Hello,
I need to lower the mast on my space sailer 22 (22ft masthead
keelboat) (see earlier messages regarding halyards). I have had
experience doing this on larger yachts (30 and 32 ft) but they involve
some pretty heavy masts. On those boats the technique was to set up an
A-frame using 2 spinnaker poles and lower backwards using substantial
tackles from a winch.

For a 22 foot boat, do you think the A-frame and large tackle will be
needed? Would it be sufficient to lower the mast using a simpler 2
part purchase and just support it when it is down by hand (I have a
cradle etc but seeing as I am taking the mast off I will just get
someone to unbolt it once it is down and held)??

Looking at the mast it doesn't seem that heavy but having no
experience with doing this on a boat this small it is hard to tell.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Tim

On a 22' venture, I usta put the mast up & take it down alone by hand. Im
5'6",130#.
Its a little nicer to have some help with the forestay tho.

agreed - have someone on the forestay and for the first time two behind the
mast, one each side to stop it going to port or starboard.

with practice you can do it alone or with 2 easy.


"Wwj2110" wrote in message
...
On a 22' venture, I usta put the mast up & take it down alone by hand. Im
5'6",130#.
Its a little nicer to have some help with the forestay tho.

A number of people have their own systems. I have a Sandpiper 565 with a 22'
2" mast. With two people it was fairly easy although I am working on how to
do it alone. For my boat I need a 'crutch' about 7' high at the stern to
hold mast at an angle to foot onto pivot bolt. Next I plan to use a 'gin
pole' to help in the raising & lowering. The gin pole would be like a boom
on the forward side of the mast using the jib halyard as a kind of topping
lift and another line shackled to the bottom of the pole, run through a
block at the bow plate and back to me standing close to the mast. This
should allow me to raise the mast by pulling on the line and be close enough
to steady the mast if it wobbled side to side. Some people have devised a
'wishbone' type support that connects to the mast at it's apex and to both
starboard & port decks inline with the mast step.
I believe the MacGregor people have designed something similar to this for
their Mac 26.

Tim wrote:
I need to lower the mast on my space sailer 22 (22ft masthead
keelboat)...

Tim,
I don't know how big or heavy the mast on your boat is, but after much
(often hilarious) trial and error, I finally realized that the easiest
way to step/unstep the mast on a trailerable 25' MacGregor I used to own
was to simply walk up to it, grap it about head high while my wife undid
the forestay and lower it to the deck. Admittidly, it was a pretty
wimpy mast and pinned at the step (I hesitate to call that mechanism a
tabernacle) so it was like it was on a hinge.

If yours is not on some kind of a tabernacle mechanism, make sure you've
got someone controlling the base of the mast so it doesn't fly up.

On larger boats, we would tie them next to another sail boat and create
a crane out of the spinnaker halyard from the other boat. You tie a
line onto the end of the halyard, making it nice and long. Then take
the end over and past the boat you're unstepping the mast from and
secure it far enough away down the docks such that where it crosses over
your boat's centerline, it's more than half as high as your mast. Now,
fix a block to this line and adjust things such this block is right over
your mast step. If you're unstepping the mast, this means that this
block is actually touching your mast and more than half way up. Now,
simply run a line through the block and you've got a crane. We usually
run one end of this line to a sheet winch on the "crane" boat. The
other end should be secured as high as possible on the mast being
unstepped. On single spreader rigs, a simple loop that is allowed to
ride up to the spreaders has always sufficed for us. If this attachment
point is not over half way up, the mast will be top heavy and want to
come tumbling down as soon as the base is released.

It works best if you've got at least 3 people. One at the sheet winch,
one at the mast, keeping it stabilized and the third running around
releasing shrouds and stays. Note that there are probably some
electrical wires running up through the mast, so go gently at first,
lifting the mast only a couple of inches while that third person comes
over and undoes them (person #2's only job is to keep his hands on the
mast, keeping it stable and preventing it from swinging around).

Hope this helps - Dan
--
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
B-2/75 1977-1979
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean"
http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/TriciaJean.JPG

If you would feel comfortable with mast raising if only you could have
someone help by pulling on the forestay or jib halyard check the
following links for a way to step the mast singlehanded! The method
uses a loaded spring to offset the weight of the mast and assist in
the lift. The lift is performed from the cabin top (the weight of the
mast is almost completely negated), so there is no need to climb to
the cabin top (walking it up) while lifting. There is no gin pole. It
works on the trailer or on the water and the whole thing stores in a
small bag. The method was posted on the TSBB Nimble forum in three
separate posts(see links) about a year ago, so the pictures are no
longer archived. If you want to give it a try, email me and I can
supply pics and additional info. == Paul ==

http://tinyurl.com/536es http://tinyurl.com/5le88
http://tinyurl.com/3jvjg



(Wwj2110) wrote in message ...
On a 22' venture, I usta put the mast up & take it down alone by hand. Im
5'6",130#.
Its a little nicer to have some help with the forestay tho.

Tim wrote:
Hello,
I need to lower the mast on my space sailer 22 (22ft masthead
keelboat) (see earlier messages regarding halyards). I have had
experience doing this on larger yachts (30 and 32 ft) but they involve
some pretty heavy masts. On those boats the technique was to set up an
A-frame using 2 spinnaker poles and lower backwards using substantial
tackles from a winch.


Bruce Bingham has a good chapter on a safe and secure mast lower/raising
system in his book on boat improvement projects.

His system addresses the problem of keeping the upper shrouds tight
while piveting the mast in a tabernacle or base hinge. He also
recommends lowering it forward to take advantage of the boom as a strut
for the intial raising from the horizontal position.

I have scanned this section on the tabernacle system and have placed it
on my web site at http://hood.hctc.com/~esteve/private/books/ ..( The
zip file is named TabernacleMast.zip )

Good luck,

Steve
s/v Good Intentions