers

Dennis

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Re: Raising & lowering the mast

Postby Graham Cross » Sat Sep 08, 2018 1:28 pm

Hi Dennis,

I don't have a jib pole. Is this an extra I know nothing about?

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Re: Raising & lowering the mast

Postby Dennis » Sat Sep 08, 2018 3:23 pm

Hello Graham

I made my own. SeaSure stainless steel fittings on an ash pole.

I use it to pole out the staysail when running "goose winged".
Cheers

Dennis

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Re: Raising & lowering the mast

Postby oak » Wed Sep 12, 2018 11:28 pm

By far the best arrangement that I have seen for raising the mast[apologies to Dennis] is the system devised I think by Simon.I was only looking at the story the other day but blowed if I can find it at this moment.
Basically he mounted a pole on brackets attached to the tabernacle swivel bolt..I don't like using the bowsprit as it might easily get torn out.Should mention that he ditched the Honor marine mast to go back to birdsmouth construction.
Certainly it worked well and is something I would like to copy but as I had my newish outboard stolen last week along with lifejackets,tools,spares etc it will have to wait.
will look for link
Jack
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Re: Raising & lowering the mast

Postby Malcolm Sadler » Thu Sep 13, 2018 12:52 am

Very sorry to hear of the burglary Jack. I hope Merlin was not damaged in the course of it.

I looked at Simon’s system and liked the principle but could not start to get all the SS parts and have them welded. So I have made a new mast bolt with an eye nut on each end and made a wooden version of Simon’s system with bits of broomstick / dowel at the required spacing screwed to a piece of 40mmx40mm decking rail. The other end has an eye bolt on the faces of the pole which face up, and down, the mast. The genoa hallyard is tied off at the gooseneck and the other end goes to one of the eyes on the pole. There is a thin dyneema line in a five fold loop permanantly threaded through the forestay deck anchoring point

I have a very long 8mm rope and a 6:1 block system which fits between the dyneema loop and the lower eye on the pole. So long as the pole is at 90 degrees to the mast, it is kept in place in the eye nuts on the mast bolt by the tension on the rope and genoa hallyard. Paul Turner adds extra security by bolting his pole to the tabernacle with the mast bolt with steel pieces which go down the sides of the tabernacle so stopping the pole falling over “sideways”.

Sorry for all the words but I don’t have a picture. Someone - please come forward - took photos when we were derigging after the 2016 Rally at Chichester Marina.

An improvement would be guy ropes - a sort of rope A frame - such as Dennis uses with his system. This would prevent sideways collapse of the pole in, say, a strong sidewind.

The system I describe can of course be used afloat as it does not involve the trailer winch. This is important on, for instance, the Norfolk Broads with many bridges.

I say again, the concept is Simon’s, and I am grateful to him for his description. My adaptation was probabaly cheaper - about £30 plus the cost of about 25m of basic rope

Cheers

Malcolm
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Re: Raising & lowering the mast

Postby oak » Thu Sep 13, 2018 11:42 pm

Thanks for the description Malcolm.
I would very much like to see a picture,drawing?
Certainly Simons version looked a little over engineered I would have thought Cape Cutter might have offered a complete system as an optional extra.
When I had the original SA mast I could easily lower/ raise the mast at a bridge with the bowsprit.I have a high boom, demountable, crutch so the mast was already on the way up.THe lightness of the mast made it all quite easy.I 'm afraid that the solid mast defeats me.
I use the JCB tracked vehicle with a high lift at home.
No damage,thank you only to the wallet
cheers
Jack
if I could remember how to post pictures
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Re: Raising & lowering the mast

Postby Donald » Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:04 pm

I had a bracket for attachment to the tabernacle made for me by the local agricultural engineer, so it is over-engineered, but works fine. It is based on the very smart one you see at this site: http://www.inspiration19.com/mods/mast-raising/

It works as described by Malcolm and I will try to get some pictures. In order to stop it 'toppling' I have two clips like those you see on a trailer flap which clip through the end of the rod going through the rings on the mast bolt.
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Re: Raising & lowering the mast

Postby oak » Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:17 pm

OH Donald thanks for the link.
I wasn't being dismissive of the unit by saying that it was over engineered,I really meant it was over engineered for my capabilities.
I just have to find an engineering workshop not so easy in the West of Ireland.
I take it the system works well for you
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Re: Raising & lowering the mast

Postby Donald » Tue Sep 18, 2018 6:56 pm

It works very well. The downside is that it is heavy, and not something I would take with me in the boat for passing under bridges. Fine for launching and recovering, so I was not bothered to get it done in stainless steel. I need to think again about a 'portable' solution, and having seen Denis use the bowsprit as a post, this seems a good idea.

Here are some photos of the components of my solution.
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