single handed mast drop on Westerly Pageant

[PaulJS]

....
If you really want Broads style up & down capability, it isn't that hard to fill the bottom of the mast with lead & construct a tabernacle & pivot.

I've been theorising on ways to make a larger yacht mast easier to lower and raise, this is so simple that I'm ashamed to admit that I'm actually an engineer . I suppose that you might need to add an equivalent amount of ballast to mitigate any loss of stability, although the weight in the base of the mast would be relatively near the boat's centre of flotation...

 

[Searush]

Caveat; I have not done this myself!

However the mast ballasting is just to reduce the apparent weight of the mast above the pivot, it does not need to equal or exceed it (self-erecting mast anyone?)

Let's say you used 30kg of lead (pure guess) that's roughly the same as a child or a large anchor on the cabin top so would not affect the boat behaviour in any noticeable way. But it would make the lowered mast noticeably easier to handle, given that the total unballasted mast weight might be around 50-60kg.

 

[earlybird]

As I remember the Broads' boats 40 or more years ago, the foot of the mast, to which the lead weight was bolted, extended well below deck-level, probably down to the cabin sole. The lengthy fore-hatch opened as far aft as the tabenacle to allow the mast foot to swing up when the mast was lowered to the horizontal. Being usually gaff or gunter rig, the masts were also fairly short. Lowering and raising were both very rapid processes.
The boom must have been detached from the mast, but I can't remember the details.
All in all, bit more awkward to arrange on a Pageant I would think.

 

[ProDave]

The boom must have been detached from the mast, but I can't remember the details.
All in all, bit more awkward to arrange on a Pageant I would think.

From what I've seen, the tabernackle is quite high, and the boom fixes to a bracket on the tabernackle just at or below the pivot, so remains where it is when you lower the mast.

 

[dylanwinter]

pics here

http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/boat-archive/yachts-and-workboats/ktl-156-three-rivers-rushes/

broads boats dropping masts

d

 

[VicS]

With respect Vic, and I do respect your opinions considerably, the inverted t-piece is usually bolted thro the mast heel at the rear end especially so that masts can be hinged backwards under control. At least that is my experience of contemporary Westerlies. I have lowered my Pentland mast with only my son's assistance quite easily and my W25 on my own several times. A Pageant would not be that hard to do on one's own. Many owners will do it twice a year for winter storage.

The tricky bit occurs as the mast gets to around 45deg & the forestay offers little support unless you have an a-frame. If you can hold the mast in that position & move behind it to support it from below & then release the forestay on a line then the mast can be lowered without even using an a-frame. The lower shrouds providing lateral support.

If you really want Broads style up & down capability, it isn't that hard to fill the bottom of the mast with lead & construct a tabernacle & pivot.

The mast step or your Pentland is obviously different to the one on the Berwick I am familiar with. ( B142 IIRC built around 1976 AFAIK and used by Westerly as their demonstrator initially)

The mast heel has a slot (fore and aft orientated) and it just sits on the inverted T mast step. No bolt through it and no way in which it could have, at least to act as a pivot.
Bolts and spacers fore and aft of the mast heel to locate it that's all.

We have usually got a gang of people together to help carry it to the boat and several* to help with the raising .... and that is using the yard derrick.

* nice to have one person on each side deck, one standing by to connect the back stay but most importantly one to look after the luff spar and connect it to the stem head and also one hanging on to the mast heel because the yard derrick is not high enough to lift above the C of G. Usually plenty of people about willing to help fortunately.

 

[Searush]

Vic, mine is an earlier model (P9, 1973) but there is a small heel projection on the mast fitting with a bolt thro it & the deck-mounted T section. This allows the mast to be pivotted up & down quite easily. I have just checked on an old piccy to be sure.

Mine is the ketch, so the mast is a couple of feet shorter than the sloop, but still the stockiest mast section I have seen on a boat under 40' & I can carry it on my own. Not easily I will admit, but once I have the balance I can lift & carry it short distances on my own. For two people manouvering it accurately & carring anywhere is pretty straight forward.

Might be impossible with a 30kg or so of lead added. The Pageant is almost 1/3 shorter than the Pentland & the mast must be at least 5' shorter than my main.

 

[VicS]

Vic, mine is an earlier model (P9, 1973) but there is a small heel projection on the mast fitting with a bolt thro it & the deck-mounted T section. This allows the mast to be pivotted up & down quite easily. I have just checked on an old piccy to be sure.

Mine is the ketch, so the mast is a couple of feet shorter than the sloop, but still the stockiest mast section I have seen on a boat under 40' & I can carry it on my own. Not easily I will admit, but once I have the balance I can lift & carry it short distances on my own. For two people manouvering it accurately & carring anywhere is pretty straight forward.

Might be impossible with a 30kg or so of lead added. The Pageant is almost 1/3 shorter than the Pentland & the mast must be at least 5' shorter than my main.

Cumbs I'd not attempt to carry Juhu's mast on my own. When just the two of us moved it once we used a couple of wheelbarrows. Normally we have raised a gang of 4 or more but part of the difficulty has always been lifting it from the (crumbling) bank onto the walkway and then onto the boat.
One year when there was a bit of a lull in the craning-in while waiting for the tide to rise a bit we got the ( hired) crane to do it ... That made life a lot easier.
Stepping a Berwick mast is no problem with one of these: