Mast Lowering

[35mm]

I once had a bad experience lowing an Enterprise mast which has left me emotionally scarred. On that occasion the mast survived as luckily it had a soft landing... on my crew's head!

So soon I will be lowering the mast on my 20' Norman Pearn to fit nav lights, VHF antenna, replace halyards and adjust rigging etc. It's a non tapered, fairly solid looking, aluminium mast of roughly 18'. It's stepped on a swivelling tabernacle type foot that's very thin at the swivel point.

The thought of lowering the mast fills me with dread due to my past experience, but climbing the mast is out of the question as I can't cope at all with heights and I don't trust my teenage son to drill holes in the right places etc!

I'm looking for a simple method to lower it. I'll be doing it along side a quay where the boat can dry. I considered making a wooden gin pole, strapping it to the front of the mast, attaching lines from the end to either side of the mast to prevent sideways swing (which would brake the tabernacle), attach a halyard to the end, and lower it over the stern onto the pushpit with a hand winch and a couple of friends to steady and catch it.

That all seems a bit too fussy though. So then I thought I might use the boom as a gin pole and lower it over the bow with the main sheet. That method would result in a lot of the mast hanging forward of the pulpit though. I'm looking for simplicity here, with minimum risk of damage to mast or crew. Especially mast! I'm wondering what methods, advice and pearls of wisdom some of the great mast debaters on this forum can chuck at a nervous mast dropper!

 

[aquaplane]

The mast on my First 18 was about 4' longer than the boat and I could raise and lower that on my own without any fancy rigs. The mast foot was bolted to the base with one bolt so it was a case of fitting all the standing rigging except the forestay, swinging up the mast and attaching the forestay.

My 20' Copland is a bit heavier and has a spinaker pole that attaches to the base of the mast and the end of the forestay. There are a couple of lateral lines to stop things going sideways. A dedicated line from the end of the forestay through the bow roller and back to a winch lets one person raise the mast. The forestay ends up close enough to get the pin through the stem head fitting when I go forward and sit on the spinaker pole. It's easer with 2 people though, one lifting the mast and one tailing the winch. This is a bit like you describe above.

No pics or video but it's fairly easy.

HTH.

 

[theoldsalt]

Moor alongside another yacht (with a taller mast if possible) and lower your mast using a halyard (and boom or spinnaker pole if you wish) on the other boat.

 

[prv]

Moor alongside another yacht (with a taller mast if possible) and lower your mast using a halyard (and boom or spinnaker pole if you wish) on the other boat.

That'll just pull it sideways and mangle the pivoting foot.

Pete

 

[VicS]

I once had a bad experience lowing an Enterprise mast which has left me emotionally scarred. On that occasion the mast survived as luckily it had a soft landing... on my crew's head!

So soon I will be lowering the mast on my 20' Norman Pearn to fit nav lights, VHF antenna, replace halyards and adjust rigging etc. It's a non tapered, fairly solid looking, aluminium mast of roughly 18'. It's stepped on a swivelling tabernacle type foot that's very thin at the swivel point.

The thought of lowering the mast fills me with dread due to my past experience, but climbing the mast is out of the question as I can't cope at all with heights and I don't trust my teenage son to drill holes in the right places etc!

I'm looking for a simple method to lower it. I'll be doing it along side a quay where the boat can dry. I considered making a wooden gin pole, strapping it to the front of the mast, attaching lines from the end to either side of the mast to prevent sideways swing (which would brake the tabernacle), attach a halyard to the end, and lower it over the stern onto the pushpit with a hand winch and a couple of friends to steady and catch it.

That all seems a bit too fussy though. So then I thought I might use the boom as a gin pole and lower it over the bow with the main sheet. That method would result in a lot of the mast hanging forward of the pulpit though. I'm looking for simplicity here, with minimum risk of damage to mast or crew. Especially mast! I'm wondering what methods, advice and pearls of wisdom some of the great mast debaters on this forum can chuck at a nervous mast dropper!

I can do my 19ft Seawych mast using a wooden A frame. Single handed but I prefer to have someone on hand when raising it again.

Its feet are braced against a beam across the deck, Its apex just about reaches the stem head.

The forestay attaches to the apex and the mainsheet tackle goes between the apex and the stem head.

I lower it onto a support at the stern.

The boat must be fairly level. I dont do it afloat or in strong winds.

Care need when raising as rigging will catch on things youd not think it possibly could

Bottle screws need to be "stood up" with bits of thin shock cord to prevent snagging on the deckplates.

