Cost of dropping a mast

[Ruffles]

I've just been quoted £340 by my yard to drop, re-erect and 'set up' my mast. Not had it done before. Is this the going rate? It appears to be independent of the size of boat /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

We're on the Hamble to save you looking up my profile.

TIA.

Rob.

 

[simonfraser]

it's at least 140 for the crane to lower and raise your mast, how big a briane do you want in setting up you rig?
i lower my own using the spi pole fixed to the bottom of the mast

 

[bendyone]

How long will it take? Sounds a rip off to me.

 

[Evadne]

My winter package at Hayling island, which includes dropping and re-erecting the mast, storing the boat for 6 months and slipping and launching comes to just over twice that. Sounds like a rip-off to me, but at this time of year you may have little choice.

 

[gjeffery]

Seems high. I regard £70 to 80 each way, as more usual. But I avoid Hamble on principle.

 

[cliff]

[ QUOTE ]
I've just been quoted £340 by my yard to drop, re-erect and 'set up' my mast. Not had it done before. Is this the going rate? It appears to be independent of the size of boat /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

We're on the Hamble to save you looking up my profile.

TIA.

Rob.

[/ QUOTE ]Sounds like a rip off but hey what do you expect on the south coast. I pay around £40 for demasting and the same to put it back (plus vat) so around £100 for a 42' mast - Final tuning of the rigging is down to me as the yard only make the mast secure and do not tune the rigging - something to do with liability insurance I believe.
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[starboard]

Ah yes Cliff but for that £100 you also get nice scratch marks up the mast where Hughie tries to climb it in his rigger boots to take off the strop!!!!!Still it's a nice reminder of such a sweet old sole!!!!

Paul.

 

[Gunfleet]

Sail across to St Malo. The guy in Dinan charges £12!

 

[cliff]

[ QUOTE ]
Ah yes Cliff but for that £100 you also get nice scratch marks up the mast where Hughie tries to climb it in his rigger boots to take off the strop!!!!!Still it's a nice reminder of such a sweet old sole!!!!

Paul.

[/ QUOTE ]The scuff marks and scratches are not the problem - it is the holes where he kicks the crampons in to give extra purchase then the BIG gouges where he slides back down using the crampons as brakes. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
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[Ruffles]

Dave,

I've had a lift and scrub midseason at cut price. I discovered you could negotiate when the yard has little work on. Is the same true of work on the mast? All I need to do is remove and fix the anemometer because the cups have stopped spinning!

Rob.

 

[Guest]

Bosuns chairs come a lot cheaper than that! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Skysail]

Rob,

It takes a few hours and two riggers to disconnect electrics, derig, lift, restep, set up, so it will cost, tho' your quote sounds expensive.
Why not take a look first with a Bosun's chair, the anemometer is usually easily removable - ours came off quite easily, then we had it serviced by Greenham. A Top Climber or similar means you can climb easily.

 

[fireball]

[ QUOTE ]
It takes a few hours and two riggers to disconnect electrics, derig, lift, restep, set up,

[/ QUOTE ]
We had our mast dropped for ~£50 as part of the haulout ...
We disconnected all the electrics and derigged as much as possible so all they had to do was take off the shrouds and forestay then drop. - 10 minute job ...

But if all you want to do is an anemometer then go for a bosuns chair!!

 

[KREW2]

Hi
My boatyard wanted £40 up and £40 down + vat. My wind speed indicator had stopped spinning. What you need is an impoverished student daughter who doesn't mind risking life and limb for a tenner, and a bosuns chair.
She did a great job, but I have to say my heart was in my mouth whilst she was up there.
good luck KW

 

[Guest]

My anemometer, by way of example, is Autohelm/Raymarine, and takes about 20 seconds to unscrew by hand, no tools are needed. Total time about ten minutes getting up and down the mast in a bosun's chair.

If you want to drop the mast anyway, then it can be much faster, and hopefully therefore you can negotiate less expensive, if you remove all the sidestays, remove the boom, running rigging passing from mast through deck blocks out of those deck blocks, electric wiring, and loosen off the remaining bottle crews (shrouds, forestay and backstay), so the mast can be whipped off in an instant.

The last two times I took the mast down, it was more or less free - included in the price of lift out, though I had to pay an extra 5 pounds-odd for time usage of the crane the second time. Re-rigging and rough tuning of the mast was also done for free. Obviously this wasn't the Solent!

 

[Rabbie]

See my post - 'In praise of Topclimber'. Use it again and again and again ............

 

[bluedragon]

Just had mined craned on today. Cost £45 (but this is Cardiff, not Hamble!). However, that's with all the prep work and labour supplied by myself and a friend. I just paid for 30 mins of crane time in the marina. When I asked a boatyard for the cost of doing it, with VAT it was likely to be £150- 200 (crane + boatyard labour at £30-40/hour). So, if you really want to get it down, see if you can get a crane only cost (assuming you and friends can do all the work). It'll still likely cost £100-130 in total though, both ways.