Mast lowering vid

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Riggerdood
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Mast lowering vid

Post by Riggerdood »

A fellow on the Precision Facebook Group was asking for more info on how the wishbone mast raising/lowering system works. Well, the rain and wind and cold has subsided (for now at least!) here in the Inland Empire, so I made this li'l video to show the process. Nuthin' fancy, just a one-take, unedited shot with my goofy voice over explaining what I'm doing. Enjoi!

https://youtu.be/YGmMEjHv_vA
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Brian N.
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Re: Mast lowering vid

Post by Brian N. »

Interesting video. I like the way you rigged the system to prevent side-to-side sway. My friend with a Rhodes 22 uses a similar system. However with his in-mast main sail furling the rig is very heavy and requires two people.
2008 P165
Long Island Sound
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Riggerdood
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Re: Mast lowering vid

Post by Riggerdood »

Thanks Brian. See my comments on the TS forum. There is a fellow on our RS22 FB group who also has a furling main, but it's not in-mast. It's more like a headsail furler mounted directly aft of the mast, so he can remove the whole assembly for mast raising/lowering.
GregWads
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Re: Mast lowering vid

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I built a single handed system for raising and lowering the mast on my Stuart Mariner that did not require any special permanent attachment points like this system. I got the idea from another Mariner owner.
The system consisted of a Gin Pole, two lateral stabilizing poles and a spare gooseneck slide. The Gin pole was a 2x4 with a small trailer winch bolted to the underside. A line from the winch went to a turning block at the head end of the pole then down to the bow cleats. A cleat on the top side of the head end of the pole was used to attach the main halyard. The other end of the main halyard was cleated off at the bottom of the mast. The foot end of the pole was shaped to fit the mast. I put a piece of 2x4 on both the top and bottom sides of the foot end of the gin pole where it met the mast to strength the cheeks. The gin pole attached near the foot of the mast using ratchet strap that around the cheeks and rear side of the mast. I made two lateral stabilizing poles from two, inch and quarter, 5 foot broom handles. The upper end of stabilizer poles attached to a spare gooseneck slide that went up and down in the sail track. I did not have any free hard mouting points for the lower end of the support poles, so I fashioned the lower end to fit over the jib sheet turning blocks with a rope that went through the turning block then cleated off on the pole. The hand rail on the Precision Cabin top would work great. There is not a lot of force on the stabilizer pole ends.

Just a thought.
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Riggerdood
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Re: Mast lowering vid

Post by Riggerdood »

Thanks Greg. Yes, I am familiar with that system, and in fact a friend of mine in FL used it on her P-23. My boat came with the system shown in the vid, and after considering converting it to a different system, I decided it wasn't broke so I wasn't going to fix it. It takes no more time or effort. The only changes I made were to use the mainsheet tackle instead of the trailer's winch strap, which required getting on and off the boat too many times, and switching from Spectra baby stays to the single rigid one. Just those two changes have cut the setup time in half (except when I forget a step like the furling line!), and I only need to get on and off the boat once between parking and splashing.

Can you please explain what you mean by "special permanent attachment points"? Everything related to mast raising/lowering is removeable, not permanent, although I usually leave the wishbone in place, since it doesn't interfere with anything else while sailing/anchoring/etc.
GregWads
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Re: Mast lowering vid

Post by GregWads »

I agree with the axiom, "if it isn't broke don't fix it".

By specialized permanant attachement points. In your video there appears to a pole that attaches to some sort of eye near the top of the first starboard side stantion. The upper end of the poles goes to an eye on the side of the mast. My guess is the pole stabilizes the mast while rasing and lowering. If the only purpose for those two eyes is for your mast raising system, then I would consider them to be specialized. In defense of your system, those eyes are very innocuous. I have seen videos of "A" frame systems where people drilled holes though the deck and also the cabin top to install eyebolts whose only purpose was for a mast raising "A" frame mounting system. Personally the eyebolts seemed to be a toe hazard as well as another possible source of a leak.
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Riggerdood
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Re: Mast lowering vid

Post by Riggerdood »

Ah, OK, now I see what you're getting at, and I agree that I wouldn't want to jam any of my little piggies into any eyebolts on deck! Then again, I never sail barefoot, because I'm a klutz, and always manage to stove something into something ...

Yes, that pole is the rigid baby stay, and is completely removed from the boat while she is on the water. The remaining attachment points are indeed innocuous, and in fact the stanchion eye is used in several places on the boat, for everything from the rigid baby stay to a turning block on the sternrail for the furling line. A PO of this boat made some very well thought out mods, and I haven't seen the need to change most of them.
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