Raising mast on 18' boat

Dave-Shafa

Dave-Shafa

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Can I lift the mast myself?
with some shrouds attached.

Can also pull it up from sloping walkway see top left of pic
especially at low tide..

The boat and mast are 30 miles away havnt seen mast since bought in November.

1yacht.jpg
 
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dylanwinter said:
one man is possible

two people is easy

ask a passing stranger

D
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The tabernacle should make it easy.

Make sure any helper knows exactly what you want them to do. I assumed my helper, many years ago, would know what to do as he had a small boat of his own. We ended up with mast and reefing spar crashing to the ground.

If you attach the standing rigging watch out for the bottle screws snagging on the deck fitting. If the boat has stanchions and guard wires fit them and tie the shroud and back stay bottle screws upright with some thin shock cord. Then they wont snag.

Thin rigging wire easily kinks and will catch on things you'd not think it could catch on. So watch carefully

I have an A frame that helps me do mine single handed , using the mainsheet tackle on the stem head to haul it up. I still like to have someone around in case I need some help.

I dont attempt to do mine afloat or on very windy days!
 
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Yes you can do it alone but much better first time to have a helper. What will help you a lot is to have a crutch of some sort at the transom. Typical is 2 pieces of wood crossed with a bolt through. The legs sit inside the cockpit and lashed to the stern rail each leg about 2metres long. I use a single pole sitting on the rudder pintle and clamped to the stern rail. The crutch makes it easier to get the base of the mast into the tabernacle. You can then attach stays.
A person on the jetty pulling a halyard will be helpfull. While you lift the mast then climb onto the cabin top for final push to vertical. So easier with 3 people. Or if alone take a line from cleated halyard through a pulley at bow (or better a 2 or 3X tackle) so that you can pull the tail while flifting the mast from underneath. ie cockpit.
No worries really. good luck olewill
 
Dave-Shafa said:
Can I lift the mast myself?
with some shrouds attached.

Can also pull it up from sloping walkway see top left of pic
especially at low tide..

The boat and mast are 30 miles away havnt seen mast since bought in November.

1yacht.jpg
Click to expand...
Easy with two people. Mast hinged at tabernacle (metal fitting on deck). Put that bolt in first. One steadies it side to side while one pulls a line from forestay through bow roller. Watch carefully that it stays central side to side and VERY carefully that the side stays do not catch on anything, or if there are bottlescrews, don't get bent. When upright fasten down forestay.
 
The mast on an 18 footer is certainly light enough for one person to raise. As said its easier with two. Either way attach mast to tabernacle then attach halyard to the stem fitting. If the geometry allows, fit all the shroud otherwise fit just the uppers (this is to prevent sideways movement of the mast which could snap the mast foot fitting). Next, standing near the stern (on board) raise mast by hand as far as possible until the halyard makes a good angle for raising the mast. Haul on the halyard until the mast is vertical, attach backstay, attach forestay and tension up the shrouds.
 
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Top tip: If two of you are doing it, it's much, much, much easier if the person pulling the top of the mast is above the level of the boat, because it reduces or eliminates the awkward phase when the mast is awkward to lift from behind but still hard to pull up from in front. If you can swing her round to port through ninety degrees, so she ends up parallel to the bridge, and then pull the top up from where you took the picture, life will be much simpler.
 
I used my Seahawk 17 as a trailer sailer for a while. It had less of a tabernacle than that. It is entirely practical to do it on your own. Have your cap shrouds and back stay attached, Have your forestay in your hand (or alongside the front of the mast making sure it is not weaved through any other shrouds or the spreaders).
Start at the back of the cockpit and just walk it up. Lean against it when it is upright and then take the forestay forward and Attach to the stemhead fitting. Pro temp you could just lash it with a bit of line. The rigging doesn't need to be better than sloppy at this stage until you have got mast plumb and the right amount of rake.
Start on the cap shrouds to get the mast upright. Then adjust the backstay/forestay until you have a touch of rake. Then the lowers, forward ones first to induce any mast band and rears to lock that in place, making sure you don't introduce any "S" shape sideways curve.

Yours is a Valiant 18 isn't it? I did make a little derrick attached to the tabernacle and the forestay (roller reefing) on mine to make it very easy indeed.


rigging%20plan.jpg
 
Dave-Shafa said:
Thanks everyone. Now feel more confident.
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The worst time is the first, because you don't know how the stays are adjusted. On my wee Hunter (16') it's a piece of cake now, because the backstay and shrouds are the right length and so the thing, as Lakesailor says, just pops up into the right position.
 
My dad used to have a 20 footer that was kept on a cut between two railway bridges so we had to lower/ raise the mast every time we went out.

I was very young - up to 10 and we could do it between us ( I.e. Alone!!) As others have said lift the mast on crutches in the cockpit until can lift via the forestay - dropping is more risky as there comes a point when easing 1 inch of line attached to forestay results in mast falling the rest of the way. Don't discover this the hard way!
 
If it's not possible to just walk the mast up, (It's not a tall mast on the Valiant) rigging a small post between the tabernacle and stemhead avoids that problem. You run a line from it under the bow roller and aft so you can pull on it as well as steady the mast..


12mast%20being%20lowered.jpg
 
Dave-Shafa said:
Thanks everyone. Now feel more confident.
Substitute looks very shish with its S/S post and padlocked fore sail.
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If you are on a swinging mooring that bollard is the best thing. It's easy to chuck a loop over and you can put a couple or three strops on it without things getting congested.
Made by Vetus they are remarkably cheap.
 
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