Dont really know why i did it myself because until recently the yard did not charge ( now its a tenner think). nice to be independent I suppose.

Not got any pics of it in use but this is it in the garden

 

[djyacht]

Mast lowering

This looks just the job-

Mast Lowering Derrick
This device is used for lowering a tabernacle stepped mast. The derrick is secured to the tabernacle and the other end shackled to the forestay with another line led from this position through a block at the stemhead. As the line is payed outthe mast is lowered under control, the much lighter derrick can then be man-handled to stowage.

The derrick is made of 1 1/2" box section steel painted with red oxide. It is 10' 02" long with jaws 4 5/8" wide.

Price £32.00 ex works

From
http://www.woodenboatrepairs.com/about-us.html

Look at the jumble section - this company makes them I think

 

[Boathook]

I once had a bad experience lowing an Enterprise mast which has left me emotionally scarred. On that occasion the mast survived as luckily it had a soft landing... on my crew's head!

So soon I will be lowering the mast on my 20' Norman Pearn to fit nav lights, VHF antenna, replace halyards and adjust rigging etc. It's a non tapered, fairly solid looking, aluminium mast of roughly 18'. It's stepped on a swivelling tabernacle type foot that's very thin at the swivel point.

The thought of lowering the mast fills me with dread due to my past experience, but climbing the mast is out of the question as I can't cope at all with heights and I don't trust my teenage son to drill holes in the right places etc!

I'm looking for a simple method to lower it. I'll be doing it along side a quay where the boat can dry. I considered making a wooden gin pole, strapping it to the front of the mast, attaching lines from the end to either side of the mast to prevent sideways swing (which would brake the tabernacle), attach a halyard to the end, and lower it over the stern onto the pushpit with a hand winch and a couple of friends to steady and catch it.

That all seems a bit too fussy though. So then I thought I might use the boom as a gin pole and lower it over the bow with the main sheet. That method would result in a lot of the mast hanging forward of the pulpit though. I'm looking for simplicity here, with minimum risk of damage to mast or crew. Especially mast! I'm wondering what methods, advice and pearls of wisdom some of the great mast debaters on this forum can chuck at a nervous mast dropper!

This may help. I do have this set up for my cat but don't use it as the mast is some what heavy and the shrouds don't stop sideways movement.
http://www.catamaransite.com/mast_lowering.htm

 

[maxcampbell]

Make up a 4 or 6 to 1 tackle with very light (3mm -ish) line and small blocks. Replace forestay attachment with tackle and lower away (or use the jib halyard). Standing towards the back of the cockpit - perhaps on the cockpit seats - with your arm stretched upwards - you will be able to catch the mast at just about the same time as the angle of the forestay gets to the point where you can't slow the descent with the line.

Don't worry about a bit of sideways movement in the tabernacle - there's very little force.

This is what we do routinely every time we trail, or shoot bridges. OK, ours is a gaffer with a shorter mast, but it's a relatively heavy wood one.

 

[ProDave]

Don't be afraid. I do this myself twice a year.

At launch I raise the mast on the trailer and launch from the slipway.

At the end of the season I opt to be craned out, so I lower the mast in the harbour first.

Wait until the boat has dried out. If you can, get the boat pointing slightly bow in to the harbour wall as it dries. Once dried out the boat can't move or swing as you lower it to mess things up.

Get a person on the harbour wall with the jib halyard, and probably an extension rope tied on to that. If there's something you can get the rope around such as a cleat or anything else on the harbour wall that makes it better, if so put a wrap of rope around that.

With the guy on the wall keeping tension remove the forestay from the deck. The guy on the wall now starts paying out rope slowly lowering the mast. Meanwhile you are ready at the back to catch it as soon as you can reach it and guide it down into the crutch you prepared earlier for it to rest in.

It's important the guy on the harbour wall is as high as possible, and is dead in line with the centre line of the boat, hence the reason to point the boat a little bow in to the wall as it dries out.

The two of you can then go and release the pivot to move the mast forward if you need to, or just go and work on it where it is.

If it's a quick job you should be able to lower it as soon as it dries and get the mast back up again before it re floats.

If you have spare helpers they can always help guide the mast to ensure it does not swing sideways, but as long as you are pulling along the centreline I have never found a need to do that.

 

[[3889]]

If there's vehicular access to the quay tie a line to a car and use it to control the descent.

