Stuck shackle!

[Corribee72]

Hello all, I turn to your experience as I have a mainsail head shackle stuck at the top of the mast, which I cant see but need to get down! Has anyone got any methods of getting hold of the offending shackle that work and don't involve unstepping and lowering the mast, bearing in mind that from the deck I cant actually see the shackle at all? If I do have to lower the mast can I just detach the foresail furler from the deck, leaving it attached to the top of the mast and just lower the mast and finally, if I have to lower the mast how easy is it to do? I have watched youtube videos and it seems within the realms of possibility but experienced people can make the most difficult tasks seem easy. Apologies for the newbie questions, this is my first year of sailing and at the moment my boat is in the cradle, new nav lights, painting and varnishing I can get my head around, the stuck shackle is starting to hurt my head! Many thanks for reading and hopefully someone out there has faced this problem and came out victorious.

 

[richardabeattie]

Why can you not get up the mast using another halyard on your bosuns chair?

 

[Neeves]

Or go alongside 'something', pier, bridge at low tide and simply cant the mast over to whatever you are standing on (add a step ladder if the pier is a bit short). Or go up the mast of a yacht alongside and pull the 2 masts together. These options are useful if you feel the mast itself insufficiently man enough for you to climb. Use another halyard or the topping lift. If the topping lift is insufficiently strong replace it with something stronger for the duration. Children are dispensable (or is it disposable), fit and lighter - have one of them free climb the last few feet (if you read the mast climbing thread - free climbing the mast is possible by a select and fit few).

There are many options.

All, and certainly not the shackle, is not lost!

Jonathan

 

[Yellow Ballad]

Know anyone with a fishing pole and a pair of binoculars?

Might even win a prize!

 

[jdc]

I have (once) had to get a main halyard down without going up myself, but to help there was about 10cm of the rope dangling around, i.e. the shackle wasn't right up against the sheave. This is often the case since halyards usually are spliced in a loop which is fatter than the sheave thus arresting the halyard rising all the way.

What I did was take a big fish-hook, file off the barb, and then tape it to the topping lift, with the shank pointing down, about 30cm from the end. I tied a light line to the topping lift shackle and hoisted the topping lift so that the fish-hook was level with the little bit of main halyard sticking out, and 'fished' for it. Eventually by feel I could tell that I'd hooked it, and then drew down both the toping-lift and with it the main halyard. Well, it worked, but maybe I was a bit lucky! Going up your mast isn't likely to be so hard, or dangerous even if you've a small boat (Coribee??) and should be stable enough. If you're too big, find a handy child!

 

[VicS]

Hello all, I turn to your experience as I have a mainsail head shackle stuck at the top of the mast, which I cant see but need to get down! Has anyone got any methods of getting hold of the offending shackle that work and don't involve unstepping and lowering the mast, bearing in mind that from the deck I cant actually see the shackle at all? If I do have to lower the mast can I just detach the foresail furler from the deck, leaving it attached to the top of the mast and just lower the mast and finally, if I have to lower the mast how easy is it to do? I have watched youtube videos and it seems within the realms of possibility but experienced people can make the most difficult tasks seem easy. Apologies for the newbie questions, this is my first year of sailing and at the moment my boat is in the cradle, new nav lights, painting and varnishing I can get my head around, the stuck shackle is starting to hurt my head! Many thanks for reading and hopefully someone out there has faced this problem and came out victorious.

Without doubt take the mast down. I'd not attempt to go up the mast on such a small boat, in a cradle or not. And whatever size boat don't go up without a second halyard attached as a safety line.

Elsewhere the report of a rigger falling from a mast... we dont want someone else to do the same

Get someone to help who is familiar with stepping/unstepping a small mast manually. I can do mine on my own with the aid of an A frame to which I attach the forestay and the mainsheet tackle ....... but usually something silly goes wrong, gets snagged or something if I try. Therefore I always get someone to standby just in case

 

[William_H]

Without doubt take the mast down. I'd not attempt to go up the mast on such a small boat, in a cradle or not. And whatever size boat don't go up without a second halyard attached as a safety line.

