DIY mast lift out

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strawbs3

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Afternoon all,
Does anyone have advice on how to lift our masts out without the use of a crane (as it'd cost £140 each way, which we just can not afford)

I'm not sure EXACTLY how long the tallest mast is but i'd guess at about 30foot and wooden.

The boat's a 32foot ketch. We're on the hard standing and we have a group of strong victims, i mean, friends to help. The boat has a 5foot draft so to the top of the decks from the floor is about 7foot away.

I've noticed a few people mentioning A frames for smaller boats- would this be suitable for mine?
any advice would be greatly appreciated
Steph
 
Wooden masts tend to be heavy!

An A frame used in conjuction with the mainsheet tackle and perhaps a winch may be realistic provided the mast is in a tabernacle and there is something to brace the feet of the a frame against . Loads on the gear and the bolts securing the tabernacle to the deck become very high as the mast approaches horizontal. in fact it must e supported well before it reaches the horizontal.

I have raised and lowered my 20ft aluminium mast with a A frame many times.
I often get roped in to help with larger masts using a proper derrick at the boat yard.

I would not dream of getting involved with a 30 foot wooden mast without a crane or derrick! I'd leg it!

"Victims" is IMHO the best word you could have used.

£140 may be cheap compared with the damages that might be awarded if something goes wrong and someone is hurt ... or worse.
 
Take Vic's advice, in these litigious days you could end up in very very deep c..p, such a risky thing to do 30' of heavy mast on an A frame! for me the danger is trying to replace it, don't hesitate, snatch the mans hand off with the 2 x £140. You will not regret it.
 
£140 is just silly. You should be able to get it for less than that (I know this is an unrealistic one but when we had ours restepped after Canal du Midi we paid €10)

The mast needs to be deck stepped and have a well-designed pivot. A-frames are used to stop the mast from going sideways when the shrouds go slack as the mast is being lowered aft. Biggest problem then is that as the mast becomes more horizontal it is very difficult to keep tension on the forestay and the mast under control. One way to do this is to take the forestay to a spinnaker pole or something similar.

Here's a video that's the best I can find. Many of the others I've seen are not too clever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cegJ35gFXSM
 
Hire a mobile cherry picker from a Hire Store. Much much cheaper, can be towed behind a car hitch and will not cost an arm and a leg for the days' hire.
Maybe combine with someone else with a problem up their mast, Just make sure you can get the base nice and close to the boat.
 
£140 is just silly.
Click to expand...
I agree that is a bit much.

Thornham marina .. and thats in Chichester .... charge £90 each way but I guess in practice that is usually in addition the the lift out/in charges and the winter storage rate.
 
I can lower my wooden mast quite happily (could probably do it singlehanded at a pinch). It's about 27' or so long.

However:

1. Mine is in a tabernacle. If yours isn't, it's a non-starter without a crane
2. 30' seems short for a 32' boat - most masts are longer than the boat even if you have two of them (I do, and my boat is 24'6"). If you've underestimated the length it will be harder, probably too hard to seriously consider.

Pete
 
Mudisox said:
Hire a mobile cherry picker from a Hire Store. Much much cheaper, can be towed behind a car hitch and will not cost an arm and a leg for the days' hire.
Click to expand...
But you have to hire it enough days to prepare the mast for vanishing and then to perhaps give it several coats of varnish. It may not need many coats all over but if there are any bare patches they will need several coats at one day intervals.

The Tool hire firm that I know of in the Chichester area charge £142.80 for one day, £214 for 2 days, £285 for three days and £357 for a week for a cherry picker. That could make even a £140 each way lift look reasonable and it'll be a darned sight easier to work on when it's lying down on some trestles.
 
VicS said:
Thornham marina .. and thats in Chichester .... charge £90 each way
Click to expand...

Exactly what I did last year to renew the rigging. (Think it was £80 each way then). They do a short-stay deal where you pay for the lift-out-in and get a 'free' pressure-wash and 30 days ashore. All very professional and friendly with a beautiful location thrown in for good measure. Max draft to get in is about 2m at springs, but 1.5m comfortable on most tides.

Vic
 
A certain other 'posh' ( ish ) marina in Chichester charged one of our club members at least that to have his roughly 35' alloy deck-stepped mast off last year; and they kept him waiting for hours for someone qualified to do it to turn up, which speaks volumes for the usual gang of self important berks keen to collect high fees !

Afloat, our club gets a few of the larger boats together, the outer 2 of 3 acting as cranes to raise or lower the central boats' mast, which works very well.

Now I know what you're going to ask me, ' how did the outer 2 get their masts up ? ' - I think they'd kept the masts up on shore, we have a good hoist.

A deep keel boat on her own above hard ground ( I knew someone who was killed falling from a 4-5' skip ) with a heavy mast of unknown step type, doesn't sound too good to me; I think I'd either pay up or get a climbing harness...
 
There are a couple of previous threads on this, have a search.

If you have to ask on here, I doubt you have the skills to do yourself(s). I have done much longer keel stepped masts, but not ashore (nice high dock and only two perps). The army of 'victims' might be just that. Anything can be done with enough planning and bits, you need to know how and get it right first time. The £140 does sound cheap (as it carries insurance). OR, bight the bullet, and spend days hanging in the bosuns chair.
 
At our club, we lift 35 (ish) yachts in & out every year. We made our own derrick to enable us to lift masts while the crane is lifting boats.

We only lift deck stepped masts. The height needed to lift keel stepped is just too great. Also even though the derrick is tested every year to 300Kg, we only lift masts from boats up to around 27-28'.

To lift a mast you need to be able to lift from the spreaders. So if your boat is on the hard, even if it's deck stepped, the height you will have to lift from is going to be very high. The frame you will have to build will be huge if it's on the ground. If it's on the boat as many are, you will still have to get the stick to the ground.

IMO, get a quote from someone else with a small crane.

Just remembered too that not many years ago, I had to get my stick taken down in a hurry. Local marina at Emsworth charged around £65 each way I think.
 
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I have a feeling the cheap and cheerful crane at Emsworth is no more due to 'elf 'n safety', hope I'm wrong; nowadays they always seem too busy at the general lift in / out times anyway, though the recession may make them suddenly more helpful...
 
I have dropped my over 30ft wooden mast by hand several times. It is in a tabernacle. Takes the jib halyard as far as possible forward - either to the deck of boat in front, or use a spinnaker pole to triangulate. One person controls lowering and at least 2 others on deck to "catch" it. Take your mizzen down first because you can use your main halyard to control that.

Don't do it now because we have a derrick in the club and the yard crew do it for so little money I forget how much!
 
Is there no farmer with a rough terrain FT, who would do it. Working on a power station the other year, there was a 3.5 tonne reach, with a boom extension, which would be perfect for stepping.
 
Somewhat more simple than an A-frame, a local boatyard once unstepped our 32 foot mainmast (on a 31 foot ketch) using the halyard and a winch on a nearby boat. Not that it was winched down - just a friction-controlled drop, pivoting on the tabernacle.
 
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