 

[Fantasie 19]

I can do my 19ft Seawych mast using a wooden A frame. Single handed but I prefer to have someone on hand when raising it again.

Its feet are braced against a beam across the deck, Its apex just about reaches the stem head.

The forestay attaches to the apex and the mainsheet tackle goes between the apex and the stem head.

I lower it onto a support at the stern.

The boat must be fairly level. I dont do it afloat or in strong winds.

Care need when raising as rigging will catch on things youd not think it possibly could

Bottle screws need to be "stood up" with bits of thin shock cord to prevent snagging on the deckplates.

Dont really know why i did it myself because until recently the yard did not charge ( now its a tenner think). nice to be independent I suppose.

Not got any pics of it in use but this is it in the garden

I do/did exactly the same as VicS - 21ft mast.... the main issue I found was lateral movement - some people have the connections to rig a bridle which will keep the mast fore and aft once the tension is taken off the side stays - I didn't, so relied on a helper to keep her straight while I lowered smartly - I could do it solo but it was an infinitely less "fun" event...

Not sure if this will help or not, but here's my set up - the blue warps were an attempt to rig a bridle (partially successful)

 

[vyv_cox]

I think you are over-complicating the issue, influenced by a bad experience in the past. For years I have raced 16 and 18 foot catamarans with quite heavy aluminium masts of maybe 24 feet or so. With the foot of the mast in a tabernacle I can virtually lift and lower one by myself, although my wife (crew) will normally assist by hauling on the extended forestay. We travelled extensively in our racing career and did this perhaps 20 times per season.

Recently we lowered the wooden mast on my 26 foot motorsailer, using exactly the same method. We took a turn on the line attached to the forestay round the windlass, using its friction, not powering it. Quite easy to do, even at my age. The mast with its rigging, radar reflector, etc is heavy enough to need two people to carry it but lowering it was relatively painless.

 

[Sandyman]

I think you are over-complicating the issue, influenced by a bad experience in the past. For years I have raced 16 and 18 foot catamarans with quite heavy aluminium masts of maybe 24 feet or so. With the foot of the mast in a tabernacle I can virtually lift and lower one by myself, although my wife (crew) will normally assist by hauling on the extended forestay. We travelled extensively in our racing career and did this perhaps 20 times per season.

Recently we lowered the wooden mast on my 26 foot motorsailer, using exactly the same method. We took a turn on the line attached to the forestay round the windlass, using its friction, not powering it. Quite easy to do, even at my age. The mast with its rigging, radar reflector, etc is heavy enough to need two people to carry it but lowering it was relatively painless.

Likewise I cant see what all the fuss is about. Its only 18' high and must be easily handled by two peeps.

 

[VicS]

I think you are over-complicating the issue, influenced by a bad experience in the past. For years I have raced 16 and 18 foot catamarans with quite heavy aluminium masts of maybe 24 feet or so. With the foot of the mast in a tabernacle I can virtually lift and lower one by myself, although my wife (crew) will normally assist by hauling on the extended forestay. We travelled extensively in our racing career and did this perhaps 20 times per season.

Recently we lowered the wooden mast on my 26 foot motorsailer, using exactly the same method. We took a turn on the line attached to the forestay round the windlass, using its friction, not powering it. Quite easy to do, even at my age. The mast with its rigging, radar reflector, etc is heavy enough to need two people to carry it but lowering it was relatively painless.

I cannot push my Sea Wych mast up by hand..... at one time I probably could just about ... but it's got a lot heavier than it was 30 years ago.

I also had a "bad experience" with a "helper" while raising the mast in the early days. Fortunately no injuries or serious damage but it lead eventually to me adopting my "A frame" method. I just like to have someone handy when going back up to release the rigging from what ever it decides to get caught on!

 

[Daydream believer]

Two of us rig & derig my 20 ft squib a couple of times a year in minutes
One holds it steady whilst the other unclips the rigging which has already been slackened
We then either lift it & stand it in the cockpit where one stands on the foot & the other just walks it back down.
I suspect your problem is that it is top heavy not just too heavy
In your case just drop the foot over the side into the water. ( assuming it is not too deep) now you are in the middle of the mast
That then means you are able to hold it about midway & should be able to lift it back on whilst also turning it horizontal
Just be a man not a wimp & get on with it

 

[neilf39]