Elsewhere the report of a rigger falling from a mast... we dont want someone else to do the same

Get someone to help who is familiar with stepping/unstepping a small mast manually. I can do mine on my own with the aid of an A frame to which I attach the forestay and the mainsheet tackle ....... but usually something silly goes wrong, gets snagged or something if I try. Therefore I always get someone to standby just in case

Second Vic completely. It is not possible to climb my mast on 21ft boat because as you get higher the boat starts to roll one way then the other in increasing amplitude. From test it takes 30kg at the top of the fractional shrouds to hold the mast down horizontal. Takes more to pull it over but you get the idea. Even in a cradle I would not risk it.
You can not safely lower the mast by undoing the forestay and lowering it by releasing the forestay (with a tackle).
As the mast approaches horizontal indeed beyond about 45 degrees your forestay is pulling more parallel to the mast than holding it from falling. (geometry/trigonometry). The usual way is to improve the angle of pull of the forestay by a single pole or pair of poles (Vic's A frame) hinged near in line with mast step or for a single pole attached to the base of the mast.
Lots of pictures on U tube or description on this forum. Just consider the difficulty of lifting the mast from horizontal and this is the force you must counteract when lowering.
For a small mast a tall man can take the weight of the mast once down to 45 degrees but it is not worth the risk and so easy with a gin pole. The next concern is to make sure the mast does not sway sideways as it comes down with no sideways support. For a small mast this can be done by the man standing on the cabin roof. but is a real concern in the water with a big mast. lastly fabricate another A frame to lash at the transom to catch and support the mast. This should be so high that the mast is around 2 metres above the level of cockpit seats. Once mast is down into the support you can disconnect the base and slide the base of the mast forward to the bow. (2 people needed). From there you can lift the mast out of the support and lower the mast top to working height. (or even down to the ground if you disconnect the stays.
As a new owner do learn how to lower your mast it just makes those jobs a the top of the mast more doable.
All this presupposes you have a deck mast hinge. Note these hinges in the usual style are made of cast ali and are easily broken by side swing of mast. Be careful and get helpers.
Around here even large boats lower their mast to go under bridges to access the ocean. This is done while under way with up to 90 ft masts lowered. But yes it is fraught with problems and cause of much nervousness. olewill

 

[afterpegassus]

When I had an Invicta 26, a bit larger than the Corribees, I used to put the mast up and down myself. I lashed two ladders together to make an A frame and stabilised them on the coach roof just aft of the mast. A pulley and haul line attached to the apex and the mast slung from the haul line as high as was feasible. The height of the A frame meant that the mast was top heavy so I had lines controlling movement at the foot to prevent overturning. This worked well for me on my own.
If you had an assistant it would be much easier.

 

[gus]

Maybe you could find a friend with or hire a cherry picker - would be a lot safer and easier.

 

[VicS]

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All this presupposes you have a deck mast hinge. Note these hinges in the usual style are made of cast ali and are easily broken by side swing of mast. Be careful and get helpers.
Around here even large boats lower their mast to go under bridges to access the ocean. This is done while under way with up to 90 ft masts lowered. But yes it is fraught with problems and cause of much nervousness. olewill

One as old as the Op's boat ( Mk1 ???) may well have a tabernacle. That'll help.

