Removing the mast

[andymcp]

Thanks for all the posts, it's been an illuminating day. Sails off, no drama, ditto all the rest of the rope that runs up or down, either secured to the mast for careful removal later, or taken off and brought home for a clean. Boom came off no drama, carefully propped on deck for the time being. Then it came to unplugging the electrics and it all went a bit Pete Tong. Unscrewed the caps where they pass through the deck expecting to find some connection or other than could be unplugged. Nope. Hmmm. Went below and removed the headlining patch that gives access to the same area. The wires pass straight through and shoot off in all directions as unbroken wires. Didn't have any gear with me to start clipping and stripping them, or junctions to play with, so left it be.

Spoke to the marina office, raised eyebrows all round. A 2000 boat, but the wiring suggests the mast has either never been off, or if it has then needed rewired after. Sparky booked for next week to go take a look for me and come up with a more mast removal-friendly option.

Still, learnt loads about the boat from tinkering around, and didn't lose anything overboard/break anything/panic, so thanks again for all the tips.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

Better not get on the boat either in case you fall in

You're not thinking straight Syro. It's nothing to do with H&S. It's about not giving the yard any room to wriggle if there is a cock up.. "It wasnt our fault mate - you'd left the bottle screws on the lastr thread and as soon as we touched it the mast fell over" etc etc.

In any case, if you're paying them let them work.

 

[fireball]

I take it you gave the wires a tug to see if they were joined a bit further down. I did this on our radar cable this year. Luckily f-i-law spotted the join before he cut a new one!

Otherwise it is just a case of cut and join in the spring. All joints done below decks where it it dry!!

 

[Spyro]

You're not thinking straight Syro. It's nothing to do with H&S. It's about not giving the yard any room to wriggle if there is a cock up.. "It wasnt our fault mate - you'd left the bottle screws on the lastr thread and as soon as we touched it the mast fell over" etc etc.

In any case, if you're paying them let them work.

Quote from My marina price list
"Note: Owners should prepare mast for easy removal i.e. remove sails, booms, ease bottlescrews and disconnect electrics"

I'm quite happy to do that as I trust the guys in the yard 100%

You might be paying them but they charge by the hour for crane hire.

 

[fireball]

You wanna move then. We had a fixed price for mast down. Same for the new longer one as on the old boat. Nothing to do with time taken. They just get on with the job!! But then we ate at an older type yard. Proper sailors there don't ya know!!

 

[Spyro]

You wanna move then. We had a fixed price for mast down. Same for the new longer one as on the old boat. Nothing to do with time taken. They just get on with the job!! But then we ate at an older type yard. Proper sailors there don't ya know!!

Sorry, up too late last night, my marina also has a fixed price for mast up/down. Single spreader is cheaper than double spreader though, crane hire by the hour is for any other work requiring a crane.
the bit about easing the bottle screws still applies.

 

[roger]

Joining mast cables

I perhaps unreasonably hate deck plugs - and they have given me a lot of trouble.
There are a number of alternatives.
Halberg Rassy push mast cables through inverted J tube and presumably put their plug/sockets below decks.
Elvabro.com supply a flattishdeck mounting device that does much the same job and I use this. You can make the deck hole large enough to feed through plugs with this system.
Even so I had rotten VHF range last year and eventually traced it to the professionally made extension coax cable I used below decks. Now I take the aerial cable direct to the VHF radio even though there is a lot of fuss passing the cable with plug behind the panelling.
It may be OK to use very good (MILSPEC) plugs and sockets but they are usually very difficult to solder/assemble.

 

[fireball]

Without trying to go into Panto mode ...

The case for not easing the rigging until you're on the craning pontoon and you know the move is going ahead:
1) The mast removal may not go ahead due to personell/equipment or weather issues.

that's it!

As I said earlier in the thread - we were on the craning pontoon - prepped the rest of the mast (cables out, boom off etc etc) but left the rigging alone - the lift was cancelled due to personell issues - then we had a 2 week wait ... during which we had F9 winds - I wouldn't want a floppy mast in those conditions!

 

[Genoa]

I take it you gave the wires a tug to see if they were joined a bit further down. I did this on our radar cable this year. Luckily f-i-law spotted the join before he cut a new one!

QUOTE]

Hi Fireball - are there any issues with cutting a radar cable? I thought this was sacrosanct? Mine goes tfrom the back of the screen straight to the radome and I am loath to cut it, but equally I want the mast down this winter...

Any comments or experiences on this?