On my Vivacity 650 which had about a 7 metre mast myself and the wife could just do it with a rope looped over the cross trees and round the back of the mast (fun throwing it over each) and then round the bow roller. I steadied the mast whilst the wife let the rope out to come down. You have to take most of the weight when its about head height as the direction of force on the rope is along the mast. Going up needed a bit of heave to get it high enough so the pull on the rope was at a sufficient angle again. The mast hinged around the bottom of the mast foot. It was very easy with three as we could just manhandle it down/up. I used a gin pole to do it myself once which was steadied by tying ropes from its end to the chainplates but you need to make sure the geometry is such they don't go to tight or loose and it must be well tied to the mast so it does not slip. On my Viva 700 with an 8metre mast I use an A-frame and is a single person operation. The frame feet must be fixed so they can't slide. With a tabernacle you are probably ok but do make sure the mast does not get a chance to get too far off centre or lean out sideways too far unsupported or you could see it go over sideways. It happened on my Viva when I undid the bottlescrew on the shroud too much on one side and it came undone during lowering. As the geometry is not perfect the shroud on the other side tensioned up a bit on lowering, pulling the mast that way. It did not take much for it to finish lowering itself exactly at right angles to where I wanted. Mast foot ended up with a 90 degreee twist in it. I was lucky it missed everything.

 

[TSB240]

Our 24 foot trailable yacht has a very tall rig approx 30' and a very weak aluminium heel/tabernacle. Any slight sideways movement during hoisting or lowering will snap the heel casting. Other owners have found that heel castings are not be easily replaced or repaired...... Some have had to resort to new masts as a result.

We have used nearly every method and have now settled upon using a simple Gin pole. Our set up uses temporary dyneema shrouds hoisted on the spinnaker pole uphaul which maintain complete lateral control at all times. They are rigged so they are in line with the hinge point.
The gin pole is an old windsurfer mast.We use the block and tackle from the main sheet, a luggage strap to hold it in position at the mast foot. The Jib haliard and spinnaker haliard as a back up. A decent mast crutch on the stern.
You can understand why when you see the picture

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/79352891/Mast LIFT Lower Pics/PICT0042.JPG

I have more close up pictures which I can PM if required

I am now happy to raise and lower in any wind including strong cross winds or even afloat with a bit of swell running.

Well I must be a WIMP! But I can do it on my own!

Steve

 

[theoldsalt]

That'll just pull it sideways and mangle the pivoting foot.

Pete

I didn't think that a full explanation was necessary. So I will expand a little.

The OP was worried about the mast falling so the halyard from another boat would be a safety feature.

If the OP wishes to use the other boat to actually lower his mast then that is why I suggested the use of the boom or spinnaker pole to act as a derrick, therefore no damage to a tabernacle.

I thought that was obvious and didn't need further explanation. Sorry if I was wrong.

I have seen that method many times successfully years ago even with quite heavy masts.

 

[DaveS]

I'm with VicS on this one. After several years messing about with a pole and guy lines I made an A frame. Mine was for a slightly bigger boat - Etap 22 - and I made it a bit posher by incorporating carpet covered swivelling feet. The job was transformed: easily possible single handed even in gusty side winds. I used the main sheet clipped to the stem head and A frame, with the fall led back with an extension line to a cockpit winch.

 

[William_H]

I have posted a lot on this subject over the years. Mast lowering is common here due to bridges separating estuary from ocean. Most weekends you can see "Walk on the Wild Side" motor down the river toward the bridges. She is 70ft with about 90 ft of mast. With the right gear and a few crew the mast is lowered on the run and raised again.
My own boat is 21 ft with 27ft mast. I use 2 spin poles as an A frame to the forestay. The mast comes down and goes up no problem in minutes. The lowering is in 2 stages firstly to a fairly high support at the transom. This is high but just in my reach when the mast is in the crutch. From there the mast base is disconnected and slid forward over the crutch until the mast base is forward of the bow rail. I then lower the mast by hand into a lower crutch for towing or working on mast top.
You OP really will find it worth setting up properly. One or 2 poles for gin pole to the forestay or halyard. Attachment for the poles and crutch mounted at the transom. Plus a 3 or 4 purchase handy billy.
I find that I can stand on the cabin roof and guide the mast to stop swing sideways. (even under way) (Lower quickly) but there are ways to stabilise the mast in transit down.
Don't try to do it on the simple the faffing around in preparation is well worth the trouble. Of course I would never fit nav light or antenna to a small mast. I take mine down so often that I forget to disconnect wiring.
good luck olewill