 

[Daydream believer]

A friend of mine borrowed a 20 ft squib to do an open meeting a Lowestoft. His crew let the spinnaker halyard go so they went to the quayside to retrieve it. they pulled on the main halyard to get the mast nearer to the quay wall. The mast broke & my friend had to wear the "Dick of the Week" jacket which he found more embarrassing than paying for the new mast.
The point of this is ( in case someone suggests it) that with a small fractional rigged boat be very careful if you try to pull the mast tip over to a wall to retrieve a halyard by pulling on the topping lift or main halyard. A squib is quite light & a small cruiser is probably a lot stiffer & may put more strain on the mast. Consider carefully where on the mast you pull from ie perhaps from the lower hounds as well as from the upper shroud point to distribute the load. Someone on the side deck to help tip the boat would also help

 

[Daydream believer]

When I had an Invicta 26, a bit larger than the Corribees, I used to put the mast up and down myself. I lashed two ladders together to make an A frame and stabilised them on the coach roof just aft of the mast. A pulley and haul line attached to the apex and the mast slung from the haul line as high as was feasible. The height of the A frame meant that the mast was top heavy so I had lines controlling movement at the foot to prevent overturning. This worked well for me on my own.
If you had an assistant it would be much easier.

If the ladders were aft of the mast then the mast would have to tip forward. One assumes you did not have a furler. If you did surely it would have been easier to tip the mast back not forward

 

[afterpegassus]

Right, I did not have a furler.
The real reason the ladders were aft of the mast was because there was a bit better platform for positioning them.

 

[dunedin]

For a smallish boat like a Coribee sometimes it is easiest if you have a mate with a larger boat. Bring alongside, up the bigger boat mast (with double halyards, bosun chair and rope tailers) then might be able to hook with a fishing rod and/or lean the Coribee closer to the other mast

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

When I had a Vivacity 20 I used to step and unstep the mast every season simply by 'walking' it up with me on the coachroof and a friend on the cockpit seats to help with the last bit (or first if stepping). The mast was like that of a dinghy and was hinged in a tabernacle; I don't think that the mast on a Corribee would be much different.

 

[Corribee Boy]

I've never dared go up the mast due to stability issues and anyway I wouldn't trust such small halyards, even though they're probably rated at about 750kg. Luckily a Corribee mast can be easily lowered single handed using a gin pole and the re-purposed mainsheet to give a mechanical advantage. Some lateral support is handy: I use cheap polyprop. lines over the crosstrees and down to near the chain plates. You can leave the furler attached at the top as you said.

Where are you?

 

[Corribee72]

Hello all, many thanks for the comprehensive replies, I have learnt an awful lot. I was down the yard today and managed to sort it out, I did start out by confessing to be a newbie so please don't laugh too hard when you read the following! I left the house armed with a decorators extendable pole and was going to try to heath robinson it with other poles, fixing wire and cable ties so I went to check the rigging at the mast and after a few minutes............... now back to early autumn, my last sail was with an experienced sailor and when we had moored up I was raising the outboard etc and my friend was sorting the rigging and mainsail. I found out today that he had actually attached the mainsail head shackle to the spinnaker ring at the front of the mast and i hadn't even realised, I was tugging away with no movement and thought the shackle was stuck at the top of the mast, in reality it was less than two feet away from me! Sorry for the stupidity but thanks for the replies, yes I know, what a doughnut! A very relieved one though!

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

Sorry for the stupidity but thanks for the replies, yes I know, what a doughnut! A very relieved one though!

Don't worry about it mate! I am pretty sure that, after a few beers, most of us can relate similar experiences.

We're all glad that it all worked out for you and, at the end of the day, that is what matters. :encouragement:

 

[Thistle]

Well done for 'fessing up!

Spinnaker ring is a good parking place but it allows the halyard to bang on the mast which is annoying, especially if someone is living on board nearby. Taking it a couple of times around the shrouds before going to the ring prevents this. An alternative is to take the halyard to the end of the boom beside the topping lift.

 

[VicS]

Well done for 'fessing up!

Spinnaker ring is a good parking place but it allows the halyard to bang on the mast which is annoying, especially if someone is living on board nearby. Taking it a couple of times around the shrouds before going to the ring prevents this. An alternative is to take the halyard to the end of the boom beside the topping lift.

Almost anywhere away from the mast and spreaders in fact

Mine wont reach the boom end so it goes round the boom just behind the kicker shacked on to itself.