Mast raising & lowering

[surekandoo]

I have a trailer sailer - a Limbo 6.6. The twice yearly routine of raising and lowering the mast is causing me problems.
I have a A frame (2 aluminium scaffold poles) and use the trailer winch attached to the forestay. The prblem occurs when the mast tries to move sideways from the centre line of the boat as it's lifted up, pivoting and trying to twist the pin through the deck mount at the foot of the mast.

I don't have a tabernacle and don' t particularly want to fit one.

Do any of you out there have any suitable suggestions - accompanying sketches or diagrams much appreciated.

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[BobA]

My MacGregor 26 which is a trailer sailer as well uses two short support wires down to the deck, (though i suppose anywher would do)these have the effect of keeping the mast amidships as it goes up or down.
they are attached to the mast about six feet up.
Hope this helps

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[Hardley]

Agree with Bob A.
Mine are wire, with a lanyard tied to ring on front of mast, where spinnaker pole clips on, allowed a little slack,one inch might be right. don't want to break the lanyard, just keep the mast in line.


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[clio]

You say you have an A frame ,how are you using it.If you are using it correctly you cannot twist your mast.it should be the same length as the distance from your forestay to the mast foot, fastened at the peak the two ends should be fastened at the toerail or what ever on each side on a line thru. the foot of the mast.the hoist line should go thru. a block at the forstay fittingand join the forstay at the peak of the A frame. You can fit all shroud's looseley and haul away, no twist.

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[Hardley]

What he is saying is that, as the mast is raised or lowered, once the shrouds go slack, the mast goes to one side, wind or boat rolling does this.
To control this swing you need two Baby Stays fitted as per the previous posts.
One of my Baby Stays broke once whilst lowering the mast, resulting in mast swinging so far sideways that the mast step broke.


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[firstascent2002]

Hi there,

I had a lot of help on this subject recently.

You need two things for smooth mast raising and lowering.

1) an a frame acts to prevent you losing all the mechanical advantage as the mast comes down and thus better controls the final descent into a pre prepared crutch.

2) lateral movement is tricky. The key is that the baby stays that everyone is refering to have to be attatched to a point that is one a line with the pivot of the mast or else they will become slack as the mast is raised ( or impossibly tight depending on the location of their fixation.)

I overcame the problem of finding 2 suitable points by lashing she spinnaker pole across the boat, the middle attatched to a cleat just infront of the mast and the ends tied down to the toe rail (if you don't secure it down then it is as good as useless). Ath this stage a tke a long line and make the middle off t the jib halyard and winch it up the mast. This results in 2 ropes handing down from the 3/4 rig halyard exit. Each end is made off tight to the spinnaker pole ends. Now the spar can not move left or right.

As for mast raising, rig as above, but if you go into e-bay you can get 12 v winches for around £40. I attatched mine to a iroko plae with a slot to allow it to be fitted over the cleat on the foredeck. The control handle is long enough to run back to the cockpit and thus you can guide and winch at the same time. Works a treat.

I really hope this makes sence and helps...jamie



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